The ship was designed by Pete Culler, a naval architect in the United States, as a working fishing boat with a large engine and a small sailing rig.

Tucker Thompson changed her design to build her in steel and extended her by more than two metres, making the hull longer and deeper to accommodate the tall rigging.

Her design is based on a halibut schooner and a replica of vessels that plied their trade on the Pacific West Coast of the US in the early 19th century.

[2] Auxiliary propulsion is provided by a 120-horsepower (89 kW) Ford diesel engine, capable of driving R. Tucker Thompson at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph).

In a chance meeting, while working in Whangarei on the Bounty replica, Tod met Russell Harris and the pair went into partnership to complete the ship.

The massive fisherman's anchor was found when a pub was being auctioned in Auckland and is stamped with the seal of approval of Lloyds Proving house in Chatham.

[1] Karewa, a Māori figurine to be her guardian,[1] was carved by Gordon Hatfield and presented by William MacDonald Taylor, both of Ngāpuhi.

In the winter, the ship provided a limited quantity of sail training voyages for young people deemed to be “at risk”.

In 2003, Fullers decided to build their own sailing vessel and terminated the arrangement with R. Tucker Thompson, which continued to operate directly.

The ship has been used in films and documentaries including "The Adventurer" series by TVNZ; "Red", a Somerset Maugham story by Infa Film Germany; Rite of Passage for the Australian First Fleet Re-enactment Company; Life of Mammals by the BBC; Captain's Log, a TVNZ documentary charting Captain Cook's circumnavigation of New Zealand; BBC Scotland's documentary on the life of James Morrison; Survivor: Cook Islands for Survivor Entertainment Group and Leo Houlding's "On the Edge" for Ginger TV.