Eldredge-McInnis 71 ft Converted Sardine Carrier 1941/2019

So much part of Maine maritime history, the sub-title of WoodenBoat magazine editor Matthew P. Murphy's WILLIAM UNDERWOOD post-restoration article sums up the brave new life of this beautiful vessel: "Soul of a sardine carrier, mission of a yacht". Tasked with speedily and efficiently transporting sardines from the coastal and offshore fishing grounds of America’s rugged north east coast to the canneries, the sardine carriers were the most elegant and efficient of working boats. All the ingredients were there - including a voluminous fish hold ripe for conversion to spacious accommodation - for later use as a cruising motor yacht, and in Rockport Marine’s Taylor Allen there was the passion and facility to get it done. During WILLIAM UNDERWOOD’s extended 'refit', her structure was completely replaced, and a comfortable, thoughtfully designed yacht interior and top of the line systems package fitted. She is offered for sale in turn-key condition at considerably less than the cost of restoration.

"... WILLIAM UNDERWOOD has been totally rebuilt with all new wood... She was originally built to these heavy scantlings due to the ability to carry cargo of fish. She is much stronger than your average 70 ft vessel. This is a new vessel with all new structure and equipment. The undersigned has visited the vessel many times during its rebuild to inspect the progress and can attest to the quality of the construction. All the best materials have been used and she is now a vessel of the highest quality. Rockport Marine where the vessel was rebuilt is known as a builder of quality boats and has rebuilt many vintage vessels over the years."

- Hull rebuilt to the original Eldredge-McInnis scantlings
- and to Rockport Marine standards
- A comfortable, thoughtfully designed yacht interior fitted
- Top of the line systems package fitted

ELDREDGE-MCINNIS DESIGN NO. 269

"Sardine Carriers are the queens of the Maine fishing fleet. These are good sized boats, sixty feet and up in length, and are used to move sardines, or small herring, from the point of capture to the factory where the fish are processed and placed head-to-tail into cans…Many, although by no means all, were double-enders, dictated by the need for easily-driven shapes when both light and loaded. For the same reason, the boats were long and lean, and consequently often very beautiful.” ~ Joel White, 'Wood, Water and Light'

The canned sardine industry was a major contributor to the Maine economy into the mid 20th Century, reaching a peak during the Second World War, feeding America's forces of land and sea. WILLIAM UNDERWOOD was launched by Simms Bros of Dorchester Massachusetts in 1941, just in time to do her bit for the war effort, working out of the Jonesport canning factory of the William Underwood Company, once claimed the world's largest canned sardine producers.

A fleet of fine vessels - WILLIAM UNDERWOOD and her ilk, the 'Carriers' - roamed 'Down East' waters collecting the silver darlings from coastal weir and purse net fishermen, and offshore from seine-netters. The sardine carriers had to be able to steam fully (even over in good times) laden with upwards of four tons of fish back to the factories as quickly as possible to keep their valuable cargo fresh. This is what makes them also so eminently suitable as very capable cruisers, passionately described by WILLIAM UNDERWOOD's saviour and restorer, Taylor Allen:

"It’s one of those rare instances where design, form, and function have perfectly come together in a vessel that’s beautiful to look at, but also totally functional in what it’s doing. Form and function has been pared down to its essence, and it works very well. I think that’s what ultimately draws me to boats of that type: they perform well in a seaway, they carry their loads perfectly, they’re comfortable, they get the job done – and they’re pretty to look at."

WILLIAM UNDERWOOD comes with all of this DNA and may arguably be claimed as one of the prettiest sardine carriers to look at, because her designer, Walter J. McInnis, worked principally as a yacht designer, having honed his trade through the Roaring 20s with the renowned George F. Lawley yard at Neponset, Massachusetts before setting out independently in partnership with former Lawley colleague Albert E. Eldredge.

Although born in Dorchester, Massachusetts - where it just so happens that WILLIAM UNDERWOOD was built - Walter McInnis's father was a Cape Breton Islander (Nova Scotia) whose clan forebears would undoubtedly have hailed from the Inner Hebrides of the West Coast of Scotland. Could Walter McInnis have been influenced in the design of WILLIAM UNDERWOOD's lines by a fascination with his lineage, and the cruiser-sterned Scottish motor fishing vessel type pioneered post First World War by yacht designer W.G. McBryde who had worked in Canada in the early 1900s? As we learn from Joel White above, many sardine carriers were double-enders, but WILLIAM UNDERWOOD's cruiser stern and profile are perhaps finer - distinctly Scottish?

Her builders, Simms Bros, were multi-faceted boat and small ship builders who could turn their hand to anything. Before and after the Second World War they built yachts to designs by John G. Alden and Sparkman & Stephens among others, including, in 1948, the well-known and still very much alive S&S ocean-going 57 ft cruiser-racer ARGYLL.

WILLIAM UNDERWOOD plied the same trade into the mid-1960s, twilight years for the Maine sardine industry. After the Underwood Company closed their Jonesport factory, she worked shrimps as Stinson Canning Company's MARION H and later became a 'dragger'. Importantly, she remained used and aired, if more than a bit tired. Her life in private ownership began in 2000 when O.D. Hopkins returned her original name and began the process of hull restoration.

Nineteen years later, Taylor Allen re-launched WILLIAM UNDERWOOD at his Rockport Marine yard after a painstaking process in his ownership since 2007. Where once there were fish is now spacious and airy accommodation, suitable for long periods spent happily afloat.

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

- 2 in / 50 mm Douglas fir planking on double sawn white oak frames
- Purple heart sheer strakes and garboards
- White oak backbone
- White oak floors
- All bronze fastened
- White oak deck beams
- Straight laid eastern white pine deck
- Alaska yellow cedar king planks
- Purpleheart coveringboards
- Deck conventionally caulked with TDS seam compound

GENERAL
- Purpleheart and Douglas fir superstructures
- Locust butterfly skylights
- Fibreglassed mahogany marine ply roofs
- Straight laid and nibbed pine/ cedar deck
- Stanchioned bulwarks

AFT
- Bronze Panama fairleads port and starboard
- 2 x Associated bronze mooring cleats
- 2 x Bronze mushroom vents
- Flush hatch to steering flat

AFT TRUNK OVER ENGINEROOM
- Grabrails
- Sliding engine room companionway hatch with washboards
- 5 x Opening ports
- Stainless steel ladder to pilot house roof

PILOT HOUSE
- Rear hinged doors port and starboard
- Engine blower air intake aft
- Searchlight
- Horn
- Radar scanner
- Dorade vent
- Navigation lights
- Raw teak topped bench forward; stowage under
- Stainless steel rails port and starboard

SIDE DECK
- 2 x Bronze Panama fairleads port and starboard
- 2 x Associated bronze mooring cleats port and starboard

FORWARD TRUNK OVER SALOON
- Grabrails
- Varnished locust butterfly skylight hatch
- 4 x Dorade boxes with cowls
- Charley Noble stove pipe
- 8 x Opening ports

FORE TRUNK OVER OWNER CABIN
- Grabrails
- Varnished locust butterfly skylight hatch
- Dorade box with 2 x cowls

FOREDECK
- 2 x Bronze mushroom vents
- Ideal Horizontal 24 V Windlass
- 2 x Bronze chain locks
- Bronze Panama fairleads port and starboard
- 2 x Recessed bronze mooring fairleads at stemhead
- Bronze mooring cleats port and starboard

GROUND TACKLE
- 2 x 165 lb / 75 kg Navy style anchors in hawsepipes
- All chain rode

SUMMARY
- Berths for 6, or 9 including settees in saloon and pilothouse

PILOT HOUSE
- Functional, spacious, and uncluttered
- Excellent visibility all around
- Varnished teak sole and helm station tops
- Helm off set to port
- Bronze and Alaskan yellow cedar wheel
- Gauges, throttle controls, electrical panel
- Full width settee (captain’s berth) aft
- Companionway to accommodation forward to starboard

LOWER ACCOMMODATION
- Feels airy and modern, particularly for a former fish hold
- >7ft / 2.1 m of headroom
- Varnished Douglas fir sole throughout
- Painted and matte varnish finishing scheme

GALLEY
- Immediately to port at bottom of companionway
- Mahogany cabinetry and trim
- Ample storage and workspace
- Crockery and utensil racks outboard
- Residential style fridge
- Teak counter top
- Slate sink
- Mixer tap
- Force 10, 4 x burner LPG stove/oven with solenoid
- Deckhead lights
- Opening port
- Electric fan

'DAY HEAD' AFT TO STARBOARD
- Tecma freshwater, push button marine toilet
- Inset stainless steel basin
- Mixer taps
- Extensive lockers

SALOON
- Butterfly skylight hatch in deckhead
- L-settee to starboard; pilot berth outboard
- Drop leaf mahogany table to port
- Sideboard forward to port
- Soapstone solid fuel (wood) stove at forward bulkhead
- Settee to starboard; pilot berth outboard
- Writing desk forward to starboard
- Fusion MS-AV650 Audio system
- 28” TV folds up to starboard deckhead
- 2 x Dorade vents in deckhead
- Deckhead lights
- 4 x Davey & Co. brass/ frosted glass reading lamps
- 4 x Opening ports
- 2 x Electric fans

PASSAGE FORWARD
- Hanging locker forward

GUEST CABIN TO PORT
- Over under berths
- Stowage under
- Sideboard forward
- Dorade vent in deckhead
- 2 x Davey & Co. brass/ frosted glass reading lamps
- Deckhead light
- 1 x Electric fan

WC SHOWER COMPARTMENT TO STARBOARD
- Tecma freshwater, push button marine toilet
- Inset stainless steel basin
- Mixer taps
- Extensive lockers
- Separate shower space with raw teak bench
- Stainless steel shower tray
- Modern acrylic (escape) hatch in deckhead
- Folding mast step
- Dorade vent in deckhead
- Deckhead lights

OWNER DOUBLE BERTH CABIN FORWARD
- Butterfly skylight hatch in deckhead
- Spacious with queen-sized island berth
- Matching hanging lockers port and starboard
- Modern acrylic (escape) hatch in deckhead
- Folding mast step
- 2 x Vents (via 1 x dorade box) in trunk deckhead
- 2 x Electric fans
- Deckhead lights
- 2 x Davey & Co. brass/ frosted glass reading lamps
- Access to chain locker in forward bulkhead

With the exception of the engine, which was rebuilt at Billings Marine in Stonington, Maine in 2010, all systems have been replaced in the last 5 years. She’s been fitted out with long-range, self-sufficient cruising in mind.

MECHANICAL
- Cummins 855 5-cylinder diesel 250 hp diesel (rebuilt 2010)
- Twin Disk 3:1 reduction gear
- Stainless steel propeller shaft
- 42” 4 x Blade bronze propeller
- Conventional flax stuffing box

MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL
- Westerbeke 7.6 GTD 8 kW 3-cylinder diesel 120/ 240 V generator
- Dual 24 V Engine alternators

HYDRAULIC
- Steering

ELECTRICAL
- 240 V/ 120 V AC; 24 V/ 12 V DC electrical system
- Vectron Quattro 24/1500/120 Charger Inverter
- 2 x 12 V AGM Engine start batteries
- 1 x 12 V AGM Generator start battery
- 4 x 12 V 8D AGM House batteries

TANKAGE AND ASSOCIATED
- 2 x 360 Gal / 1363 L Fuel tanks located in engine room
- 1 x 75 Gal / 284 L Stainless steel black water tank
- 1 x 75 Gal / 284 L Stainless steel gray water tank
- 2 x 125 Gal / 473 L Stainless steel water tanks located under settees
- 24 V Fresh water pump
- Spectra Catalina 340Z 14 GPH 12/ 24 V watermaker
- 110 V Engine tied hot water heater

OTHER
- Hurricane II multi zone hydronic diesel heater
- 24 V Heat circulation pump
- All bronze thru hulls

NAVIGATION
- Raymarine Axiom Pro 16” Multi Function Display
- Raymarine Magnum 4 kW 4’ radar
- Raymarine P70Rs controller and ACU-300 CPU
- Raymarine EV-1 Compass
- Raymarine AP rudder reference display
- Raymarine i70S wind instruments
- Raymarine 650 AIS
- Airmar B122-235-N2k depth and temp transducer

COMMUNICATIONS
- Raymarine Ray 70 VHF

- Engine-driven fire/ crash pump
- 2 x 24 V diaphragm bilge pumps
- Lifejackets; throwables; flares
- 24 V searchlight
- Kahenberg horn

'Moored' & 'Re-launch 2019' by Billy Black