Pocock Racing Shells was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1911 and has been an integral part of nearly 100 years of American rowing. The roots of the company go back even further, starting in the 1800s with the Pocock family in their native England.
George Pocock’s father was the head boat builder for prestigious Eton College at Windsor. As a young man, George raced single shells on the famed Thames River. At one of these races he won £50, and with the money purchased passage for himself and his brother, Dick, on a cattle boat bound for Canada. In 1911, on George’s 20th birthday, they arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, with $20 in their pockets and a dream of building fine racing boats. They rented the Vancouver Rowing Club’s boathouse for a shop and found that at low tide they rested precariously on the mud flats. Needless to say, it was not an ideal living or boat building situation. During the ensuing year, they nearly starved.
