Our History

A Legacy of Passion and Precision: In 1977, founder Bill Elliott launched Bay Maritime with a passion for wooden ships. He traveled the country with his crew as Bay Ship & Yacht, leaving their mark on legendary vessels like the Brig Niagara, USS Constitution, and C.A. Thayer. This journey eventually led them to open a permanent boat yard on Richmond Riviera, a former site of the Kaiser Shipyards and the current home of Svendsen's Bay Marine. Bay Ship & Yacht found a home on the Alameda-Oakland estuary, and now an functions as employee-owned business.

Bay Maritime acquired Svendsen's Boatworks in 2017, and it wasn't just a simple purchase—it was the joining of two cornerstones of the maritime industry. By merging Svendsen's with Bay Maritime’s own Bay Marine Boat Works, we created the unified company we are today. This powerful merger of two longstanding pillars in marine repair has brought together a crew with more experience and expertise than any other single yard on the West Coast.

Through our evolution, we have never lost sight of our core principles: a profound respect for the sea and the deep passion for quality that ocean travel requires. This same passion still anchors our mission today, whether we're serving recreational boaters, commercial fleets, or U.S. Government vessels. It is this unwavering commitment to excellence that has earned us the trust of seasoned owners and established the Bay Maritime experience as the industry standard.