George Edwin William Monk was a shipwright and naval architect in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He was active from 1914 to 1973. He designed pleasure and commercial vessels, both power and sail.
Shipwright, 1914 to 1925
Ed Monk, Sr., began his boat building career in 1914 as an apprentice working on Robert Moran's schooner San Juan, under construction on Orcas Island. In 1915, Monk worked with his father again in St. Helens, OR, building The City of Portland, "one of the largest wooden freighters ever built." He continued to work for his father at Meacham and Babcock, a boatyard started in Seattle, WA, during World War I to build twelve wooden freighters for the US Government. During this time, he became more interested in designing boats and began studying toward that end. Meacham and Babcock closed in 1919. Monk continued to work at various boatyards in Seattle and eventually found his way to the Blanchard Boat Co. in 1925. He was hired as a shipwright, but soon began to design small boats. His first large cruiser design, the 62 foot motor yachtSilver King, was built there in 1925
At Blanchard Boat Co., Monk got to know the naval architect L. E. "Ted" Geary and in 1926, Geary hired Monk as a draftsman. In 1930, Monk followed Geary to Long Beach, CA. In 1933, Monk quit working directly for Geary and moved back to Washington state. Monk maintained his association with Geary as his local representative. Monk began his independent career as a naval architect by designing and building his "Plan No. 1," the 50 ft. bridge-deck cruiser Nan, which became his home for seven years, moored at the Seattle Yacht Club, and was briefly his office. His designs were built by many of the Pacific Northwest builders like Blanchard Boat Co., Grandy Boat Co., Jensen Motor Boat, Chambers and Franck, Forder Boatworks, McQueen Boat Works, and Tollycraft among others. Ed Monk, Sr., wrote two books on boat building:
Monk, Edwin, Modern Boat Building, 1939, revised 1949 and 1973, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
Monk designed commercial vessels which included tugs and cargo carriers. He also designed the "Super Shrimp Trapper " Mimi for Ivar Haglund, launched in 1967. Monk continued to design boats up until his death in 1973 at the age of 79. He had "produced more than 3,000 boat designs ranging from 6 foot dinghies to yachts and workboats in the 150 foot range." Ed Monk, Sr., designed and built both sailboats & powerboats: ;Sailing Yachts
