Builder, Civic Leader, & Collector. He was a shipbuilder, bridge builder, civic leader, native Washingtonian, and most enduringly a supporter of maritime research and maritime collecting in the Pacific Northwest. The structures built by his firm, Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging, include the Lake Washington Floating Bridge (1940) and the Hood Canal Bridge (1961). He completely underwrote the expense of producing The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest and its subsequent volume The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 1966-1976. He was a prime mover in the establishment and early development of Seattle's Museum of History and Industry. Born in Port Townsend on July 30, 1899, the son of one of that city's best-known families. His grandfather, William August McCurdy Jr. (1833-1890) arrived in Port Townsend on the bark Franklin Adams in 1857. William McCurdy, who was trained as a ship's carpenter, was a cousin of Port Townsend pioneer F. W. Pettygrove. After establishing himself in Port Townsend, he traveled the Northwest coast building ships. He worked for the United States government at Mare Island Navy Yard in California, then for shipbuilder Hiram Doncaster's yards in Seabeck, Tacoma, and Port Ludlow. In 1868 he married 17-year-old Johanna Ebinger (1850-1880) of Portland, Oregon. The couple moved from place to place as William McCurdy's jobs required, but by 1871 they had returned to Port Townsend. Using his carpentry skills, William McCurdy set to building houses, and built many of the Victorian houses on the bluff overlooking Port Townsend Bay. Their son, James Griffith McCurdy (1872-1942), H. W.'s father, was born there. The family was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Port Townsend.