According to a story today in a local (Vancouver, BC) paper:
This Day in History: Boeing gets into the boat business at Vancouver plant
The Coal Harbour plant built seaplanes, regular planes and boats
Boeing Aircraft Co. of Canada, speedboats of Coal Harbour. Photo by Stuart Thomson Vancouver Archives AM1535-: CVA 99-2314
On June 30, 1929, Boeing Aircraft offered “a revolution in recreation” to Vancouverites — a 20-foot boat that could seat 10 people.
I remember this because when I was a kid in the 1960's, we had a (much smaller!) boat moored in the yacht club in Vancouver and the Taconite was permanently moored at a dock in the harbour. (I also remember the Fifer, mentioned above). I believe Boeing's widow, Bertha, (1891-1977) lived on the ship at that time, although she died in Seattle. Apparently she was the real "boater" in the family and they used to cruise up the West Coast to Alaska.
It was a "no expense spared" luxury yacht. Sadly, it was sold to a foreign buyer in 2015.
"The vessel, made out of Burmese teak, has five staterooms, a formal dining room and a salon with a wood-burning fireplace. Its launch on June 11, 1930, attracted socialites and the well-heeled from across the Pacific Northwest. Amelia Earhart was a guest on the Taconite before her ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.
The Taconite carried Boeing’s first series of two-way radio communications, which he developed for his mail-carrying sea planes. It was from Taconite’s radio room, dubbed the “Texan” room, that Boeing carried out tests of initial transmissions...
...The Taconite provided a floating hotel for Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams in 2001 when they were in Alaska shooting scenes for the psychological thriller Insomnia...
And, from another website about William Boeing (original family name, Böing), "n a letter to his Yale classmates in 1914, he wrote that “My main hobby is shooting, and I never overlook an opportunity when it presents itself,” adding that he made a habit of traveling to British Columbia and Alaska every year to hunt and fish."
This Day in History: Boeing gets into the boat business at Vancouver plant
The Coal Harbour plant built seaplanes, regular planes and boats
Boeing Aircraft Co. of Canada, speedboats of Coal Harbour. Photo by Stuart Thomson Vancouver Archives AM1535-: CVA 99-2314
On June 30, 1929, Boeing Aircraft offered “a revolution in recreation” to Vancouverites — a 20-foot boat that could seat 10 people.
Why was Boeing, a Seattle aircraft manufacturer, selling boats in Vancouver?
The answer is that two months earlier, it had taken over the Hoffar-Beeching Shipyards at 1927 West Georgia, on the shore of Coal Harbour
According to a Province story on April 26, 1929, Hoffar-Beeching had been making commercial ships and yachts for 21 years, producing local luxury yachts like the Fifer and the Deerleap.
After being taken over by Boeing Aircraft of Canada, the Hoffar-Beeching plant was to double in size to 60,000 sq. ft. and build “flying boats” (seaplanes) alongside its usual marine craft.
William Boeing knew a lot about flying boats. He’d been making them since 1916 in Seattle, and on March 3, 1919, had been in a Boeing seaplane that made the first international airmail delivery from Vancouver to Seattle with pilot Eddie Hubbard.
Boeing and Hubbard took off from Coal Harbour to Lake Union in Seattle with 60 letters in a Boeing C-700. They made the 150-mile trip in two-and-a-half hours....
Now here's something I DID know about:The answer is that two months earlier, it had taken over the Hoffar-Beeching Shipyards at 1927 West Georgia, on the shore of Coal Harbour
According to a Province story on April 26, 1929, Hoffar-Beeching had been making commercial ships and yachts for 21 years, producing local luxury yachts like the Fifer and the Deerleap.
After being taken over by Boeing Aircraft of Canada, the Hoffar-Beeching plant was to double in size to 60,000 sq. ft. and build “flying boats” (seaplanes) alongside its usual marine craft.
William Boeing knew a lot about flying boats. He’d been making them since 1916 in Seattle, and on March 3, 1919, had been in a Boeing seaplane that made the first international airmail delivery from Vancouver to Seattle with pilot Eddie Hubbard.
Boeing and Hubbard took off from Coal Harbour to Lake Union in Seattle with 60 letters in a Boeing C-700. They made the 150-mile trip in two-and-a-half hours....
William Boeing must have been impressed with his new boat-building plant, because he had his own yacht, the Taconite, built there.
The 125-foot yacht cost $421,000 to build and was launched on June 11, 1930. It had five large staterooms (bedrooms), a formal dining room with a table for 10, and a salon (living room) that was bigger than many condos.
It had teak paneling, teak wainscotting, built-in teak cupboards, built-in teak bookshelves, teak coffered ceilings and teak flooring, all made from logs Boeing imported from Burma and milled in Vancouver.
Boeing used it to cruise the west coast for decades, flying in visitors by flying boat. It was for sale for $2.5 million US a few years ago, and according to marinetraffic.com is now in the Gulf of California.
The 125-foot yacht cost $421,000 to build and was launched on June 11, 1930. It had five large staterooms (bedrooms), a formal dining room with a table for 10, and a salon (living room) that was bigger than many condos.
It had teak paneling, teak wainscotting, built-in teak cupboards, built-in teak bookshelves, teak coffered ceilings and teak flooring, all made from logs Boeing imported from Burma and milled in Vancouver.
Boeing used it to cruise the west coast for decades, flying in visitors by flying boat. It was for sale for $2.5 million US a few years ago, and according to marinetraffic.com is now in the Gulf of California.
I remember this because when I was a kid in the 1960's, we had a (much smaller!) boat moored in the yacht club in Vancouver and the Taconite was permanently moored at a dock in the harbour. (I also remember the Fifer, mentioned above). I believe Boeing's widow, Bertha, (1891-1977) lived on the ship at that time, although she died in Seattle. Apparently she was the real "boater" in the family and they used to cruise up the West Coast to Alaska.
It was a "no expense spared" luxury yacht. Sadly, it was sold to a foreign buyer in 2015.
"The vessel, made out of Burmese teak, has five staterooms, a formal dining room and a salon with a wood-burning fireplace. Its launch on June 11, 1930, attracted socialites and the well-heeled from across the Pacific Northwest. Amelia Earhart was a guest on the Taconite before her ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.
The Taconite carried Boeing’s first series of two-way radio communications, which he developed for his mail-carrying sea planes. It was from Taconite’s radio room, dubbed the “Texan” room, that Boeing carried out tests of initial transmissions...
...The Taconite provided a floating hotel for Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams in 2001 when they were in Alaska shooting scenes for the psychological thriller Insomnia...
And, from another website about William Boeing (original family name, Böing), "n a letter to his Yale classmates in 1914, he wrote that “My main hobby is shooting, and I never overlook an opportunity when it presents itself,” adding that he made a habit of traveling to British Columbia and Alaska every year to hunt and fish."
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