Built in Lubec as a sardine carrier and rebuilt at Southwest Boat Corporation as the first purse seiner in Maine.
Photos 1257-1 and 1257-2 shown Sewanhaka after being rebuilt. Photos 3361 and 2262 show her before.
“The Canadian fishermen had developed the purse seining industry in Canadian waters and were getting substantial amounts of herring during the winter. Carroll Peacock followed the advice of one of his carrier captains, Andrew Martin, and decided to get in on it. He sent the carrier, “Sewanhaka” to Southwest Harbor to be rigged up as a purse seiner. The first few attempts with the purse seine were failures because the boat was too small, so they decided to re-build her. The next year the “Sewanhaka” was sent to Wagstaff & Hatfield boat yard in Port Greville, N.S. to be built over. When she was finished, she was an 85’ seiner/carrier that could carry 135 hogsheads in her three holds…The “Sewanhaka” was the first purse seiner rigged for the herring fishery on the East Coast of the United States.” - Canned: A History of the Sardine Industry by John Gilman pp. 221-222.
Build date – 1910
Gross tons - 73
Net tons – 40
Length – 74’
Beam – 20.5’
Depth – 8.5’
Crew – Captain Andrew Martin
