The Seattle, Washington, naval architect Harold Cornelius Hanson AFSC Historical Corner: Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear & Black Bear – "Bear" Boats Retrieved September 14, 2018 – who became quite fond of the ship and referred to her as the "best wooden boat ever built" – designed the vessel as a wooden-hulled coastal cargo liner, with a sheathed ironbark hull that would allow her to operate in rough seas and drifting ice, twin screws driven by twin diesel engines, comfortable passenger quarters below deck, a 160-ton cargo capacity, and a cruising range of 4000 nautical miles .