Maple Leaf
92-Foot Schooner Built in 1904
If you’re a Jimmy Buffett fan, or “less is more” and “small is beautiful” spark joy in your heart, the beautiful Maple Leaf is for you.
About the Maple Leaf
Outfitted for Engaging with the Natural World
Maple Leaf is a legendary coastal schooner. From her days as a luxury racing yacht, to her reign as tough highliner of the Prince Rupert halibut fishery, Maple Leaf is one of the coast’s most capable, most elegant ships. To travel on her is like being the dinner guest of a well-known explorer with amazing tales, who most people will never get to meet.
At 92 feet overall, she accommodates up to 8 guests in 4 semi-private sleeping areas, with 3 shared washrooms, and a crew of 4 or 5.
Maple Leaf is a sea-kindly vessel with a long range. She can take you to the coast’s wildest, remotest corners more comfortably and safely than most other vessels. Her sails and 40,000-pound keel keep her steady, and her crew’s warmth and culinary delights keep your soul soaring.
Experience Life Aboard Maple Leaf
You have access to sites, phenomena and people you cannot get on larger ships, often unable to access the special areas we take you. What’s more, you have access to this in a very personalized, human-scale manner.
Explore Ship Features
Built of coastal Douglas fir, high-elevation yellow cedar, and mahogany, Maple Leaf is a tough expedition vessel and a work of artistry.
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A Classic Wooden Sail Boat
Her curved deck planks, mahogany and glass butterfly hatches, fir beams, mahogany cabinetry and the sweep of her long cap rail are a pleasure to look at.
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Wheelhouse Lounge
The captain and first mate skillfully navigate and plan routes here. They’re happy to share insights and explain the systems. This space features natural history guidebooks and showcases mahogany and Douglas fir craftsmanship that shines throughout the vessel.
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Dining Lounge
Unwind with books, journaling, and conversations in our cozy onboard library and dining lounge. We dine on deck or in this lounge, depending on the weather.
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Sleeping Areas & Heads (Bathrooms)
The main cabin accommodates eight guests with divided sleeping areas, each featuring large comfortable beds, storage space, reading lamps, and cozy bedding. There are three washrooms with hot water showers.
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Galley
From the tiny galley, Maple Leaf’s chefs produce incredible meals and snacks fresh each day. Enjoy fine meals and discussions about the day’s adventures with the crew and naturalist.
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Decks
Maple Leaf has lots of deck space, on which people may choose to sit and watch the coast’s scenery, chat with others, steer the ship, or have quiet time alone.
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Modern Comforts with Edwardian Elegance
Maple Leaf’s interior is in harmony with her heritage: modern conveniences and good space design, melded with a decor that nods to her Edwardian past.
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Shore Boats
Our two zodiacs provide ample space and great access to explore along shorelines, up rivers, near wildlife colonies, and onto beaches.
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Kayaks
While at anchor, enjoy one of our two single kayaks. The kayaks are stable and easy to use, with assistance from crew getting in and out.
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Fishing Tackle
We have fishing rods and lures ready for jigging. Obtain your fishing licence prior to your trip and take a turn at jigging for halibut or lingcod.
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Other Equipment
The ship provides guidebooks, visual aids, and a hydrophone to listen to whale sounds, enhancing appreciation of local flora, fauna, and marine phenomena.
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Upper Deck
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Lower Deck
Vessel Specifications
- Length overall: 92 feet
- Beam: 15 feet
- Sails: 5 (main, gaff-rigged foresail, staysail, jib, fisherman)
- Guest Cabins: 4 sleeping areas
- Max Guests: 8 (more for some charters)
- Kayaks: 2 doubles
- Tenders: 2 Polaris, rigid-hull inflatable boats
- Registration: Canada
- Year built: 1904 (known refits in 1943, 1979-1986).
Sleeping Areas
Semi-Private Sleeping Areas
The spacious main cabin is airy and divided by half-walls and heavy curtains into four berths, providing sleeping accommodations for eight guests.
Each area contains large comfortable beds (six and a half feet long), space for your belongings, brass reading lamps, fluffy duvets and blankets. Charging stations, towels and reading lights.
There are three heads (washrooms) aboard, all with hot running water and shower conversions.
If you are a solo traveller, you will be sharing one of the sleeping areas with a same-sex solo traveller, or you will have a bunk in our comfortable wheelhouse accommodations.
Under Sail
A Great Sight at Sail, an Even Greater Feeling
With thousands of square feet of canvas (or, dacron), the Maple Leaf is a joy to sail. You are welcome to help with sailing and taking the helm under our crew’s instructions. We are patient teachers and delight in helping people learn. On the other hand, you are not required to sail or perform duties while you are on vacation. The choice is yours.
Maple Leaf is a schooner, meaning that her aft mast is taller than her foremast. She has five sails: main sail, foresail, staysail, jib, fisherman.
Physical Eligibility
Mobility Requirements Aboard Maple Leaf
To fully enjoy your experience aboard Maple Leaf, there are a few physical requirements to keep in mind. To enter and exit the dining lounge and sleeping areas, you will need to be comfortable climbing a steep ladder-like staircase with handrails. Her interiors feature narrow passages, inviting you to adapt and embrace the authentic small ship experience.
Exploring the coast’s picturesque surroundings often means venturing onto a zodiac. With a helping hand, you’ll need to be able to comfortably step into and out of the zodiac from the ship’s deck or onto a beach with no docks. Disembarking the zodiac involves sitting on the side of the pontoon, swinging your legs over the side, and standing up, with assistance from your crew.
The Maple Leaf is a very comfortable ship that welcomes guests of all ages, though if you have a physical limitation, you may consider Swell or Cascadia as more accessible options. For more guidance on the mobility requirements of our trips, visit this article.
History of the Maple Leaf
Maple Leaf’s History Chronicles Luxury Racing, Wars, Fishing and a Remarkable Rebirth
The Coast’s Most Expensive Yacht
Maple Leaf, BC’s historic tall ship, was built in 1904 by Capt. William Watts in his business, Vancouver Shipyard. It was located in Coal Harbour, at 1877 West Georgia Street.
Initially a private boat for Alexander Maclaren, part of the Maclaren family’s lumber and power business, Maple Leaf was the most expensive yacht made on the coast at that time, and was the first ship north of San Francisco with electric lights. She also had another ‘new-fangled’ feature: an external lead keel.
[Aside for boat and building enthusiasts: this keel may be one reason she’s still working to this day. In 1904, lead keels were so new, that engineers weren’t certain how strong a hull needed to be to support one (and not have it rip the bottom from the boat). So Maple Leaf was designed with an extremely strong hull. Her frames have 18-inch centres. This strong hull has kept her seaworthy under incredible conditions in her life.]
While Alexander spent time in Vancouver expanding the family business (that was headquartered in Quebec), in summertime the entire family travelled out by train to explore on Maple Leaf.
The Bluenose of the Pacific?
The ship was favoured to win the first ever Trans Pacific sailing race from San Francisco in 1906. But when the San Fransisco earthquake devestated the city, the race was postponed and move to LA and Maple Leaf never participated. So we will never know if she had been fated to become the Bluenose of the Pacific.
The First World War Changes Maple Leaf’s Fate
During the First World War, her lead keel and brass were stripped for the war effort, leading to her conversion into a halibut fishing vessel. For two decades, she fished under famous fishing companies such as Gosse and Millerd and the Canadian Fishing Company.
A Highliner on the Bering Sea
Purchased by Harold Helland in 1938, Maple Leaf, renamed Parma, was completely rebuilt during World War II. Harold, along with a dedicated crew, fished for halibut in the Bering Sea until the mid-1970s, consistently surpassing newer vessels in performance. Harold maintained his ship in Bristol condition until his retirement. If it weren’t for Harold and his crew’s care (and possibly also a law banning the building of new ships during World War II), the vessel likely would not have survived to become what she is today. She continued to fish into the 1970s until she was sold to the Canadian government through its fisheries buyback program.
Finding Maple Leaf Again: the Restoration
In 1979, Brian Falconer, who had started an ecotourism company, was looking for the right sailboat. He got a tip that an old fishing vessel called Parma, going up for auction, used to be a sailboat. It was the night before the auction closed. Brian and his brother convinced the night watchman to let them check the boat out. Once aboard, they pried back some interior boards to look at the hull. And there it was, Maple Leaf’s yellow cedar frames, with 18-inch centres … her original hull construction still going strong. He bought the ship.
From 1979 to 1986, Brian and his partner Susan Tweedie, and a community of people restored Maple Leaf to a sailing ship, uncovering her original hull lines and re-rigging her. They discovered her history and her original name. Miraculously in a country whose symbol is the Maple Leaf, the name was available for a commercial vessel. They immediately re-registered her as Maple Leaf. The decendents of Alexander Maclaren, who still ran the Maclaren company, donated the mahogany that is used on her brightwork.
Re-launched at Expo 86 in Vancouver, Brian and his crew raised her sails for the first time on May 2, 1986. She sailed English Bay in the company of the visiting Bluenose II, from Nova Scotia.
Flagship of BC Ecotourism
From 1986 to August 2001, Brian, Susan, and later Brian with partner Erin Nyhan, operated Maple Leaf Adventures, providing natural history and cultural trips along the BC and Alaska coasts. They also ran the Tall Ship Program for the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, training over 3,000 cadets from across Canada.
In 2001, Kevin Smith bought Maple Leaf and her eponymous company from his mentors Brian and Erin. He and partner Maureen Gordon have continued to steward the Maple Leaf and its company, adding the vessels Swell and Cascadia to the fleet.
Kevin and Maple Leaf have continued her tradition of helping to protect the places of the coast, including bringing places like the Great Bear Rainforest to international media audiences. The ship continues to be meticulously maintained by her loving crew, with full rebuilds of her bow, stern and bowsprit between 2014 and 2018. She always draws admirers at sea and when she’s alongside.
Maple Leaf: A Timeline
- 1904: Built as the coast’s most expensive yacht
- 1906: Favoured to win first Trans-Pacific sailing race
- 1914: The war changes Maple Leaf’s fate
- 1930s-1970s: Fished for halibut in the Bering Sea, often the highliner
- 1979-1986: Refit back to a sailing ship and re-launched at the 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver
- 1986-present: A trailblazer in the expedition cruising world, and a co-creator of expedition cruising in the Great Bear Rainforest and other areas on the coast.
