The Pearl is a steel-hull,  John Alden designed saiing vessel. John G. Alden (1884-1962) was a Boston-based naval architect known for designing sailing yachts that were comfortable, seakindly, and quick. Alden started his career as an apprentice to yacht designer B.B. Crowninshield, who designed some of Gloucester’s racing fishing schooners, and supplemented with work with a few courses in Naval Architecture at MIT. He started his own yacht design business in 1909, which became famous in the 1920s after a few of Alden’s vessels won races to Bermuda. Sailing yachts made up most of the firm’s business, though Alden also drew plans for commercial and military vessels in the 1940s and 1950s. Alden sold the business to some of his employees after World War II. The firm was later sold again to Tillotsen Holdings, but maintained the same address and design philosophy until it closed for good in 2008.

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The complete John Alden Collection is held at MIT in Boston, with many of Alden's designs available online.