Pearson Yachts Countess 44

The Pearson Yachts Countess 44 is a 13.6-meter masthead ketch designed by John G. Alden and built by Pearson Yachts from 1965 to 1970. It features a long keel hull, a 3.7-meter beam, a 1.6-meter draft, and displaces 11,339 kg. Alden design #989, the Countess 44 was offered with aluminum masts and spruce booms, and a Ford diesel engine was an optional upgrade. Aboard a friend's boat, Ben Doerr experienced an electrical fire in the engine room one mile outside Cordova Harbor, Alaska, during a Prince William Sound trip.19:47 The fire, originating from wiring beneath the floorboards, occurred on a boat that had completed multiple Pacific loops.58:40 A commercial fisherman advised using a saltwater deck hose, and the crew pumped approximately 300 gallons into the boat before the owner extinguished the fire.48:41