Cruising Washington Waters and History, For Free

Cruising Washington Waters and History, For Free Discovery has made a few about-faces in her years on the water. The 1931 boat went from an entertainment magnate’s pleasure yacht to a shuttle for convicts to a derelict before being brought back into a gleaming wooden hull. And this winter, Ben Swanson’s 87-foot fantail shifts from Alaskan charters to free rides around the lake. Until May, Swanson will take passengers from The Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union, to the Mountlake Cut, around Lake Washington and back. The trip lasts about an hour and a half to two hours. He began giving the tours in October, at the end of Discovery’s 2007 charter season, in exchange for moorage at the Center. In addition to the rides, the Center and Swanson also offer visitors a chance to poke around the yacht twice a month. The schedule is still in flux, but at-the-dock tours usually take place on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 1200 to 1400. The lake cruises are scheduled for the first and/or third Sundays. The boat is also available for dinner cruises and other charters. Swanson says it took a lot of time and varnish to transform the boat into a swanky sightseeing vessel. With up to 10 people working on the boat, sometimes 15 hours a day, for nine months, Discovery went “from a derelict piece of junk to looking like a yacht,” he says proudly. “The boat was originally built for the William Morris Hollywood Talent agency,” says Swanson, and then passed to Henry Foss of maritime transportation fame. During World War II, the Navy commandeered it for the admirals’ “floating lodge,” he says. When they were done with it, its private owners didn’t want it back. “So they put it into service ferrying from McNeil Island federal penitentiary to Steilacoom for 30 years,” says Swanson. Swanson bought the boat with his father John Swanson on Halloween of 1998. The pair put it in a shed and gutted nearly everything but the original teak, which they stripped and refinished. Now the Swansons take turns skippering the vessel during the four-month summer charter season, taking in the whales and wilderness of Alaska for a fee of nearly $3,300 per passenger for an eight-day trip.—EW For scheduling and other information, visit www.cwb.org or call the captain at 206-406-7288.

 

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