Built in 1907 for J. R. Hanify and named after his wife, Martha Fitzmaurice Hanify. J. R. Hanify was the Commodore of the San Francisco Yacht Club. Martha is a B. B. Crowninshield design built at W. F. Stone Boat Yard in San Francisco. Martha is 68’ on deck; 84’ sparred, 16’ beam, 8’ draft. Planking is fir and silver bali on oak frames. Interior is Honduran mahogany, graced with leaded glass cabinetry below decks. Martha originally was gaff rigged and is now staysail rigged.
James Cagney owned her from 1934-1943. Edgar Kaiser purchased her in 1968 and brought her to Washington; he later donated her to Four Winds – Westward Ho Camp on Orcas Island. The campers still sing the Martha song and Martha visits the camp each summer.
Martha was in a yard accident in 1976. She was dropped during a routine haul-out and stove in her hull on the port side. She was declared a total loss and was to be scraped. Del Edgbert saved her from the scrap yard. After extensive repairs, he and his wife Paulette lived on board for 20 years. During that time they sailed Martha to San Francisco to race her in the Master Mariners Race, sailed to Alaska for a summer and spent many years sailing her in the San Juan Islands, Puget Sound and Canadian waters.
Martha is now owned and operated by the Schooner Martha Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that, whose sole purpose is to maintain and restore Martha and to use Martha to operate sail training programs. Martha has been under the Foundation’s care since 1996. Martha takes both youths and adults on sail training adventures in and around the San Juan Islands and Canadian waters.
Martha is not only the oldest working sailboat in the state of Washington but she is also the oldest living flagship of the San Francisco Yacht Club. Martha still flies the SFYC burgee with pride!
GIVING to MARTHA
The Schooner Martha Foundation
We wanted to take the time to reflect on the effort and commitment that has gone into the MARTHA program, first to SAVE her and now to keep the MARTHA Program SUSTAINABLE!
In the beginning, the task of saving her looked so enormous, it seemed unreasonable to believe success was possible.
We planned a 10 year program of 10 steps. Those 10 steps took 15 years to complete.
Keeping our eyes on the ball, one step at a time, running sail training programs every summer and restoration programs every winter, now MARTHA is in the best shape since her launch in 1907!
In fact, this year, the Schooner Martha Foundation will have been the steward of MARTHA for 20 years.
Man does time fly by!
MARTHA and her programs are a great metaphor for life: design well, build well and take care of the things that really matter. Team work, leadership, integrity, and (in time), just like navigating a sailing vessel, it works out all right!
There are many things that are important to our culture and the maritime arts are strong among them! Introducing the next generation to the values incorporated in the maritime traditions is a central part of MARTHA’s programs.
It is due to MARTHA’s stunning beauty and quality of program that MARTHA is remembered and cared for by a large community.
From the descendants of Martha Fitzmaurice Hanify and John Ryder Hanify to the Four Wind Westward Ho campers, to MARTHA’s volunteers and the marine tradespeople of Port Townsend, MARTHA’s community is growing.
She has been called, “The Darling of the West Coast” by those who have known her from long ago. And, as a recent Facebook post from Heidi M. observed, “I did not know that MARTHA was back in a place where children/students were aboard…..this makes me so happy. I learned so much and loved so much during my times aboard her in my youth.”
MARTHA’s volunteer family, who have for 20 years now put their shoulder to the wheel to give a little push, have made an enormous difference in MARTHA’s future and in the community.
If our 1700 Facebook “likes” could each give $50 we would reach our goals.
So what we need to do in the greater community is to put our collective shoulders to the wheel and give a push to help MARTHA become sustainable!
So if you can, please Give Big to MARTHA. Go to schoonermartha.org right now, and click on the “donate” button.
It’s in this way we can build the community we want to live in.
As MARTHA has taught us, anything is possible if we work together!
