tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79306464601331725012024-03-06T12:01:30.326-08:00Inside PassageThe Blog of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical SocietyPSMHShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00227760490151544404noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-78855709680658101682017-12-21T10:17:00.002-08:002019-07-11T14:05:29.053-07:00I Saw Three Ships<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><i>-- Eleanor Boba</i></span></span><br />
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The sea connects us all.<br />
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A few weeks ago I headed out to Hawaii to explore the connections between Puget Sound and those islands. It is quite easy to find ships that have touched the shores of both. Today I am writing about three vessels from three very different eras and with three different propulsion systems. Each is currently home-berthed at Oahu and each has associations with our own neck of the water.<br />
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Falls of Clyde: Relic of the Age of Sail</span></h3>
The <i>Falls of Clyde</i> is a venerable sailing ship, one of the last of the iron-hulled tall ships that carried cargo around the world from the 19th through the 20th centuries. Like the three-masted ship <i>Balclutha</i>, the pride of San Francico's Hyde Street Pier, she was launched from Glasgow, Scotland. A four-masted, full rigged ship, the <i>Falls of Clyde</i> was an impressive sight in her day. Today she languishes in Honolulu Harbor, awaiting a nebulous fate.<br />
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<i>Painting by Robert Carter, Image courtesy of Save Falls of Clyde - International.</i></div>
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<i>Falls of Clyde</i> was launched in Scotland in 1878, a decade before <i>Balclutha</i>. Following decades of service in the cargo trades, and another career as a petroleum depot in Ketchikan, Alaska, <i>Falls of Clyde </i>wound up as a mastless hulk in Lake Washington waiting for a new owner. There was talk of using the ship as a breakwater in British Columbia, the fate of a number of sailing ships, including the <i>St. Paul</i> and <i>Forest Frien</i>d. At last a home was found for her in Honolulu, one of her many ports of call in her heyday. Late in 1963 the old ship was towed out through the Lake Washington Ship Canal and out to sea. The Navy tug <i>Moctoba</i> took her all the way to Oahu. She arrived in Honolulu on November 17 to a shower of flowers from a helicopter.<br />
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<i><i>The Falls of Clyde is towed through the large locks at Ballard in 1963 on her way to a new berth as a museum ship in Hawaii. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle Division.</i></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-style: normal;">The old windjammer enjoyed a number of years as a tourist attraction in Honolulu (and was even featured in a couple of episodes of </span><i>Magnum P.I!</i><span style="font-style: normal;">) Unfortunately she fell victim to the all-too-common hazards of financing and deferred maintenance. By 2008 she was closed to visitors.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-style: normal;">No longer a welcome presence where she sits surrounded by colorful fish, the </span><i>Falls of Clyde</i> awaits her fate. For years her advocates have strategized a way to keep her from the ocean floor. At this writing, the organizations <b style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.friendsoffallsofclyde.org/" target="_blank">Friends of the Falls of Clyde</a></b> and <b style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://fallsofclydehi.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Save Falls of Clyde - International</a></b> have a plan to transport the ship back to her home country of Scotland next summer to be restored. If all goes well, she will enter drydock at Troon on the Firth of Clyde.</div>
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<i>The Falls of Clyde in Honolulu, at the old "royal pier" adjacent to Aloha Tower, 2017. A maritime museum on the pier, seen behind the ship, closed in 2009. At this writing, nautical artifacts from the museum are being removed to storage in the care of the Bishop Museum. Photo, Alan Humphrey.</i></div>
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<i>Detail of the bow and part of the bowsprit of the ship. A thistle, the national flower of Scotland, is shown prominently. </i><i>Photo, Alan Humphrey.</i></div>
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The USS Missouri: The Last Battleship...?</span></h3>
The battleship <i>Missouri</i> has no critical tie to the Hawaiian Islands. She was towed to Pearl Harbor in 1998 to join an eclectic group of marine museums run by the National Park Service, including the sunken USS <i>Arizona </i>and its iconic memorial and the submarine <i>Bowfin</i>. Since early 1999 Mighty Mo has been open to visitors; to date over seven million folks have toured the ship in her new home.<br />
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Although the <i>Missouri </i>did not launch until 1944, well after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she did play a combat role in the war. Her most notable claim to fame is having served as the site of the formal Japanese surrender to Allied Forces. That event took place in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. It is considered the official end of World War II.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUagbpnIRdL6Wz7KjiC8zihajX6F4Yry4qtTtebqEh8oK95gO0o6PwwpOuqJlDsXGbkKCjDNj27PtZjqGpgFYa7No8ZEijJttbweL_Xm7sFif0il7EalwOwsSYmDwNRMwK6EL3JaDFcHw/s1600/MIssouri+from+PSMHS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="496" height="555" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUagbpnIRdL6Wz7KjiC8zihajX6F4Yry4qtTtebqEh8oK95gO0o6PwwpOuqJlDsXGbkKCjDNj27PtZjqGpgFYa7No8ZEijJttbweL_Xm7sFif0il7EalwOwsSYmDwNRMwK6EL3JaDFcHw/s640/MIssouri+from+PSMHS.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The USS Missouri, BB-63, dated after its 1986 reconstruction and
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<i>From the collection of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</i></td></tr>
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The <i>Missouri </i>also had a long-association with Puget Sound. More than half her life was spent at Bremerton's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as part of the Navy's "mothball fleet." Washingtonians became so accustomed to seeing the <i>Missouri </i>at various events and ceremonies around the sound, that when the Navy opened a bidding process to acquire the decommissioned battleship, citizens and elected officials of this state were quick to organize a drive to keep the ship here. The frustrating, contentious, and ultimately doomed effort, including claims of double-dealing by the Navy, are detailed in a <a href="http://www.historylink.org/File/5537" target="_blank">HistoryLink essay</a> by Daryl C. McClary.<br />
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Hokule'a and her sisters </span></h3>
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<i>Hokule'a with her sails in the crab claw formation. Photo courtesy of Polynesian Voyaging Society</i></div>
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The <i>Hokule'a </i>occupies a strange place in maritime history: both modern and very ancient. The double-hulled voyager canoe, powered only by sail and oar, and using ancient wayfinding navigation, is a recreations of the ancient vessels that brought Polynesians to Hawaii and elsewhere sometime in the first millennium A.D. First launched with a big splash in 1976, <i>Hokule'a </i>gained new fame and relevance in the age of social media. Her three-year good will tour circumnavigated the globe, 2014-2017, and included a meet-up with the <i>Draken Harald Harfagre</i>, a recreation of a Viking ship, on the Erie Canal!<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">TWO TREES FROM ALASKA</span></h4>
The just-concluded World Tour did not include a stop on our West Coast. However, two decades ago, a goodwill tour brought Hokule'a and her sister ship, Hawai'iloa to our shores. The vessels were transported to Seattle by Matson Lines and first welcomed at Golden Gardens at the end of May, 1995. For the next few months, the canoes, together and separately, visited a number of ports of call from Alaska to San Diego. In the Northwest the vessels were seen at the Center for Wooden Boats, the Suquamish Reservation on Bainbridge Island, Neah Bay, Bellingham, Tacoma and Vancouver. Hokule'a participated in National Maritime Week festivities on the Seattle Waterfront during the third week of May.<br />
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An important part of the mission of <i>Hokule'a </i>is to make contact with indigenous populations around the globe. <i>Hawai'iloa </i>had a special mission in the Northwest -- to thank the Native Alaskan tribes that had provided two massive Sitka spruce logs to form the hulls of the vessel. Unlike <i>Hokule'a</i>, which used some modern materials in construction such as fiberglass and plywood, <i>Hawai'iloa</i> was to be built with only indigenous materials. Unfortunately, by the 1990s logging had taken a toll on the stands of koa, the famous hardwood, in Hawaii. In desperation, the builders turned to friends in Alaska and found sympathetic ears among the Tlinget, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples who managed a large wilderness area. With the gift of the trees, freshly-cut for the purpose, <i>Hawai'iloa </i>was launched in 1993.<br />
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<i>We caught up with Hokule'a on a gloomy day at her home berth in Oahu: the Marine Training Education Center on Sand Island. The Hikianalia, another sister ship, sits to the fore. Though not the best location for photographs, this one does show the size of the canoe relative to small sailboats. </i></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Aloha 'oe!</span></i></h4>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;">Sources include Karl House and Joe Baar, PSMHS; Saltwater People Historical Society; Polynesian Voyaging Society; Friends of the Falls of Clyde; HistoryLink.org.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3Honolulu, HI, USA21.3069444 -157.8583333000000321.0702859 -158.18105680000002 21.5436029 -157.53560980000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-26747307442681425262017-10-08T16:03:00.003-07:002019-04-08T10:02:56.325-07:00In Sight of Shore: Prison Ships <div>
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<i>By the light of the torches, we saw the black Hulk laying out a little way from the mud of the shore, like a wicked Noah’s ark. Cribbed and barred and moored by massive rusty chains, the prison-ship seemed in my young eyes to be ironed like the prisoners. We saw the boat go alongside, and we saw him taken up the side and disappear. Then, the ends of the torches were flung hissing into the water, and went out, as it if were all over with him.</i></blockquote>
Young Pip from Charles Dickens’ <i>Great Expectations</i> witnesses an escaped convict returned to his floating prison in the Thames estuary.<br />
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Down through the centuries ships have been turned to many dark purposes. Most with even a passing knowledge of history know of the slave ships that brought Africans to the New World, of the convict ships that took prisoners from Great Britain to its far-flung colonies, as well as of the widespread use of both slaves and convicts to row galleys from ancient times through the 18th century. (Think Jean Valjean.) World War II brought the Japanese “hell-ships” that transported POWs to labor camps.</div>
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Not all may be familiar with the history of ships as anchored, floating prisons. </div>
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HORRIBLE HULKS</h3>
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In retrospect, the use of old, retired ships – or hulks – as places of incarceration is only logical. The derelict vessels were ready-made, needing only simple adjustments, the surrounding water made a natural moat or barrier to escape, and the nearness to shore allowed for the dispatch of parties of prisoners under guard, and often chained, to be used as forced labor or rented out to local farmers. Little niceties, such as humane treatment for prisoners or communication with families, could be more easily overlooked in the isolated conditions afforded by these offshore prisons.</div>
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The <i>Jersey</i>, a sketch from the memoirs of Captain Dring.</div>
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Prison hulks were an accepted sight on the Thames and at other locations in Dickens’ time and before. They also became a familiar sight in New York Harbor and other points along the shores of the colonies during the American Revolution. The Jersey was perhaps the most infamous of several ships used by the British to confine rebels taken prisoner during that conflict. Captain Thomas Dring of the Continental Navy wrote later of his months as an inmate of the ship, describing the abysmal conditions in lurid detail:</div>
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<i>But terrible indeed was the condition of most of my fellow captives. Memory still brings before me those emaciated beings, moving from the Galley, with their wretched pittance of meat; each creeping to the spot where his mess were assembled, to divide it with a group of haggard and sickly creatures, their garments hanging in tatters around their meagre limbs, and the hue of death upon their care-worn faces. [1]</i></blockquote>
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Historians believe that more American combatants died while imprisoned by the British than perished on the battlefield.</div>
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CLOSER TO HOME</h3>
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Gold Rush California was served by at least two prison ships, both anchored in San Francisco Bay. That town was overpowered by a ragtag influx of gold-seekers from all over the world in 1849 and the early 1850s. The single “calaboose” supplied by the Mexican authorities soon proved inadequate to house the many rowdies. It was natural for the town council to turn to one of the many abandoned sailing vessels in the bay. The <i>Euphemia </i>was purchased from her owner for $3500 and retrofitted for use as both a prison and an insane asylum beginning in 1850, the same year California became a state of the Union. [2]</div>
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About a year later the state obtained the <i>Waban </i>for service as a prison ship. Local newspapers deplored the congested and unsanitary conditions of both the water-borne and land-based detention facilities, comparing them to the Black Hole of Calcutta. These floating dungeons did not last long; by 1852 prisoners from the <i>Waban </i>were being used to build San Quentin Prison.</div>
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MARE ISLAND</h3>
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In the 20th century, a more developed correctional system in the United States had no need for make-shift prisons for civilian prisoners. However, the United States Navy found a use for prison ships for court-martialed sailors at a number of bases and shipyards. On the West Coast the shipyard at Mare Island, founded in 1853 and located in San Francisco’s North Bay, was the primary detention facility for wayward sailors from throughout the Pacific. Ships were pulled into service from time to time to take the overflow of miscreants from the ever-squeezed shore facilities. The prisoners included a fellow named McDonough, who deserted his position on the battleship <i>Missouri </i>in China in order to see his girlfriend, [3] and another man named Lukesh, a Navy Paymaster with a shady history which included disrobing in a public dining place, confined for public drunkenness. [4] Both were held on the gunboat <i>Manila </i>in the early 1900s.</div>
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In 1944, during the infamous Port Chicago court-martial, a number of the accused were held temporarily on an overcrowded prison barge at Mare Island.</div>
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EVEN CLOSER TO HOME</h3>
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But ships as prisons were something far removed from our shores in the Pacific Northwest. Or were they?</div>
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With the chronic overcrowding at the Mare Island prison facilities, the navy turned to its newer base on Puget Sound. In 1908, 70 detainees were taken on two ships from Mare Island to the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, to be housed on another ship – the USS <i>Nipsic</i>. That venerable gunboat had served in the Civil War for the Union Navy and barely survived a massive 1889 hurricane in Apia Harbor, Samoa, that destroyed a number of vessels. In 1892, newly repaired at Mare Island, she had been brought up to Bremerton to serve the needs of the newly established Puget Sound Navy Yard. At that time a large deck house or “barn” was constructed on her deck as a drill hall. <i>Nipsic </i>was originally used as a receiving ship – a barracks for new naval recruits. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarqCq3yffsVIM2zsxec-I7tjJ_ZB57X5CU6JEq6o-28C7EHYnyyz1QJlBNfr-inHA91TVIFV6T-bSTnJrrD-f0WuPYGOUsF3CrjOLu1MFIo6htG8dFM9HvlyumEIowM_N1Q6h22uj0sc/s1600/Nipsic+Williamson+Coll+without+superstructure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1373" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarqCq3yffsVIM2zsxec-I7tjJ_ZB57X5CU6JEq6o-28C7EHYnyyz1QJlBNfr-inHA91TVIFV6T-bSTnJrrD-f0WuPYGOUsF3CrjOLu1MFIo6htG8dFM9HvlyumEIowM_N1Q6h22uj0sc/s400/Nipsic+Williamson+Coll+without+superstructure.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The <i>Nipsic </i>as she appeared when she first arrived in Bremerton. Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Joe Williamson Collection.</div>
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The <i>Nipsic </i>at anchor at Puget Sound Naval Yard; the new deck house is clearly visible. Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Naval Museum.</div>
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Sometime between 1903 and 1907 (sources vary), with the arrival of the larger USS <i>Philadelphia</i>, <i>Nipsic </i>was converted to a prison ship. However, she was not put into service as such until early 1908, in time to receive the Mare Island folks. At that time government records list her with a capacity of 125 inmates. The diagram below shows the lay-out of the ship with prison cells in the lower deck and something called “Dark Cells” in the hold below. One can only guess that the dark cells were solitary confinement. </div>
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Inboard profile of <i>Nipsic </i>as a prison ship, ca. 1905. Adapted by Richard M. Anderson from a sketch in the Holbrook Collection, Kitsap Regional Library, Bremerton, WA; appears in Richard M. Anderson, “The USS <i>Nipsic</i>,” <i>The Sea Chest</i>, June 1996.</div>
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The centennial history of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard quotes one Ray Raines on his memories of the Nipsic.</div>
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<i>All portholes and windows were barred over, and she was painted black from waterline to her stubby mastheads. The prisoners served court martial sentences for serious crimes -- not just drinking or a few days of AWOL. They were serving time at hard labor, and did menial work around the Yard, such as cleaning streets, raking leaves etc. They wore prison-grey uniforms and worked under the watchful eyes of a Marine guard armed with a sawed-off pump-action shotgun --- loaded with buckshot. I was told at the time, and quite likely it was true, that if a prisoner in a work party escaped, the Marine guard would be court-martialed, and if found guilty of neglect, he would be sentenced to serve out the unexpired term of the escapee ... I never heard of a prisoner escaping from a work party. [5]</i></blockquote>
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Raines’ description might lead us to suspect that Mare Island sent its worst up to Bremerton. However, newspaper accounts of the day tell us of one man who had served several months on the <i>Nipsic </i>in 1909 for the simple crime of overstaying his furlough. This man, Chandler Rogers, made news headlines due to a subsequent bout of amnesia which wiped out all memory of his time on the prison ship. [6]</div>
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The <i>Nipsic’s </i>career as a prison ship was her last service to the US Navy. In 1912 the <i>Nipsic</i> was replaced by the cruiser <i>Philadelphia </i>as the station’s prison ship. The <i>Philadelphia </i>continued in that role for about four years until the Navy chose to consolidate its prison facilities at Portsmouth, New Hampshire (really in Maine!) and at Mare Island.</div>
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SUCCESS STORY</h3>
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There is one other interesting historical anecdote connecting prison ships to Puget Sound. In 1915 a floating museum, the <i>Success</i>, dropped anchor in Seattle and in Tacoma; Her gangplanks were lowered for visitors to view exhibits depicting the British penal system of transporting convicts to colonies in Australia. The paradoxically-named <i>Success </i>had a lengthy history of displaying the horrors of penal transportation throughout the world, including an appearance at the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. It was a supreme effort of showmanship worthy of P.T. Barnum – in fact, the <i>Success </i>had never been a convict ship, although it did have a brief career as a prison hulk in South Australia, approximately 1852 to 1857. </div>
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The <i>Success </i>moored at the Tacoma Municipal Dock on Foss Waterway in 1915. Photo courtesy of Tacoma Public Library, Marvin D. Boland Collection G50.1.103.</div>
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The ship did make for enthralling viewing. In the words of a local reporter, “more than 15,000,000 persons have inspected the vessel, gazing with horror into her gloomy cells and blackholes, where the original chains and instruments of torture still clank tragically with the roll of the antiquated hulk.” [7] That’s an impressive, if suspect, attendance figure, even if calculated over a period of some twenty years. According to the article, the <i>Success </i>was spending the winter of 1915/16 lying up in the Snohomish River.</div>
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Gruesome images of the displays on the <i>Success</i>, including this one, are available on the Facebook Page “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/Sailing-Ship-Success-166747340036841/photos/?ref=page_internal" target="_blank">Sailing Ship Success</a>.” </div>
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Promotional postcard; image courtesy of Rich Norgard, <a href="http://www.shipsuccess.com/">www.ShipSuccess.com</a>.</div>
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For a more humorous look at the horrible hulk, go along with film stars Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand as they tour the ship in the film reel “<a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/00694430/" target="_blank">Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World’s Fair at San Francisco</a>,” available through the Library of Congress. Pick up the hijinks at about minute 10:00 and don’t miss Fatty’s interaction with the iron maiden!</div>
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UNCHAINED?</h3>
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No prison ships currently ride the waves of Puget Sound. The same cannot be said with assurance of the rest of the seven seas. The very nature of ships – contained, yet movable – make them ideal for shadowy doings. It is likely that prison ships still float many parts of the world, with ghosts both dead and alive.</div>
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<i>-- Eleanor Boba</i><br />
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ENDNOTES</h3>
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[1] Thomas Dring, <i>Reflections of the Jersey Prison Shi</i>p, edited by Albert Greene (Providence: H.H. Brown, 1829).<br />
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[2] James P. Delgado, "Gold Rush Jail: The Prison Ship “<i>Euphemia</i>,’ <i>California History</i>," Vol. 60, No. 2, Summer 1981.<br />
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[3] “Romance of Fleet Ends in Irons,” <i>The (San Francisco) Call</i>, December 15, 1908.<br />
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[4] “Lukesh put in Mare Island Prison Ship,” <i>The (San Francisco) Call</i>, January 9, 1907. “Lukesh Prevailed Upon to Resign,” Ibid., January 16, 1907.<br />
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[5] Louise M. Reh and Helen Lou Ross, <i>Nipsic to Nimitz: A Centennial History of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard </i>(Bremerton, WA: Federal Managers’ Association, 1991).<br />
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[6] “S. Chandler Rogers Took Name of Kenny,” <i>The Seattle Daily Times</i>, November 1, 1911.<br />
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[7] “Convict Ship Success, Oldest Craft in World, Offered Grain Charter,” <i>The Seattle Daily Times</i>, February 20, 1916. It should be noted that the <i>Success </i>was <u>not </u>the oldest commissioned craft in the world; that claim was held then and continues to be held by the USS <i>Constitution</i>.<br />
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Special thanks to Karl House and Joe Baar, Puget Sound Maritime, and Megan Churchwell, Puget Sound Navy Museum.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-62637781325382568952017-05-30T10:04:00.003-07:002017-05-30T10:07:15.918-07:00Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society: An Early History<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="color: red;">BY LUCILE MCDONALD Edited by Eleanor Boba</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Well-known journalist,
author, and historian Lucile McDonald compiled this history of PSMHS in the
early 1970s. Five years later she added an addendum covering the years 1974 to
1979. McDonald’s history ends just prior to the Society’s acquisition of the
Joe Williamson Photography Collection.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">The editor has
transcribed McDonald's type-written essays largely verbatim except where slight
changes were needed for clarity. A few lines of the first essay have been lost
to time. These essays have not been published previously.</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">PART I</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For two years prior to March, 1948, a group of ship lovers
and waterfront businessmen in Seattle kicked around the idea of forming an
organization to preserve marine artifacts and lore while there were still some
who remembered the romantic days of shipping on Puget Sound. Finally, they decided
to call a meeting on April 1 in the upstairs room at Ivar’s Acres of Clams
restaurant. That proved to some extent an April Fool’s joke, for only five men
showed up – Joe Williamson, Jim Gibbs, Bob Leithead, Tom Sandry, and Austen
Hemion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: x-small;">The five founding members of PSMHS: From Left: Jim
Gibbs, Tom Sandry, Joe Williamson, Bob Leithead and Austen Hemion, 1948. PSMHS Photo, Negative No. 8216</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They were not the least discouraged by this small response,
but went ahead and constituted themselves an executive board, calling a second
session two weeks later at the same place. Word got around that they were in
earnest and 21 men turned out. Among them were Jack Dillon, Captain Bob Matson,
Wilbur Thompson, Frank Ewers, Harry Anderson, Bill Bailey, Earl Peterson, Bob
Lund, Stuart Prestrud and Bill Somers. In the beginning, at the urging of Fred
Geibel, editor of the <i>Marine Digest</i>,
they called themselves the Puget Sound Steamship Historical Society, but this
did not set well with the board members. Giebel visualized them as constituting
a chapter of the nation-wide Steamship Historical Society, but the group
preferred an independent strong local identity. Therefore, to Geibel’s regret,
they soon altered the name to Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, which it
has remained ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of the 21 men who toasted the new organization in clam
nectar are still active members. A photograph taken at the second meeting
showed a young aggregation except for a couple of veterans, Captain N.A.
McDougall and Captain Hugh Gilmore, now deceased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Officers elected were Williamson, president; Sandry, vice
president; Hemion, secretary-treasurer; and Gibbs, program chairman. It was
thought the Transportation Club could be used for meetings, but this did not
work out and the early ones were held at the Gowman Hotel and the Seattle Yacht
Club, where Webster Anderson was a member. The board of directors meanwhile met
at private homes, often at Sandry’s where they gathered around the piano and
sang after business was completed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Members liked the Yacht Club, where they could sit in front
of the big fireplace and spin yarns about ships, but a young people’s group
scheduled square dance lessons for the same night and the competition became
too difficult to cope with, so the society moved back to the Gowman early in
1949. It was still eating there when the hotel became the Stewart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the first activities the society engaged in was
sponsoring the race between the <i>Sightseer</i>
and the <i>Virginia V</i> as part of the
port’s Maritime Day program. This took place only a couple of months after the
founding of the organization. Jim Gibbs was prime mover of the event.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dinner speakers that initial year included Captain E.B.
Coffin, master of the express steamer Tacoma, and Captain J. Fletcher Ruttle,
who has been master of a Liberty ship for Northland Transportation Company
during the war. The latter presented his own motion pictures taken during two
years in the Antarctic. Captain Coffin in December became the first honorary
life member. At the same meeting, it was voted to retain all the incumbent
officers for another year. A roster of charter members was made up, showing a total
of 34, of whom three were women.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The impression had prevailed that the society was for males
only and while they were still meeting at the Yacht Club a woman showed up for
a session. She must have felt uncomfortable, for she never returned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In April, 1949, the group celebrated its first birthday with
an old-fashioned box social aboard the <i>Virginia
V</i>. Ken Ayers was master of
ceremonies and Chuck Day acted as auctioneer for the decorated boxes after a
prize was given for the prettiest one. The boat cruised an hour without cost to
the members, but the lunches were for cash. During the festivities, Captain
Howell Parker of the <i>Virginia V</i> was
presented with the second honorary life membership.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was in the days before the Seattle Historical Society
erected its building [MOHAI at Montlake] and the maritime group was badly in
need of a place in which to store artifacts. A first suggestion that the
University of Washington be asked if it could spare space brought no response.
The maritime society made its debut in the field of exhibits at the Seattle
Boat Show in February, 1949 when it provided a display in cooperation with the <i>Marine Digest</i>. After that the Chamber of
Commerce offered storage space near Wolfe’s Marina, but several members
inspected it and rejected the proposal. Another space was offered by C. Arthur
Foss aboard the ship <i>Cheakamus</i>, which
the society might also use for headquarters and a museum. Again, a committee
went forth, this time to Kennydale, to inspect the vessel, but the proposal
evidently was considered impractical, as it was dropped after discussion at the
February meeting. It would have entailed providing a moorage and necessary
maintenance of the vessel and displays.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Storage was a pressing problem, as part of the
organization’s aim at the very beginning had been to preserve as many souvenirs
and pictures of old-time vessels as possible. Not a few of the charter members
engaged in what was facetiously termed “moonlight requisitioning” when they
visited a hull about to be demolished or disposed of for a breakwater and combed
it for any significant equipment that might have been left. They were not
averse to tramping over tidal flats and extracting pieces of derelict vessels
embedded in beaches. No source was overlooked; the society openly solicited
gifts of engines, steam whistles – just about anything. But where were the
trophies to be kept? Some were in members’ attics, basements, and garages, but
the collecting was entirely too ambitious for the accommodations. For instance,
one of the first items the society discussed going after was the steam engine
of the tug <i>Pioneer</i> owned by Pope
& Talbot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGM3tOnXaH4USOcNvAg1LrML2sDCEy3d09liBGc_FFJAhtK40p8RIQMf3iSdcm4jeLGmeO5qPqPQ2K49rMPn3l7qYPE07532cToTo_Lu2tNCrxt17EEErRl-QladygYH4rPn4i5FCtpe8/s1600/Pioneer+tugboat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="512" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGM3tOnXaH4USOcNvAg1LrML2sDCEy3d09liBGc_FFJAhtK40p8RIQMf3iSdcm4jeLGmeO5qPqPQ2K49rMPn3l7qYPE07532cToTo_Lu2tNCrxt17EEErRl-QladygYH4rPn4i5FCtpe8/s400/Pioneer+tugboat.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The steam tug Pioneer. Undated photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another project proposed that initial year was compilation of
a master list of members’ private libraries of books about the sea. As a basis
for programs Jack Dillon offered to pick two historical ships for discussion at
each meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In August, 1949, it was decided to issue a news letter incorporating
each meeting announcement. To begin with this was a single mimeographed sheet
containing items of interest. To sharpen wits Austen Hemion,
secretary-treasurer, included sample questions for members to think about and
discuss: What was the first automobile ferry to run to Bainbridge Island? What
was the first steamer under American registry to operate from Puget Sound to
the Orient? What was the name of the first steamer of iron or steel on regular
schedule from Puget Sound to Southeastern Alaska?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That fall Joe Williamson and Jim Gibbs promoted the idea of holding
an annual dinner to honor waterfront old-timers. Ken Ayers, who was master of
ceremonies at that initial banquet, recalls that between 150 and 200 attended
the event in the Transportation Club. The committee underestimated attendance
and a partition had to be removed in order to accommodate so many. Numerous
guests were men past the age of 70 and Gibbs had a difficult time singling out
the oldest, settling at last on Captain Fred P. Harlow. George Westerman proved
to be the oldest in active service. Awards were given both. Other honored
guests were Captain Everett B. Coffin, J.H. Buxbaum, Captain Zu Murry, Rob
Ross, Captain Zipp Wyatt, F.H. Marvin and C. Arthur Foss. Pictures of old ships
and slides were exhibited as part of the program, which included songs by Ivar
Haglund and community singing led by Chuck Day, with Tom Sandry at the piano.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Captain Howell Parker was presented with a plaque [….and
another] was set aside for Captain Harry Wilson of the <i>Sightseer</i>, who could not be present. The climax of the evening was the
unveiling of the original bell of the <i>Victoria</i>,
formerly the <i>Parthia</i>, loaned for the
occasion by G.W. Skinner. Brief speeches were made by W.E. Springstun, who was
on the <i>Dora</i> during her famous drift
in the North Pacific, and by Captain Henry Foss. The gathering was so
successful that there was no question but that it would be repeated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next year’s old-timers’ night was staged at the Masonic
Temple and brought out an attendance of 206. Ayers was again master of
ceremonies and one of the features was an exhibit of the models of the Puget
Sound Navigation Co. fleet and the Colman Dock, brought by Bill Somers from his
private museum on Stretch Island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1950, the society sponsored a more ambitious race on the
waterfront, with 18 tugs entered. It received a generous amount of publicity
and the June meeting was devoted to a discussion of the benefits of the race
and the showing of pictures taken during the contest. The course was 4.9
nautical miles, there were three classes of entries and the winners of first
place in each were the USS <i>Tatnuck</i>,
the ST 860, and the <i>Ajax</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Participation in the towboat races became a greater
financial obligation than the society could afford, although it joined with the
Propeller Club in sponsoring them. However, it had to get out of the races
because of the cost and the fact that tugs could not be spared for
participation in the event. Vivian Smith in 1952 received an award from the Propeller
Club for work she did in its behalf. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Programs of the society invariably were interesting, in fact
the quality of discussion and speakers furnished for the meetings has always
been a great drawing card. Here are some of the early ones featured: George
Treadwell, chief engineer of the Port of Seattle, with slides to illustrate his
talk; H.C. Hansen, naval architect; Commander Ben Wilcox, on his experience in
the Coast Guard; Alan McDonald, on his work at Acapulco, Mexico, in connection
with the stranding of the cruise ship Corsair; A.J. McGree, on the government
locks; Captain John Backlun of the schooner <i>C.S.
Holmes</i>, with his motion pictures showing arctic trading; a speaker from the
Coast Guard on “the Weather Man at Sea;” Dr. Dorothy Johnson, of Portland, on
the history of the Oregon Steam Navigation Co.; Captain Alan Villiers; Captain
Loring F. Heyde, of Port Angeles, on his work as a salvage officer in two world
wars; the origin and history of the compass; Mike Shain, on early pleasure boat
building and racing; C. Arthur Foss on early towboating; Robert Hitchman on
Washington coastal names; Black Ball night with Alexander Peabody as speaker;
Captain Ralph E. Fielding on his 27 years as a naval physician; Howard Lovejoy
and his aunt on the Coupeville saga, and Captain Frank Huxtable on the heroic
effort to salvage the <i>North Sea</i>,
stranded on Porter Reef.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometimes the meetings were simply billed as “gab-fest and
picture-guessing night.” At another time, Professor Charles Gates of the
University of Washington spoke on “The Puget Sound Story – How Can the Society
Tell it?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At a board meeting in May, 1951, the question of becoming
incorporated was raised. Austen Hemion headed a committee to investigate the
wisdom of this and what it would cost. In November of the same year, the
incorporation under the laws of Washington as a nonprofit voluntary association
was effected.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The status of women in the organization was laid at rest at
the January, 1951, meeting when Ruby El Hult<a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> was elected secretary-treasurer. Vivian Smith already had
joined, having attended a session “to find out just what kept her husband out
on meeting night.” She enjoyed it so much she applied for membership. Two years
later she was editing the news letter when her husband, Floyd, was
secretary-treasurer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The news letter started as a one-page sheet with board
reports and announcements of meetings at the top and news items filling the
rest of the page. It expanded to two pages, partially discussing maritime
subjects for members to ponder. For several years, Vivian Smith typed and
mimeographed this publication at home and attended to the mailing. Then in
March, 1955, John W. Todd took over the job and in November began publishing a
more ambitious sheet from his office in the Shorey Book Store. This would
permit addition of supplements contributed as the result of members’ research.
Ruby El Hult and Captain McDougall already had provided several extra pages in
the earlier issues. McDougall combed old files in libraries, dug into stories
about early vessels, and worked so diligently he was for a time appointed
historian. He was still at it when he died suddenly May 13, 1957.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the beginning, there had been an attempt to fill four
appointive positions of registrar, librarian, custodian, and historian. In 1950
Bob Leithead volunteered as historian, Lloyd Stadum as librarian, and Joe
Williamson as custodian [curator]. The following year one of the board meetings
devoted a long time to discussion as to how to interest members in
participating in research. Again, in October, the problem of storage came up,
as Bill Bailey no longer could take care of acquisitions and the society needed
to find someone with space for them. Tom Sandry offered to house them for a
limited time, but Williamson thought the stuff could be farmed out to more members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All were dreaming of having a real museum and the <i>Marine Digest</i> offered space in an empty
room at 81 Columbia Street, beside its office. Vivian Smith remembers several
of the members climbing on ladders to clean out cobwebs. They gave the room a thorough
going over before installing the exhibits. “We opened on a Saturday afternoon,”
Vivian recalls. “Eve Hitchcock and I baked cookies and served coffee. Austen
Hemion helped us get ready. We worked like a bunch of idiots before the place
opened.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The museum on Columbia Street was fairly short-lived. The <i>Marine Digest</i> moved and in the fall of
1954 the artifacts had to be gathered again and were stored at the Bell Street
terminal for several years. After the Museum of History and Industry erected
the first unit of its building the society brought out some of its treasures
and loaned them for it first exhibit in that structure in March, 1954. At the
time, there were several other sponsors of the display, including the Port of
Seattle, the Propeller Club, Seattle Historical Society, and the H.W. McCurdy
collection. (McCurdy had been collecting ever since 1921.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Somewhat later the society again loaned artifacts to the
museum for a mosquito fleet exhibit in 1956, viewed by 17,000 spectators.
Vivian Smith headed a women’s committee who served refreshments at the opening,
attended by 1,400. Much work went with preparing the exhibit. Eva Hitchcock
typed all the display cards. The mosquito fleet was always a popular subject;
visitors enjoyed particularly seeing the models and old pictures of early day
Puget Sound vessels and this type of exhibit has remained standard fare from
time to time up to the present.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What had started as an easy-going association to talk about
boats and the sea had taken on a good many obligations. Being a member of the
society was no longer a hobby; sometimes it was a heavy chore. There was, for
instance, the old-timers’ night. A question arose as to whether anyone would
take charge of arrangement for the third banquet, in 1951. At first there was
no response, no one could spare the time, then Floyd and Vivian Smith rose to
the occasion and the event was saved from foundering. It was staged that
November again at the Masonic Temple. A complaint was voiced that only 30
members attended, some having the mistaken idea that dinner was only for old-timers.
Chris Querin, who had been operator of the Arlington Dock, was the speaker, Don
Venables sang, Tom Sandry was at the piano, and Bill Bailey, Jr. played the
accordion. Ken Ayers phoned long distance to wish the gathering luck; he was by
this time at the Armed Forces staff college at Norfolk, Va.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fourth annual banquet moved to the Benjamin Franklin
Hotel, with the gangplank down at 3 p.m. for coffee, and dinner was served at
an early hour. Captain Ben Joyce, Sr. was speaker, Captain Frank Huxtable was
master of ceremonies and pictures were shown by Joe Williamson and Bob
Leithead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The advertised speaker for the 1954 old-timers’ meeting became
ill two days before his much-publicized appearance and there was no choice but
to turn the meeting over to the old-timers themselves. About 15 were warned by
telephone that they might be called upon and they responded with great
enthusiasm. Not all had a chance to speak their piece before the hour became
late and a halt had to be called. It was declared one of the best programs to
date.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next year the speaker was Captain C.W. Cates, Mayor of North
Vancouver, on “Adventures in Sail and Steam.” Both those dinners were at the
Stewart Hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From time to time the board of governors had asked
themselves if they were carrying out their goals and giving the society real
meaning in the community. The early, motto, oft repeated in the News Letter,
was “For the collection and preservation of objects and data of maritime interest.”
But what was the use of saving them if there was no place where they could be
seen and utilized? Though acquisitions continued to pour in, little could be
done with them except to mount loose photographs in albums. Regret was felt
that some sailing ship pictures were being lost due to the energetic search
conducted for the San Francisco marine museum. [The San Francisco Maritime
Museum was established in 1951.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The society’s was the not the first attempt made in Seattle
to sponsor a maritime museum. As far back as 1934 the Puget Sound Academy of
Science had moored the old square-rigger <i>St.
Paul</i> near the Chittenden Locks and fitted her out with artifacts and photographs.
Thousands of school children, tourists, and marine-minded citizens visited her
before the craft was pronounced unseaworthy. Her spars had to be removed and,
in 1940, she was towed to Vancouver Island and sunk as part of a breakwater for
a logging company [at Oyster Bay]. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The St. Paul, a short-lived marine museum and aquarium, at the Locks, circa 1934. Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Her departure from the scene was deeply mourned and since
all efforts to replace her with another old ship seemed doomed to failure the
Maritime Historical Society altered its goal of a waterfront museum and joined
forces with the Museum of History and Industry in an effort to finance a new
wing for nautical collections. The museum already owned more sea-oriented
artifacts such as figureheads, old sextants, hundreds of pictures, name-boards,
and other items than could be accommodated in available display space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In January, 1954, the executive board established a building
fund, to begin with life memberships. Webb Anderson was first to buy one and
Floyd Smith was second. It appeared practical to construct an annex to house
all the marine material and in 1956 Floyd Smith was appointed head of a
fund-raising committee sponsored by the society. Plans already had been drawn
for the addition to the Museum of History and Industry and a goal of $100,000
was set to finance it. The structure was to be 53 feet wide and either 81 or
100 feet long, depending upon the state of the exchequer. It would allow for a
display room on the main floor and office and storage space below. Smith said
it was to have been approached with four steps down. The members objected; they
were thinking of years ahead when they might not be sure-footed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other members of the committee were John W. Todd, Horace W.
McCaurdy, Coiln McLennon, Robert Hitchman and Ralph Hitchcock. Their meeting
place was the pilots’ office. Individuals made calls upon steamship companies,
but only succeeded in securing gifts from four of them. Many persons were solicited for whatever
amounts they were willing to donate. The backbone of the fund consisted of 27
life memberships of $100 each, which became what Smith termed “seed money.” It
was used for brochures and other expenses. McCurdy’s private secretary
volunteered some of the work such as writing letters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“We worked six or eight months on the drive,” Smith said.
“There were lots of small donations, but we had a tough time until Horace
McCurdy, acting in behalf of the Seattle Historical Society, brought in Dwight
Merrill and Joshua Green. McCurdy also gave generously himself. I remember that
McLennon and I used to go and see Green and invariably he wound up saying, ‘You
know, Floyd, the waterfront is in my heart,’ but we didn’t know where we were
with him until McCurdy pinned him down.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another consideration which occupied the committee for a
long time was that, although the fund reached $1147,000, it was not all in
negotiable form. The building’s actual cost was $136,000, of which very little
in the end was raised by the society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At length on August 8, 1958, ground was broken for the
maritime wing, Vivian Smith, Bob Hitchman, Joshua Green and Horace McCurdy
manning the shovels along with the mayor and others. Floyd Smith was unable to
be present, so Vivian took his place. The building opened June 9, 1959, with
more than 1,300 persons attending the evening program, which was heralded with
the characteristic blasts of a steam whistle, this time from the historic Sound
vessel the <i>Politofsky</i> that had once
been a Russian gunboat. This same whistle became a part of the permanent
collection. In 1909, it had blown for the opening of the Alaska Yukon Pacific
Exposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By 1956, a tape recorder had been acquired by the society
for the purpose of preserving worth-while addresses at the meetings. Had this
practice been followed in earlier years many a speaker’s narrative of pioneer
shipping in the North Pacific could have been added to the collection. These
were experiences impossible to recapture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were speakers on such subjects as “Early Tugs on Puget
Sound,” the works of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Dew Line, Admiral
Donald B. MacMillan and his Arctic adventures, Edward Allen on LaPerouse’s
explorations, author Kenneth Dodson, Captain Carl M. Hansen on an expedition to
record Arctic drift, two fisheries experts telling of a trip to Kamchatka and
Sakhalin Island, Dr. Victor Scheffer on the fur seal islands, a Coast Guard
officer with a film on the cutters that sailed the Northwest Passage, the
commander of the icebreaker <i>Burton Island</i>
on his just-completed trip to the Antarctic, Bill Holm on early Indian canoes.
There was always something stimulating in the programs and sufficient variety
to attract an audience of varied ages. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usually once a year the society sponsored a boat trip of
some sort. In September, 1957, it made the final crossing of the ferry <i>Chippewa</i> to Bremerton under command of
Captain Louis van Bogaert. Cake was served on board, whistles were blown
frequently, and tickets were free to members for the round trip. In 1964, there
was a cruise aboard the <i>Thea Foss</i> to
Port Townsend and again that year members made an excursion to Victoria on the <i>Princess Marguerite</i> and were bussed to
the Maritime Museum at Esquimault. Another cruise on the <i>Thea Foss</i> was around Bainbridge Island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usually the first session on the fall calendar called for
reports of interesting marine vacation trips made by members. For the tenth anniversary
meeting Joe Williamson arranged a display of photographs of early society activities.
This was the first time the society experimented with a no-dinner meeting at
the Museum of History and Industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the years the organization had received an increasing
variety of gifts, among them a harpoon gun for whaling, the Seth Thomas clock
from Burroughs Island Lighthouse, 10 half-hull models of ships from a marine
architect’s estate, a knot board, a kerosene powered sailing ship’s starboard
running light, a telegrapher’s key with a British tuppence soldered to it as one
of the breaker points, a volume kept by the official wine measurer of the Port
of New York, the records and papers of the Puget Sound Navigation Co., the lens
from Patos Island Lighthouse --- these were just a few items among the hundreds
that came in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the beginning, Lloyd Stadum was willing to be librarian
and keep track of the receipt of books, magazines, pictures, postcards, albums
and circulars, but after five or six years the task required more than 20 hours
every week and he asked to be relieved. This was done and Alexis Alvey took
over for a while, but in another six months Stadum was at it again and he has
been so occupied consistently ever since. In 1962, he was made an honorary life
member in recognition of his long service as a librarian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most important literary acquisition was the Jack Rabell
collection of books on marine subjects, a private library which the Alaska
Steamship Co. purchased and placed in custody of the society in 1961. Rabell
had spent 14 years assembling it. He was American representative of the World
Ship Society. His collection gave the Maritime Historical Society one of the
best marine libraries in the country. However, the material is not yet fully
organized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the time when John W. Todd became a member he took a
prominent part in the society, not only editing the News Letter, but offering
his book shop as a place for board meetings. When contributions for the
bulletin did not arrive in time he filled the pages with poems about the sea,
jokes culled from old <i>Readers Digests</i>,
and sometimes with selections that had a devout slant. Alexis Alvey also sent
in a column headed “Beachcombing Among the Bookshelves.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Publication of the News Letter was then the group’s major
item of expense. Artwork for it was donated by Mrs. Otto Marsh, who illustrated
Shorey’s catalogues. Doc Freeman and his wife handled the mailing. By 1963, the
publication ran as many as 16 pages in its supplements and another eight pages
for the letter itself, plus a colored sheet for cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eventually ten members addressed a letter to the board of
governors in 1961 requesting that no more articles of a religious nature be
printed, since they were not in accord with the purpose of the society. A
committee was appointed to review the matter, and, after being considered at
two board meetings, it was voted that nothing controversial should appear in
the space allotted to Todd for editorial comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By 1963 there were suggestions from members to publish a
quarterly, reduce the news letter to a one-sheet program announcement, cut out
the supplements and limit the content only to maritime articles of historical
nature. [Old members were encouraged] to think and write about the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The board [ultimately] chose a middle course as a result of
the discussion and the News Letter ended its career with the March, 1967,
issue. The <i>Sea Chest</i> was launched the
following September and the practice of sending brief monthly meeting
announcements began. The society then had 226 paid-up members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">William O. Thorniley edited the first issue of the
quarterly, which had for its editorial board Wilbur B. Thompson, then
president, Bob Leithead, Jim Vallentyne, Tom Sandry, and Hal H. Will. By the December
issue Hal Will had become editor. Gordon Jones also joined the editorial board
and Roy J. Storey was handling circulation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The second number was dedicated to the memory of James Davenport
Vallentyne, who in the interval had been tragically lost at sea. He was
credited with having put in much time and effort to make the initial <i>Sea Chest</i> a success. He had been
president of the society in 1959 and 1960 and his home was then the meeting
place for the board of governors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a time, regular sessions in the Museum of History and
Industry were tried out, but the membership preferred gathering for dinner, so
except for special programs this became the rule. The place had shifted from
the Stewart Hotel to the Edmond Meany [Hotel] to the Roosevelt [Hotel] and the
Norselander [Seafood Restaurant]. In September, 1964, a meeting was staged
aboard the historic ship <i>Wawona</i>, when
coffee was served to about 75 persons and the session was called to order in
the lower hold to hear a talk by the late [Seattle City] Councilmember Wing
Luke. In 1967, a similar meeting was held aboard the <i>Hyak</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 1960s the old-timers’ dinner continued to be an
outstanding feature of the year. Among the speakers highlighting these
occasions were Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus and Rear Admiral Zausler. One program
honored Puget Sound Freight Lines and another featured the American Mail Line.
Joshua green was so often the oldest member present at this affair that it
became sport to guess who would be the nearest runner-up. The October 1969
waterfront reunion honored Green’s 100<sup>th</sup> birthday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Membership dues were a matter of concern for several years.
In 1968, they were increased to $7.00 and in 1969 they were again raised in
order to balance expenses. For a time, it was tried alternating dinner meetings
and sessions at the museum, but the latter was given up entirely except for the
annual gathering to view the Christmas trees, an established tradition. The
group ate for a while at the Swedish Club, but in the winter of 1970 moved to
the Windjammer, which ever since has been the organization’s choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The year 1968 was notable for raising a fund for a memorial
plaque honoring the late Jim Vallentyne and for winning the anchor award from
the Port of Seattle on Maritime Day when the <i>Sea Chest</i> was named the best marine book of the year. Outstanding
programs feature Lieutenant Hamilton of the icebreaker <i>Staten Island</i> telling of the rescue of the <i>Northwind</i> and another describing the towing of the battleship <i>Oklahoma</i> from Pearl Harbor to Puget
Sound after the sunken vessel was purchased for salvaging. Captain Ben Joyce
was the oldest member present at that year’s waterfront reunion and had been to
sea the longest – 58 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Programs in 1969 included a showing of the <i>Tugboat Annie</i> film and introducing
members of the Foss family (the affair brought a much-needed profit of $390), a
speech on escorting the supertanker <i>Manhatten</i>
through the Northwest Passage and Mike Mjelde’s story of his research and how
he came to write the book <i>Glory of the
Seas</i>. Another fund raising event was a cruise on the <i>Virginia V</i> with dinner at the Salmon House. The <i>Virginia V</i> was honored at the waterfront
reunion by being named flagship of the society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the beginning of 1970 John Meals retired as treasurer and
was officially thanked for having served nine years at this unrewarding post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The January 1971 meeting was entertained with a film on the
blasting of Ripple Rock<a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
That year the annual cruise went to Blake Island. Merle Odlum was speaker at
the old-timers’ banquet, where the veteran members present were Bob Hill, 95,
Ben Joyce, 93, and Louis Van Bogaert.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An editorial board for the <i>Sea Chest</i> was inaugurated during the year and Hal Will, editor,
received a life membership. At the first board of governors meeting in 1972 Hal
called attention to the fact that H.W. McCurdy’s gift to the <i>Sea Chest</i> by then totaled nearly $1,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Other events of the following months were the showing of the
film about the <i>Nonsuch</i>, the fiftieth
anniversary cruise of the <i>Virginia V</i>
to Tacoma, an exhibit installed at the museum of the Klondike Gold Rush, and a
slide program, “Pictorial Art of the Northwest Explorers.” H.W. and James
McCurdy spoke at the old-timers’ banquet and showed a film. The board donated
$1,000 for shelving in connection with the new library in the museum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">END OF PART I</span></b></h3>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">PART II: CONTINUATION OF PSMHS HISTORY: 1974-1979</span></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Early in 1974 it was realized that past meetings had brought
to light much maritime history and an effort was launched to get tapes of
speakers’ talks transcribed. A shelter for bulky exhibits outside the museum
was investigated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In October, a Captain Cook film was borrowed on a loan from
a Portland museum. The Arctic regions were featured in several programs, one by
Stan Patty on what the Prudhoe Bay oil development has done to Alaska, another
on it effect on Seattle shipping and the third a travelogue from a trip made by
Austin Hemion and Lloyd Stadum along the Norwegian coast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Late in the year the Society received through Ed Shields a gift of Alaskan material contained in the Archie Shiels collection. While
much of it related to other subjects, the marine manuscripts were exceptionally
good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Future researchers into the Society’s archives may puzzle
over records in the minutes of early 1975 board meetings concerning the
necessity for a special audit of funds. These relate to the unfortunate
experience when an elected officer of PSMHS “borrowed” from the savings account
and by devious means concealed his shortages of more than $650. When this was
discovered a bank search was ordered and, rather than prosecute, the executive
board demanded a private settlement from him of the full amount. After this happened
the board voted to require two signatures on any future checks and savings
withdrawals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That year the organization sponsored three performances of
the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “Ruddigore” in the museum auditorium. This
netted a profit of several hundred dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With Hal Will elected to the presidency for 1977, he retired
as editor of the <i>Sea Chest</i> and Ed
Shields took on that responsibility for the next three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Society donated $100 to the Seamen’s Memorial Fund for a
navigation light on the waterfront. A book auction of donated volumes grossed
$2,040 for the PSMHS treasury.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dues were increased in January, 1978, due to the escalating
cost of printing and postage. It was agreed that the sale price of the <i>Sea Chest</i> should be fixed at $3 instead
of $2.50. The quarterly was at that time being mailed to 647 addresses in the United
States and 18 abroad. There were 803 members on the roll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The largest expenditure of the preceding year was for
Scriptomatic equipment to assist with mailing. A report was given by Perry
Williams on his ten years as curator for the society. Another long-time
volunteer in a work-laden position who should have been mentioned before this
was Vivian Smith. She retired as secretary in 1975.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A new editorial board was appointed for the <i>Sea Chest</i> in December 1978. By that time
to cost of getting it out had risen from $1.09 a copy in 1975 to $1.33, not
counting the stamp. In 1979 Ed Shields prepared a subject index of the Sea
Chest, but it was considered too expensive to publish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some guidelines controlling acquisitions and other interests
of the Society were adopted, specifying its territory as extending from the
Columbia River to the Arctic Ocean and eastward in a line along the Columbia.
The articles of incorporation were amended in 1979, making the Seattle
Historical Society the registered agent for PSMHS and the museum location its
registered address.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two more collections had come to the society, the Joe
Johnson books and scrapbooks in 1978 and the Coolidge Collection in 1979. The
directors agreed to pay a student to do some work on the latter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most successful of all the summer cruises the society
sponsored was the <i>Virginia V</i>’s trip
to the Duwamish River in 1979. A speaker was on board to explain the sights to
the record crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In June Elizabeth Sutton-Gustison, who had been <i>ex-officio</i> a member of the board in
order to represent the museum died after her long service. She had been
scheduled to retire in another month. In recognition of her long serviced to
the Society a posthumous life membership was awarded her and the citation was
to appear with her portrait displayed in the museum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As early as 1976 the executive board had commenced to talk
of someday acquiring the Joe Williamson collection of photographs. Various
guesses as to their valuation were hazarded but no negotiations came out in the
open until Williamson received an offer from the San Francisco Maritime Museum.
He was ready to sell by 1979 and in July the Society learned that the price was
either $50,000 cash or $500 a month for the duration of his life and something
for his wife if she survived him. The acquisition committee proposed that the
Society offer $1200 for one year’s exclusive option to purchase the collection.
This was voted and the board began to work out a plan of action to raise the
necessary money. In October, it received an unexpected donation of more than
$1,000 when the price of a very poor meal at the Windjammer (then going through
a change of ownership) was refunded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The dinner disappointment, incidentally, was offset by the
excellent speech and slide showing by Robert Wing, author of a new book on
Peter Puget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In June, the board approved making a gift of surplus copies
of <i>Lloyds Register</i> to other libraries
that could use them and to send the entire set of <i>New York Shipping Registers</i> to the University of Washington
Library. These volumes were said to be taking up too much space in view of how
seldom they were consulted. This action brought a strong protest from member
Harold Huycke. He and two others attended the October 10 board meeting to state
their reasons for objecting and point out the great value of the books for
researchers. He said almost no members knew they were available in the museum
to consult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dr. James Warren, director of the museum, defended the
board’s action and said the registers would be used 400 times as often in the
University Library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jim Cole thanked the protesting group for presenting their
ideas and said the board in the future would try to keep the membership better
informed about the availability of material.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The only other business during 1979 was the receipt of $500
from the King County Arts Commission which had to be used by the end of the
year. The board designated it for purchase of storage cabinets for the Coolidge
collection. One of the final acts was to endorse the proposal to cooperate with
Northwest Seaport in its planning for a museum in Seaport Park on Lake Union.
The board also appointed a committee to direct the drive for the Williamson
picture collection.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">About the author:</span></span></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MKEeU3zjBiAJTr2CS1u8o4Xe4_J1gmfWeidm_DnJrrMp-S4IgjosJjlyWJFqZHsLkfOV9JQKHJvaqvQ-079RTejt57LLWe1xlNrlyuuQ7o0ToZhjlWFKeKiva8EvxH1_ehDTqzh5coc/s1600/Lucile-006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="617" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MKEeU3zjBiAJTr2CS1u8o4Xe4_J1gmfWeidm_DnJrrMp-S4IgjosJjlyWJFqZHsLkfOV9JQKHJvaqvQ-079RTejt57LLWe1xlNrlyuuQ7o0ToZhjlWFKeKiva8EvxH1_ehDTqzh5coc/s400/Lucile-006.jpg" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Lucile McDonald (1898-1992) in her home office with her Royal typewriter, ca. 1990. </span>Courtesy Eastside Heritage Center (Lucile McDonald Collection, 93.132)</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following is excerpted from the HistoryLink.org essay about Lucile
written by this editor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lucile
Saunders McDonald (1898-1992) distinguished herself in the fields of journalism
and popular history through a prolific lifetime career that produced several
thousand news features and columns, 13 published books on local history, an
equal number of children's books, and countless contributions to magazines,
journals, and anthologies. By the age of 23 she could call herself the first
female news editor in Oregon, the first woman general-assignment reporter for
the Portland <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Oregonian</span></i>, and the first female
news reporter in South America. From 1942 to 1966 she was a popular feature
writer for <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The Seattle Times</span></i>. In later life,
she enjoyed a reputation as a local historian, in demand as a speaker for
clubs, school groups, and historical societies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With an interest in boats and maritime history, McDonald offered
her writing skills to the [PSMHS] society's journal, </span>the</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sea Chest</span></i><span style="background-color: white;"> … she
eventually joined that group and contributed a total of 91 articles to the
journal, more than any other author. Mike Mjelde, a past editor of </span><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The</span></i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sea Chest</span></i><span style="background-color: white;">, recalled
her contributions:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"When I became editor
of <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The Sea Chest</span> in 1991,
Lucile was considered a valuable member of the editorial board because of her
depth of knowledge. We viewed her as an honored member and she helped us in
choosing suitable articles for publication. We also appreciated her giving
us permission to publish excerpts from her [unpublished] maritime history of
the Washington Coast." <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">Read the entire essay on Lucile McDonald at</span> <span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.historylink.org/File/11121">http://www.historylink.org/File/11121</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Ruby El Hult was the maiden name of Ruby McAndrew, an author and historian who,
writing under her maiden name, wrote a number of books and articles about
topics in Northwest history, including steamboats, trains, and lost mines.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Ripple Rock was an underwater hazard in Discovery Passage, British Columbia.
Its top was blasted away in 1958 by the government of Canada.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Elie/Documents/Historical%20Societies/Puget%20Sound%20Maritime/BLOG/Lucile's%20history/Lucile's%20history%20retyped.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
For the full story of the acquisition of the Williamson Collection, refer to
our blog post<i>, Deep Focus, Part I – The Joe
Williamson Photographic Collection</i>: <a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/02/deep-focus-joe-williamson-photographic.html">http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/02/deep-focus-joe-williamson-photographic.html</a>.</span></span></h4>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-74274607711252597882017-04-03T16:00:00.000-07:002017-11-09T09:22:11.613-08:00Snagboats on Puget Sound: A Photo Essay<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BWkT0N3fz0LS9gTm7VDTfGz3ugNUeG3a5Bgg-9JiDnZJTRi74oqKP9Bn9_oG6NNwqDfDG3cwPsagAowMl_eU-8rfq3J7UbPtuBSl6RAMAzZIUrQ2_yxW7HHuja6i61kzQ47oih7P3VQ/s1600/SHM+Swinomish+full+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BWkT0N3fz0LS9gTm7VDTfGz3ugNUeG3a5Bgg-9JiDnZJTRi74oqKP9Bn9_oG6NNwqDfDG3cwPsagAowMl_eU-8rfq3J7UbPtuBSl6RAMAzZIUrQ2_yxW7HHuja6i61kzQ47oih7P3VQ/s640/SHM+Swinomish+full+image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The snagboat Swinomish in Lake
Washington, circa 1916. The lowering of the lake to accommodate the new Ship
Canal left many snags exposed. The photo is credited to Asahel Curtis. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo, Shoreline Historical Museum, #1249.</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Snagboats</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> were</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">a</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">familiar</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> sight </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">on</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">the</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Ship</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Canal</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">and</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">on</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Puget</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Sound</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">rivers</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">from</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> 1885 </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">to</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">1981</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> T</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">he</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">snagboats</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Skagit (1885-1914)</i>,</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Swinomish (1914-1929)</i>,</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">and</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> <i>W.T. </i></span><i><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">Preston (1929-1981)</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></i><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">were</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">charged</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">with</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">clearing</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">snags</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">and</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">other</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">debris</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">from</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">the</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">region’s waterways. Aside from this primary duty, the snagboats were called to serve in many other ways.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">For the full story of the Puget Sound snagboats, read Ron Burke's detailed and beautifully-illustrated article for </span><i style="text-indent: 0in;">The Sea Chest </i><span style="text-indent: 0in;">-- </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_gRZORIBeyV3lJQThFX25TcFdpSzZBOE5zU0F3QVhsdVRV/view" style="text-indent: 0in;" target="_blank">"Heritage of a Snagboat"</a><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> (June 2001).</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpBzWz6-NAbLz1NUKIzIGCc01cmI7cYKG0ZdrpQEY-zTY9HpsAXPEVIHAP3Dzfn9dBeggfgfAgvDevLkphxg4T4M5xgKlCWmML3Cldj3gnpU-skX0YJFgyemxeui3cs6R86Gox25xhTQ/s1600/016.015.000.000+-+bow+view+of+Swin+and+Skagit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpBzWz6-NAbLz1NUKIzIGCc01cmI7cYKG0ZdrpQEY-zTY9HpsAXPEVIHAP3Dzfn9dBeggfgfAgvDevLkphxg4T4M5xgKlCWmML3Cldj3gnpU-skX0YJFgyemxeui3cs6R86Gox25xhTQ/s400/016.015.000.000+-+bow+view+of+Swin+and+Skagit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The snagboats Skagit and Swinomish side by side in 1915. Their A-frame cranes sit on the bows. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1980 and 1981 Pam Negri conducted a series of oral history interviews for the Corps of Engineers with current and former crew members of the W.T. Preston. The men shared a number of stories detailing both their ordinary duties and some unexpected tasks. (Tapes and transcripts in the care of the Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center)</span></span><br />
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline;">WHOOPIN' IT UP!</span></h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">In a 1981 interview,
Sandy Welsh Jr. explained that the <i>Preston </i>ended up with the whistles of both
earlier </span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">snagboats</span><span style="color: #191b0e; vertical-align: baseline;">, as well as its own:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The two big steam whistles from the <i>Swinomish </i>and the <i>Skagit</i>, they operated together. Mine was, well I call it a whooper, and it was kind of a steam siren. I operated it independently. You could kind of play a little bit of a tune with them both going. We had a lot of fun. There was a couple other steam boats that had whooper sirens on them. We would whoop back and forth.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">People really get a thrill out of listening to the steam whistles. You'll go by, like through the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and people will come out of their offices or on the boat next to you and yell, "blow the whistle, blow the whistle.“ I'll always give an extra toot for a thank you for each of the bridges we go through. Most of the time the bridge tenders will give a little toot back in answer. Especially Bill, who works on the Ballard Bridge up there, he says, "how about a real long one with the bridge opening?" So, I'll give him a little bit extra long one because he really likes to hear the steam whistle. It's really funny though. You'll just see the people, and if you can't hear them you'll just see the arms pump up and down. "Blow that whistle!“ (Oral History, Virgil (Sandy) V. Welsh Jr., Second Mate and Caption on the Preston, 1975-81. From the archives of the Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center)</span></blockquote>
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BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE</h3>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Captain William M. Morgan at the helm of the W.T. Preston, 1975. </span></i></div>
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<i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo, Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Captain William W. Morgan told Pam Negri about part of the job that involved burning derelict houseboats:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We used to do quite a bit of work in conjunction with the Seattle Harbor Patrol. They would assist us, either bring in snags or tell us where they were at. Anyway, we were burning a considerable amount of houseboats, and they were the ones that were towing the boats down to Montlake across from the old canoe house at the U.W. There were times when we would have a half-dozen houses. We would burn them right down to the logs, then pick the logs up and set them on the beach.<br /><br />This one particular time, we used to go in and open the valves or break the water lines so there was no water remaining to cause any possible explosions. We'd gone through this one house and broke a few lines, opened all the valves we could see. Then we set our fire. Well, it was really burning pretty good. The old tar paper roofs-everything was really going strong. Here comes a harbor police boat heading toward the shore-must have been an emergency. We were all standing on our deck, watching this houseboat burn when all of the sudden there's this terrific explosion. Here goes this hot water tank, shooting out across the water, landing right in front of this police boat coming full out towards it. It was pretty funny at the time, but could have been extremely serious.<br /><br />[The Harbor Patrol] kind of laughed it off. Particularly one of them that I knew quite well, he said, "Wouldn't that look good on the front page of the PI [<i>Post-Intelligencer</i>], <i>Preston</i> torpedoes Seattle police boat with hot water tank." (Oral History, William W. Morgan (Tape 16), Deckhand, First Mate, Second Mate, and Captain 1952-1982. From the archives of the Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">COWS ON THE BRINK</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Norman Hamburg began his career as a cabin boy on the <i>Swinomish </i>in 1927 and later transferred to the <i>Preston</i>. In his 1982 interview he told Pam Negri about one little-known aspect of the work:</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A lot of times there was a lot of erosion along the [river] banks. The cows would get too close to the edge of the bank eating grass, and sometimes the bank would cave in and down would go the cow in the river. We picked up quite a few cows in the river, set them back down on the bank for the farmer. [How?] Put a rope sling around 'em, just behind their front legs and just ahead of their rear legs, picked 'em right up with the donkey engine and swung them over and set them on the bank. They very seldom hurt themselves; they landed on the soft mud in the river there. (Oral History, Norman Hamburg (Tape 10), January 15, 1982. From the archives of the Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Crew of the W.T. Preston, 1939. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">WARTIME</span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hamburg explains the effect of World War II on the snagboat business:</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During World War II, when they stopped all river and harbor work, they tied the <i>Preston</i> up at the locks wall. They transferred all the laid-off crew that didn't have 15 years of service in. They found other jobs for them, but what I mean [is] they were laid off the <i>Preston</i>. They kept the captain, the chief engineers, myself and the cook. We stayed aboard the vessel for quarters and helped keep the vessel in shape, and we were transferred over to the locks. The chief engineer and I were transferred over to the machine shop -- working for Charlie Seagren. We were outfitting boats for Alaska and a lot of the boats were going up to [Adak?] Island, building the airbase up there. Also, the Alcan Highway [Alaska-Canadian]: we did a lot of work at the locks for the Alcan Highway making different things in the machine shop and the blacksmith shops. They didn't bring the <i>Preston</i> out until after World War II....but they kept us crew aboard in case some emergency would arise.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I remember when we came to work on December 8th [1941]; it was on a Monday morning. Driving down from Mount Vernon, we were stopped at the main gate going in -- soldiers galore. Went through our suitcases. They went through our luggage and they walked with us down to the <i>Preston</i> to get verification that we belonged to that crew. Our cook -- little Fritz -- fed about, I'd say, 30 soldiers for the meals on the <i>Preston</i> until they had facilities built and they built barracks down at the locks for these soldiers to stay in because they were on guard there -- on duty 24 hours a day. The barracks at that time were built on a wall just west of the administration building. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the first jobs the snagboat had was to lay a cable across from the small locks over to the south end of the spillway to hang a netted, mesh fence on there to stop anything that could drift down to blow up the spillway. Everything was very vulnerable. They had blackouts for all the sawmills, the homes, the street lights -- everything had to be turned out at dusk and you had dark blinds over your windows in the homes. There was absolutely no light on the west coast at all, until they found out just how vulnerable it was. They were afraid of a Japanese attack on the west coast. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were a lot of boats tied up in Lake Washington and Kirkland in the area.....Lake Union....and if something would have happened to the locks there, it would have drained the water out of Lake Union and been a real disaster. (<i>Ibid</i>.)</span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Coast Guard barracks and mess hall at the locks, August 14, 1943. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last of the Puget Sound snagboats -- <i>W.T. Preston </i>-- was retired in 1981. Such snagging duties that are left on our well-traveled waterways are now carried out by the <i>Puget</i>, a small derrick barge. Two years afterwards, the <i>Preston </i>was acquired by the Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center where she may be seen today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-- Eleanor Boba</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The W.T. Preston, with sternwheel, was an impressive sight passing through the locks, February 3, 1972.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: center;">Photo, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.</span> </span></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-57669338352068991092016-10-28T13:05:00.000-07:002016-10-28T17:47:32.155-07:00Sawmills on Puget Sound<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Puget Sound Maritime historian Joe Baar shares his timeline of the early sawmills on Puget Sound along with some thoughts on their importance to the Mosquito Fleet and other local shipping.</i></span><br />
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<i>Stetson and Post Sash and Door Company Mill, Seattle, 1882, Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Williamson Collection, Neg. 1741-84.</i></div>
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A sawmill’s economic purpose is to extract wealth from the natural world by processing timber into lumber. Sawmills embodied the first mechanical infrastructure in the Puget Sound region after European settlement began during the early 1850s. By the mid-1860s Puget Sound’s mills were exporting lumber to customers around the world, and the earnings from this trade attracted population and investment to the region.</div>
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Lumber was Washington State’s leading product in 1889, valued at more than $15 million then, or in today’s terms, almost $400 million. Statewide, lumber production increased from 1.2 trillion board feet in 1889 to 7.3 trillion board feet 40 years later, in 1929.<br />
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Sawmills fundamentally consist of machinery. The mill assembled on Henry Yesler’s beach in 1853 had three main parts: a 12-horsepower steam engine, a boiler, and a 48” circular saw. Wear and tear on machinery in use requires constant maintenance to keep the plant in service. We can imagine, then, every sawmill on Puget Sound would likely have a machine shop and possibly a foundry to provide replacement parts for those worn out or broken during the mill’s operation. The alternative to these ancillary services would have been a 6- to 9-month wait for spare parts shipped from San Francisco or New York; this downtime would be long enough to bankrupt most mill owners, so the mill’s capability to repair itself was a critical issue.<br />
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<i>Port Blakely Sawmill with lumber ship, possibly the Forest Friend. </i></div>
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<i>Courtesy of Museum of History and Industry, PEMCO Webster & Stevens Collection.</i></div>
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Steamers of Puget Sound’s Mosquito Fleet also used machinery for motive power, and just as with the sawmills that preceded them, their machinery was subject to wear, tear and breakdowns. Sawmills dotted throughout the area could always restore worn or broken parts much more quickly than they could be shipped from distant manufacturers, and probably at a better price. Finally, in 1882 Robert Moran and his brothers started a ship-repair business at Yesler’s Wharf in Seattle, so 29 years after the first powered vessel came to Puget Sound, maintenance and repair services specific to maritime needs were at last available on a large scale in this region.<br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1828 Hudson's Bay Company establishes a sawmill at Fort Vancouver</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1846 Great Britain cedes territory south of the 49th parallel to the U.S.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1847 Puget Sound Milling Co. leases land 8/20 at Tumwater and incorporates 10/25; purchases mill equipment from HBC for $300 in lumber, delivered to Fort Nisqually @ $16/M board feet</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1848 January, California gold rush begins at Sutter’s (saw)mill, Coloma, California</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1851 Denny Party lands on Alki beach; Henry Yesler, in San Francisco, asks John McClain to order components for a steam-powered sawmill, to be shipped to Seattle</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1852 May, Henry Yesler’s mill machinery is shipped from NYC: 12-hp steam engine, boiler, 48” circular saw</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1852 October, Henry Yesler arrives in Seattle and convinces Boren and Maynard to give him a 500-foot wide parcel between their properties for the public good </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1852 Puget Mill Co. at Port Ludlow established with 2 sash saws by John R. Thorndike and W.P. Sayward</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1853 late March, Henry Yesler’s mill machinery is assembled on the beach at Seattle and cuts its first log: price $35/M board feet (=$976.50 today)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1853 Josiah Keller, Andrew Pope & William Talbot form Puget Mill Co at Port Gamble</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1853 William Renton forms Port Blakely Mill</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1853 September, Port Gamble mill in operation with a muley saw</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1853 Washington Colony Mill on Whatcom Creek established by Henry Roeder, Russell V. Peabody at Whatcom Creek falls</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1854 Port Madison mill moved from Apple Tree Cove by George A. Meigs</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1855 Treaties replace the Donation Land Act of 1850, white settlement proceeds</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1856 Marshall Blinn and William Adams form a corporation in San Francisco to establish a sawmill at Seabeck under the corporate name of Washington Mill Co; their intention is to supply lumber to the gold rush cities of California</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1856 Battle of Seattle</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1858 February, Lawrence Grennan & Thomas Cranney’s Saw Mills established at Utsalady</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1858-9 Port Discovery Mill established by S.L. Mastick & Co., of San Francisco, at Discovery Bay’s Mill Point on the W. shore at Broder’s Road</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1858 Fraser River gold rush</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1858 July, Sarah Yesler arrives in Seattle</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1858 Port Ludlow mill is leased to Amos & Phinney, later to Pope & Talbot</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">c.1859 Maynard Mill established on Discovery Bay south of Port Discovery Mill, in the bight at the S. end of the Bay</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1862 Port Gamble mill ships lumber to 37 ports worldwide, Cape Town to Shanghai</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1869 March, Henry Yesler’s new mill begins operation, double the capacity of his first facility</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1876 After Lawrence Grennan’s death, Thomas Cranney sells his Saw Mill at Utsalady to Pope & Talbot’s Puget Mill Co.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1877 Seabeck’s population is 400, Seattle’s is 3,100 whites</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1880s Logging railroads and more robust roads bring down the cost of transporting logs by land enough to allow logging farther than 2 miles from the nearest body of water</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1882 Moran Brothers begin a marine repair business at Yesler’s Wharf</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1883 Bellingham’s Colony Wharf opens</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1886 August, Seabeck’s Washington Mill burns; Seabeck is abandoned until 1914</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1890 Bellingham’s Ocean Dock constructed by Fairhaven Land Co – lumber interests</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1890 Port Ludlow mill closes</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1893 February, The Panic of 1893 begins</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">c.1894 Puget Mill Co. moves Cranney’s Utsalady mill machinery to other P&T mills</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1895 James A. Loggie rents (Washington) Colony Mill at Whatcom falls from Roeder & Peabody and renames the company Whatcom Falls Mill Co.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1897 Bellingham’s G Street Wharf opens</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1898 Port Ludlow mill re-opens</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1898 Klondike gold rush</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1903 Towns of Whatcom, Sehome, Bellingham and Fairhaven consolidated as Bellingham</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1903 Whatcom Falls Mill Co. establishes a new plant at the foot of “Q” St</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1904 Moran Brothers Shipyard launches battleship USS NEBRASKA</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1909 A-Y-P Exposition, Seattle</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1913 Bellingham’s Citizens’ Dock opens</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1914 Laurence Colman and Arn Allen rehabilitate Seabeck as a YMCA town</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1918 Bellingham Municipal Dock opens</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1920 Port of Bellingham formed</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1935 Port Ludlow Mill finally closes</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1936 Kenneth Burwell Colman incorporates the Seabeck Conference Grounds as the Seabeck Christian Conference Center, until 1981</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1940 Whatcom Falls Mill Co. is dissolved</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1995 Port Gamble’s Puget Mill closes</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>-- Joe Baar</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEippN5g5Mtnn5PZW8NM8J0i_HnhuL0opYQPcbpl93KU3j5pnyMd6hdY7q25r_Yty-Okny1w2EdoiycaulgeYO1knGT1kFR3lYxWYdbwJCqmXjJ7OcnseBy02TTTu9h7Cq5zjwv680ThrYY/s1600/Moran+Brothers+Shipyard+PSMHS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEippN5g5Mtnn5PZW8NM8J0i_HnhuL0opYQPcbpl93KU3j5pnyMd6hdY7q25r_Yty-Okny1w2EdoiycaulgeYO1knGT1kFR3lYxWYdbwJCqmXjJ7OcnseBy02TTTu9h7Cq5zjwv680ThrYY/s400/Moran+Brothers+Shipyard+PSMHS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Moran Brothers Shipyard, Seattle, undated, with lumber ready for loading. </i></div>
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<i>Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-60636934548827539202016-10-26T17:54:00.000-07:002018-10-28T09:35:12.302-07:00Ghost Ships at Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGhE5jqavyKi7SOzRTrYMe3_uAnTJ8bTN87ftj-y1hMWDw92m6hl4ri5EC5wjtsZHChYv1uS9ILOeREg2x0MTLcy2PEZWDhcylfbNB4sAmP6JusW2tE4FAwrO2jMbt_2pWsbhuzCLFnqY/s1600/Merced+from+distance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGhE5jqavyKi7SOzRTrYMe3_uAnTJ8bTN87ftj-y1hMWDw92m6hl4ri5EC5wjtsZHChYv1uS9ILOeREg2x0MTLcy2PEZWDhcylfbNB4sAmP6JusW2tE4FAwrO2jMbt_2pWsbhuzCLFnqY/s640/Merced+from+distance.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">A lovely panorama of a Puget Sound marina with snow-capped mountains. Photo, Alan Humphrey.</span></i></div>
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But wait! What's really going on here? What is familiar about that shape in the middle with the small forest growing out of it?</div>
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This is actually the ship <i>La Merced</i>, once a proud schooner, now a permanent part of a breakwater for nautical businesses on Guemes Channel at Anacortes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJwZ5py0ZT9ShtwRELWXejy8KAzlrvqrpELHCsMPS9Z7fbLPRNc6aEOc3N-5paprbB2LNoE0sleKA0A-mYOiS2_6g-WCanEgMTiBlj8nHpcz-R4Y6U8NHElcchu1ndNrjdZPvKdNeBBG8/s1600/Merced+up+close.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJwZ5py0ZT9ShtwRELWXejy8KAzlrvqrpELHCsMPS9Z7fbLPRNc6aEOc3N-5paprbB2LNoE0sleKA0A-mYOiS2_6g-WCanEgMTiBlj8nHpcz-R4Y6U8NHElcchu1ndNrjdZPvKdNeBBG8/s640/Merced+up+close.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Over fifty years La Merced has created its own ecosystem. Photo, Alan Humphrey.</span></i></div>
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<i>La Merced </i>was built in 1917 in Benicia California, during the ship-building boom of World War I. She carried petroleum products for Standard Oil and other concerns. Like so many of the big ships, she was eventually converted for us as a cannery in Alaska. In 1966 she was sold to Lovric Shipyard in Anacortes where she was filled with sand and dirt and grounded on a bed of rubble. The ship was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2Jgf2XCUK3F1tYDwR97XPVQWmqzPRxqeJnZcA7JHqm8FCEjS7OFROREZ5fljyQJ67zO-tLQmsEJITQgJ423UA-BqbCK-tiiApU_BjtAwjiID9l1baVN4bkaREzvKw0uGB37PRLs_8zM/s1600/La+Merced+image+from+National+Register.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2Jgf2XCUK3F1tYDwR97XPVQWmqzPRxqeJnZcA7JHqm8FCEjS7OFROREZ5fljyQJ67zO-tLQmsEJITQgJ423UA-BqbCK-tiiApU_BjtAwjiID9l1baVN4bkaREzvKw0uGB37PRLs_8zM/s640/La+Merced+image+from+National+Register.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">La Merced at Anacortes, circa 1966. Photo, National Register of Historic Places.</span></i></div>
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There are a number of examples of ships used as breakwaters. <i>La Merced </i>is a bit unusual among these in that the hulk is raised completely out of the water and thus readily visible. In most cases, ships enlisted into service as breakwaters have been sunk to the waterline or just above, with only portions visible at low tide.</div>
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D-Day -- June 6, 1944</h4>
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The most notable historical example are the ghost ships of Normandy -- a flotilla of American and British merchant ships on a suicide mission. As the Allies prepared to storm the beaches of Normandy in an all-out assault on the entrenched German forces, somewhere between 50 and 100 old er or damaged ships limped across the English Channel to be deliberately sunk as part of the complicated landing strategy devised for the treacherous beaches. Called "corncobs," these hulks did their part to create breakwaters to protect troop transports.</div>
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The Ghost Ships of British Columbia</h4>
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We have several examples of ship breakwaters in our own backyard -- almost. Three such installations exist on the inner coast of Vancouver Island -- at Royston, Kelsey Bay, and Oyster Bay, as well as one at Powell River on the mainland of British Columbia. All were built in service of the lumber industry beginning in the 1930s, creating sheltered harbors -- uh, harbours -- for log booms. The Powell River group is the largest floating hulk breakwater in the world, according to Tourism Powell River. The 10 concrete-hulled ships, many of them damaged in service to the U.S. Army, are sunk 12-15 feet underwater and held in place by concrete anchors. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt_vnR0z_hb838QLm-pyLYm7UcAxixXY618Y8hE5F2FgvMKjmUMKHIBwMtM0nkDdbrO08SwW9P50WJGeIqdey38WAq_OuzsAtZDA-m4nr3jKpJQtd1xydOflSfC-NcDWiNkae4wX0Izc/s1600/Royston+wreck+image+by+Gerry+Thomasen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt_vnR0z_hb838QLm-pyLYm7UcAxixXY618Y8hE5F2FgvMKjmUMKHIBwMtM0nkDdbrO08SwW9P50WJGeIqdey38WAq_OuzsAtZDA-m4nr3jKpJQtd1xydOflSfC-NcDWiNkae4wX0Izc/s640/Royston+wreck+image+by+Gerry+Thomasen.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Ship breakwater at Royston, Vancouver Island. Photo, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gerrythomasen/7978470856/in/photolist-p5WGgV-pnaP2P-p5WGdD-fcsMkf-pjzRTQ-nMUA84-da2Mso-da2HWY-da2Kv4-da2Kqm-da2Lmk-o18QD8" target="_blank">Gerry Thomasen</a>, </span>[Creative Commons]</span></i></div>
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A number of the Vancouver Island hulks have Puget Sound connections. The <i>St. Paul</i> is an 1874-built clipper ship which ended her days afloat as a museum ship berthed at Seattle's Hiram M. Chittenden Locks during the 1930s. In 1942 she was towed up to Oyster Bay and sunk. The five-masted barkentine <i>Forest Friend</i> was built in Aberdeen in 1919 and served, naturally enough, the lumber trade, including mills on Puget Sound and Lake Washington. However, her career lasted barely a decade, far less than the <i>St. Paul</i>, before damage and legal troubles sidelined her. At some point in the 1950s she was "holed, sunk, and used as a breakwater," according to her registry. (James) A floating drydock from Puget Sound is an even more unusual addition to the Oyster Bay breakwater.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXQP25KlavTSxd0O3xRQvyhi5JmV1-SoU6SkKkqueCnGapLOD4nUtPgiZ8I6nu78L_oW72ryZpM5hO8FNlDAwqXcqj_2efvu71Qw_LgjCOI1KzgJhZO2kyfB6RGqcspmKgilVocx3Gys/s1600/St+Paul+with+tug+2427-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXQP25KlavTSxd0O3xRQvyhi5JmV1-SoU6SkKkqueCnGapLOD4nUtPgiZ8I6nu78L_oW72ryZpM5hO8FNlDAwqXcqj_2efvu71Qw_LgjCOI1KzgJhZO2kyfB6RGqcspmKgilVocx3Gys/s640/St+Paul+with+tug+2427-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>The
St. Paul under tow out of Seattle,
circa 1923. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Courtesy Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society (Williamson
Collection)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>SOURCES</b></i></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rick James, The Ghost Ships of Royston (Vancouver: Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia, 2004).</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rick James, "Fine Old Ships of Yesteryear continue to serve...but perhaps for not much longer," Resolution (Maritime Museum of British Columbia), Winter 1995, pp. 13-17.</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Joseph Israels II, "Ghost Ships at Normandy," New York Tribune Inc., November, 1944.</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form for La Merced, 90000588.</i></li>
<li><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brochure: The Giant Hulks Tourist Information, Tourism Powell River.</i></li>
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--Eleanor Boba<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2Anacortes, WA 98221, USA48.512604499999988 -122.6126717999999948.428407499999985 -122.77403329999999 48.596801499999991 -122.45131029999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-87781108275882731362016-08-05T11:48:00.001-07:002016-08-05T11:50:30.001-07:00Lake Union: The Human Impact<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><i>Dick Wagner, the Founding Director of The Center for Wooden Boats, explores the ecology of the lake destined to unite the saltwater and freshwater sides of the Ship Canal. This essay was originally published on the CWB blog <b>Shavings</b>.</i></span><br />
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<i>Engraving of Lake Union, 1891. Courtesy University of Washington Special Collections.</i></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Western Washington has a mystique. It’s a unique blend of snow-capped mountains, misty rain forests, waters everywhere (an inland sea, bays, lakes, rivers), whales, elk, salmon, and mild, mosquito-free climate. These diverse natural elements are entwined in a complex, self-sustaining order. The threads of its beautiful tapestry began to weave together about 13,000 years ago when the 3,000-foot-deep Vashon Glacier retreated. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Unfortunately, after thousands of years of perfect primal coordination, this mixture of natural wonders is falling apart. A textbook example of why this is happening to our once perfectly-aligned environment is Seattle’s little Lake Union, now one of the most heavily-altered water systems in western Washington.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The Pre-industrial Lake</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">When the lake was at its prime, many shoreline plants were of value to the birds and fish and also the human inhabitants. Native tribespeople used Oregon grape for food, made dye from its roots, and an infusion of its bark for skin and mouth sores. They employed yarrow for hair wash, perfume, colds, stomach trouble, and as a general tonic. Skunk cabbage roots were an emergency food; the raw root is as hot as a pepper. It was also used as a blood purifier and for stomach and bladder trouble. Cabbage leaves were made into a healing poultice and also rolled into berry containers or drinking cups. The blossoms, when heated, were applied to rheumatic parts for relief. Springtime skunk cabbage was gobbled by the elk. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Native healers drew on nightshade leaves to make a drink for liver and yellow jaundice. The juice from the berries thinned blood. A poultice of nightshade leaves was used for rheumatism, skin diseases and abscesses. Natives cooked lady fern and bracken roots and served them with salmon eggs. Nettle was peeled into thin strips and twisted into strong twine for securing bone and stone tool handles and duck nets. Spirea stems also were used to make twine. Pond lily roots were heated and applied to rheumatic body parts. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">When the wapato was lost, native peoples also was lost a cash cow that needed no cultivation. Wapato is the root of arrowhead, an edible tuber. Duwamish women felt for the roots with their bare feet while walking in the shallows, pulled them, and brought them back by canoe to the longhouse, where they were roasted. This “baked potato” was considered haute cuisine. The wapato by Lake Union was so plentiful that there was a surplus to trade with other native groups. Wapato was the chief part of the Duwamish economy for many generations.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The Era of Change</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The first residents of Lake Union were about 100 Native Americans whom we call the Duwamish. In the basin of Lakes Union-Washington-Sammamish there were approximately 2,000 more Native Americans. Before the coming of European and American settlers, a roughly balanced relationship was maintained between plants, animals and humans. Today, about 500,000 people live around the lake and about a million live in the greater basin. A growing human population creates buildings, highways, bulkheads, docks, dams and parking lots that all challenge this region’s ecological equilibrium. The process of filling in a South Lake Union shoreline in 1962 forced a mountain up from the lake’s bottom - a mountain of muck. Now a red navigation buoy is moored to warn of the peak of the lake’s pinnacle only 10’ below the surface of the water.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">The filling of Lake Union’s shoreline and building of docks and bulkheads began in 1870 and continued until 1967. Between the Fremont Bridge and University Bridge are 700 acres of water. It used to be 900 acres. The fill displaced shallow water which was an incubator, home, hotel and restaurant for a chain of plants and animals. Small fish, including minnows, salmon and trout fry, used the shallows to feed. The plants on and adjoining the lake included wapato, skunk cabbage, nightshade, cranberries, elderberries, smartweed, lady’s thumb, nettles, spirea, miralus, forget-me-nots, yellow mustard, water celery, pond lily, camas, Oregon grape, coltsfoot, yarrow, duckweed, cattail, willow, cottonwood, alder and Indian plum. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Birds feeding in the shallows included killdeer, flycatchers, red-winged blackbirds, white-crowned sparrows, towhees, robins, black swifts, kingfishers, ospreys, Cooper’s hawks, chickadees, tule wrens, red-backed sandpipers, greater and lesser yellow-legs, great blue herons, goldfinches, bitterns, Virginia rails, and the herring, short-billed, ring-billed, California, and glacous-winged gulls. Nesting waterfowl were pied-billed grebes, mallards, coots, and cormorants, and meadowlarks. Migrating waterfowl, including red breasted mergansers, scaups, wood ducks, pintail, buffleheads, eared grebes, western grebes, common loons, bald pates, blue-winged teals, shovellers, green-winged teals, gadwalls, dowitchers, bald eagles, black-tailed plovers, whistling swans, and Canada geese, found food in the shallows, which also were home to frogs, tadpoles, turtles, snails, crawfish, mussels, dragonflies, damsel flies, nightjars, protezoans, mice, muskrats, weasels, otters, mink, and beavers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">When creatures lose their usual places for food, nesting, hibernation or refuge, they leave. There are no more meadowlarks around Lake Union because there are no more meadows. Fortunately, even though the salmon population has dramatically declined in Lake Washington, there are still enough near-shore habitats for the Lake Union sockeye fry to linger for a year. My litmus test is that the great blue herons and kingfishers still hang out in the shallow areas for a good meal of young sockeye. On the other hand, a litmus test was not needed in 2008 to prove that the waterfowl population, both permanent and migrating, was virtually wiped out on Lake Union. The only birds now seen are a stunningly reduced number of Canada geese, mallards, coots, seagulls, kingfishers, blue herons, and cormorants. The weasel and mink are gone. There are small numbers of muskrats, otters and beavers. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">In the late 1960s our child’s first words were “quack quack.” Mallard talk on Lake Union now is virtually lost, but not forgotten. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">In the beginning Lake Union’s connection to Puget Sound was Ross Creek at the north end, which emptied into Salmon Bay, an inlet of the Sound. The 8’ to 20’ flood tide pushed up the creek to its mouth where the Fremont Bridge now stands. The brackish water of the creek and Salmon Bay was an environmental adjustment for the salmon coming home from the ocean to spawn in the lake’s freshwater streams and also for the salmon fry waiting to grow big enough to swim in the Pacific Ocean. Native legends refer to whales entering Lake Union through a hidden tunnel. In fact, any of them could have done it simply riding the tide into the lake. It’s probable that fish-eating orcas would be tempted to ambush the home-coming salmon at the mouth of Ross Creek.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">When the Ballard Locks were completed in 1916, a convenient connection between the lake and the Sound was provided for boaters. There was no more transition between saltwater and freshwater. This was an inconvenient connection for salmon and even the whales. In addition, road and trolley tracks were installed on fill around the lake. Salmon spawning streams were redirected into pipes as their outlets were filled and bulk-headed; these pipes were barren of the pebbles needed for fertile eggs to be laid.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">As the lakeside developed, the shallows disappeared. Bright street lights were installed. The sounds of motor vehicles, seaplanes, trolleys, sawmills and boatyards replaced the calls of birds. The forests around the lake were logged off. This cut-and-build development expelled the nesting places and sealed off the sand and gravel that was the habitat of small fish, frogs, salamanders and turtles.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Because of the Locks and because the logged lake basin allowed stormwater to drain into the lake, it was deliberately lowered two-and-a-half feet each fall and raised the same amount each spring. The change of depth had an impact on remaining marshlands. In addition, during our rainy season, the stormwater pipes overflowed and added street and sidewalk dirt and trash to the lake. The lakeside didn’t have a sewer system installed until 1967. Because of the steady flow of the Cedar River through Lake Union, the streams in pipes and the underwater springs, the lake was relatively clean. The crayfish were so prevalent in the lake that they were commercially fished through the 1970s. Crayfish will not live in toxic waters.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">There was little or no direct human predation of the plants and animals of Lake Union but new species introduced to Lake Union caused unexpected impacts. The Norway rat was the scourge of the shoreside. They ate the bird eggs in the marshland nests. The rats came from Europe via trade vessels. Carp came from Asia via Europe. They root up the shallow water plants and roots that were food for waterfowl. There are now 24 non-native fish that have been introduced to the lake, including smallmouth and largemouth bass, which eat juvenile salmon. The non-native Eurasian watermilfoil dominates much of the shoreline and the non-native Himalayan blackberries have smothered many historic waterside plants.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Lake Union Today</span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">What Lake Union was we will never see again. Even if there was a skunk cabbage farm on the lakeshore, the elk wouldn’t dare try to cross the congested traffic to get a nibble. What we can achieve is a lake sustained to the best possible state of ecologic balance. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">How can we go about this?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "bitstream charter" , "times" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">We can crusade against the further building of lake-edge bulkheads and roads. We can advocate for the removal of all non-native plants and against the introduction of non-native fish. Then, seed-by-seed, drop-by-drop, bird-by-bird, fish-by-fish, Lake Union can recover some of the elements that were integral parts of its Northwest mystique. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lake Union Dry Dock, Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Lake Union, Seattle, WA, USA47.639628599999988 -122.3332684000000147.596833099999991 -122.4139494 47.682424099999984 -122.25258740000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-54629267472090786922016-06-22T15:05:00.000-07:002016-06-24T11:09:17.737-07:00The Short Career of the Alida<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UfHhcFES7l7N450LoNsFX8vMihLsgzd8_lSqKyKRED_A1z5wdPDUbs6s68tePJGe8zh1iAUQw2ZktZMkSwqwsMvHDW0gpXsoNcfrFoBsKLi4ctk5kG7f_tJAQRsXdh7npqOLh9rcNH8/s1600/19-1+ALIDA+from+PSMHS+Collection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9UfHhcFES7l7N450LoNsFX8vMihLsgzd8_lSqKyKRED_A1z5wdPDUbs6s68tePJGe8zh1iAUQw2ZktZMkSwqwsMvHDW0gpXsoNcfrFoBsKLi4ctk5kG7f_tJAQRsXdh7npqOLh9rcNH8/s640/19-1+ALIDA+from+PSMHS+Collection.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This iconic image of the <i>Alida </i>snug up to the shoreline of Seattle about 1870 has been frequently reproduced in newspapers and books. The Territorial University of Washington can be seen on the crest of the hill. The log pond is that of Yesler's Mill on the waterfront. Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</td></tr>
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In 1870 local Washington papers announced a new member of Puget Sound's Mosquito Fleet.</div>
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The "<i>Alida</i>." -- This new steamer, formerly known as the <i>Tacoma</i>, intended for mail and passenger service between Olympia, Port Townsend and Victoria, and owned by the Starr Bros. of Portland, under the construction of Mr. Hammond, is now nearly completed, and will make her trial trip in about ten days, and on and after the first of July run regularly between the above named ports. Her length of keel is 115 feet; depth of hold 6 feet. She has one boiler with six ten-inch flues, and forty-four four-inch tubes, with a heating surface of twenty-two hundred feet; double engines of two hundred horse power, with 14 1/2 inch cylinders; and one mast with a jib-sail. On the upper deck there will be twelve state-rooms, one ladies' cabin, a dining saloon, 60 feet long, and a promenade deck forward of the pilot-house, and one aft of the ladies saloon. The model and powerful engines indicate considerable speed, whilst her general appearance in creditable to her builders. (<i>The Commercial Age</i>, June 18, 1870)</blockquote>
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<i>Lewis & Dryden</i> describes the <i>Alida </i>as a "neat little craft" and explains an early change in ownership. Apparently a man named Nash had secured the federal contract for mail delivery between Olympia and Victoria and commissioned the building of the new steamer to that end in Olympia, but for financial reasons he turned the vessel over to the Starr brothers before it was complete. This may explain the reference in the above citation to the name <i>Tacoma</i>.</div>
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It is common to find references to the <i>Alida's </i>20 year history. All agree that the steamer ended her days by fire in 1890 while anchored off Gig Harbor. Apparently a brush fire sent burning embers on the wind which set fire to the ship. However, a review of sources indicates that she ceased active life much earlier. An article in the <i>Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer</i> from 1884 states:</div>
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The <i>Isabel</i>, <i>Alida </i>and <i>Otter </i>have long been lying in Gig Harbor, out of commission. The <i>Otter </i>has been condemned and been shoved up on the beach. She will probably never again be floated, while the <i>Alida </i>is not expected ever again to turn a wheel. ("Steamboat Matters," April 16, 1884)</blockquote>
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The <i>Alida's </i>short career was due both to her lack of sea-worthiness and to the cutthroat competition that abounded among the Puget Sound steamers of the day. In the days before highways and trucking firms, the cost of transporting mail, freight, and passengers throughout the inland waters of Puget Sound and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca was critical in determining success or failure on the water. Larger, faster boats had a natural advantage. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">An engraving of the <i>Alida </i>from <i>Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest</i>, 1895.</td></tr>
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Only a year after the <i>Alida </i>had entered service, her<i> </i>owners, the Starr brothers (the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co.), put a larger steamer, the <i>North Pacific</i>, on the Victoria mail run. The <i>Alida </i>was assigned to service only inland ports from Olympia to Seattle to Port Townsend, sometimes meeting up with her sister ship, the <i>Isabel</i>, which made the crossing to Victoria. The Starrs also faced stiff competition from a firm headed by George S. Wright which operated the large steamers <i>Eliza Anderson</i> and <i>Olympia</i>.</div>
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Competition between steamers sometimes involved actual races, both short and long. These events were trumpeted in the press and were the occasion for heavy betting. The <i>Washington Standard</i>, an Olympia paper, reported on one such contest in 1873:</div>
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The steamers <i>Zephyr </i>and <i>Alida </i>engaged in their usual weekly race last Wednesday, blowing their whistles at the same moment, casting off lines together, and starting from the dock almost abreast. The captains and owners show considerable pluck, but as the victory is always on one side -- in favor of the <i>Zephyr </i>-- we fail to see the object of this strife. ("Race," October 11, 1873)</blockquote>
This race exemplified the rivalry between a side-wheeler (the <i>Alida</i>) and a stern-wheeler (the <i>Zephyr</i>). More than once in the history of the little steamers, the operators of side-wheelers attempted unsuccessfully to drive stern-wheelers from the scene with unproven safety concerns.<br />
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The <i>Alida </i>came out on top in a contest of a different nature in 1876. It seems another vessel, the <i>Eureka</i>, accused the crew of the <i>Alida </i>of cutting the ship's hawser (mooring rope), perhaps deliberately.<br />
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The <i>Eureka</i>* claimed $30 for the hawser cut, $30 for dragging the bottom for its recovery, $25 for loss of half a day's time, and $10 for a steamer to tow her out of the harbor -- $95 in all. The plaintiff lost not only the damages but the costs of suit, amounting to upwards of $50. (<i>Washington Standard</i>, August 12, 1876)</blockquote>
In the mid 1870s there are newspaper mentions of the <i>Alida </i>carrying passengers and freight around Puget Sound, although it appears she had lost the all-important mail delivery contract to the <i>North Pacific</i> and others. An item in the <i>Washington Standard</i> from July 8, 1876, notes that "the (ss) <i>Alida </i>was obliged to get a special permit to carry the large number of passengers returning [to Olympia] from the Seattle 4th celebration." A similar item in that paper from 1874 refers to the vessel as "the old (ss) <i>Alida</i>" -- only five years after her keel was laid! Nostalgia seems to have been a manufactured commodity in many cases.<br />
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Mentions of the <i>Alida </i>in newspapers peter out about 1877 and it is likely that she was spent more than a decade cooling her heels in one or more ports-of-call. She did make one attempt to escape her fate. The <i>Seattle Daily P-I</i> reported in 1883,<br />
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The steamboats <i>Alida </i>and <i>Isabel</i>, which have been moored off the railroad wharf for some months, on Saturday last dragged their anchors and went to sea without commander or pilot. The steamer <i>Otter</i>, lying at the wharf, was sent after them. She towed them into Quartermaster Harbor [Vashon Island], where they are now anchored. (January 13, 1883)</blockquote>
The geography of this paragraph is somewhat questionable. It is highly unlikely that the sisters left Puget Sound. A likely scenario is that they slipped their moorings at Gig Harbor and headed into the Sound where they were overtaken by the <i>Otter </i>in the passage between that community and Vashon Island.<br />
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Despite her few years on the water, the <i>Alida</i>, like many of the Mosquito Fleet, left an indelible mark on maritime history. An 1883 item in the <i>Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer</i> refers to the little steamer as "that favorite of the traveler of by-gone days" -- those days being only five or six years distant. The column details the visit of the former captain of the <i>Alida </i> to Seattle, noting "Mr. Harker looks as young and handsome as when in the '70s he daily mashed the girls in the towns on the route of the <i>Alida</i>." (August 18, 1883)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A scale model of the <i>Alida </i>graces the gallery at Foss Maritime Seaport in Tacoma.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">-- Eleanor Boba</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Sources for this essay include <i>Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest</i>; Joe Williamson and Jim Gibbs, <i>Maritime Memories of Puget Sound</i>; various articles from the <i>Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle Times,</i> and the <i>Washington Standard</i>.</span></div>
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*Note, this would not be the ferryboat <i>Eureka</i>, now berthed at San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier, which was built in 1890.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-58858825762914326782016-05-31T08:04:00.006-07:002017-03-17T11:58:04.172-07:00Making the Cut: Rainier Valley's Wetmore Slough<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>This is one of an occasional
series of essays commemorating the centennial of the Ballard Locks and the Ship
Canal. Guest blogger Nancy Dulaney of the Rainier Valley Historical Society
gives us an overview of the South Canal, an alternative vision of the Ship
Canal, and of the Wetmore Slough in Southeast Seattle, what it was, what it
could have been, and what it is today. An earlier version of this essay appeared
in the Rainier Valley Heritage News (Spring 2016).</i></span></span></div>
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<i><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Detail from Guide of Seattle, Seattle and Lake Washington Waterway Company, 1895. Image courtesy of University of Washington Special Collections.</span></i><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the
summer of 1916 Lake Washington was lowered by about nine feet as the sluice
gates on the east end of the newly completed Montlake Cut were opened and the
lake waters flowed westward. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Southeast
Seattle has its own special part in the ship canal story. Long before Seattle’s
pioneers first arrived, the Duwamish people were canoeing on Lake Washington,
Lake Union, and Lake Sammamish, as well as the inland river systems. By the
1860s larger European-American shallow boats and barges passed from Lake
Washington to Elliott Bay via the Black River at the south end of the lake,
with some portage required as water levels demanded. A man-made connected
waterway between Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Puget Sound was attempted in
various fits and starts, agreements and disagreements, commencements and
abandonments. By the 1870s, the U.S. Navy proposed a shipyard be built on Lake
Washington, and Seattle city planners and the surrounding coal and logging
industries quickly joined in the call to action. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not
everybody agreed on what exactly that action should be, however.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Mud will Fly!"</span></span></h3>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On July 29,
1895, the <i>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</i> printed
“mud will fly, whistles will blow, the people will shout and the South canal
will be fairly commenced.” The next day former Washington Territorial Governor
Eugene Semple started dredging the proposed two-mile waterway and canal project
with the financial backing of St. Louis investors and local subscribers. The
planned route was from the mouth of the Duwamish River through Beacon
Hill just north of Spokane Street and eastward towards Wetmore Slough at the western
shore of Lake Washington. Earthen material removed was used as fill in Elliott
Bay tideflats to create new real estate – think SODO and Harbor Island. Beset
with legal battles and financial problems the Seattle and Lake Washington
Waterway Company project was halted and by 1904 the northern route for the locks
and ship canal, eight miles long from Salmon Bay to Lake Washington, became
favored and funded.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps the
single most noteworthy legacy of Semple’s drive for tidelands reclamation and
harbor improvements left to Southeast Seattle was the future site of the Interstate-5
exit 163A, Columbian Way, as the dirt washed away by the water cannons had left
a sizable cut in the slope of the west side of Beacon Hill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZUNSzlkGFQ6L3WzCh3p-znszzDQvZM8a_bk8gktbppFl_AZDKeS-QnGSFwmSfqFrkppMrUNQNg76WfqrVssC1mmq7yK6ZdJOTZRv75AjacghtufjgH6WYDBrNPJWsU6h05TFNdMEOF0/s1600/Frank+Wetmore+96.26.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZUNSzlkGFQ6L3WzCh3p-znszzDQvZM8a_bk8gktbppFl_AZDKeS-QnGSFwmSfqFrkppMrUNQNg76WfqrVssC1mmq7yK6ZdJOTZRv75AjacghtufjgH6WYDBrNPJWsU6h05TFNdMEOF0/s400/Frank+Wetmore+96.26.11.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
<i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Frank Wetmore (1856-1931), second son of Seattle pioneers Seymour and Anna Wetmore. Image courtesy of Rainier Valley Historical Society, Accession #1996.0026.0011.</span></i><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"The Unsightly Slough"</span></span></h3>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In its own
backyard, Wetmore Slough as a place-name has mostly gone by the wayside,
supplanted by Genesee (Park and Playfield) over the years. As for the slough’s
namesake, Seymour Wetmore, he and his wife Anna and family homesteaded 160 acres
just north of Columbia City along what later became Rainier Avenue and east to
Lake Washington in about 1870. He and his sons Birdsey and Frank farmed the
land and claimed to have produced 6‑1/2 tons of well cured hay on one acre in
1876. Much of the land was at least seasonally inundated with water,
particularly before the lowering of the lake. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a
first-hand account of the lay of the land before Lake Washington was lowered, we
can look to Columbia City native John Parker in his oral history collected
by RVHS in the 1990s<b>:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Wetmore Slough, from Genesee Street, was
a swamp. It was full of big water willows and it always had water in there,
summer and winter, because the crick that came down through where the Columbia
Library is, went across the Columbia Playfield and joined another crick that
came down from Franklin High School and then went out across Wetmore Slough and
to Lake Washington. Everybody had outdoor toilets, of course, but later on, as
the population grew, this crick became an open sewer and it dumped right in to
where the Stan Sayres pits are for the Gold Cup races. When I was a boy, when
you left Genesee Street that was a lake. And Nick Nelson had a lumber yard
right across the road from Frogner’s Store, which was on Genesee…and it was
right on 43rd South. And that, believe it or not, was water! Tugs used to bring
in lumber from Taylor’s Mill and they’d land at a dock, just like they would in
Seattle Harbor, and it was deep enough water that a tug could get in there. </span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;">(RVHS oral history)</span></span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Lakewood Grocery, 1937. Original proprietors Iona and Charles Frogner in about 1911. Rear of grocery built on stilts. In the late 1930s, neighborhood kids stopped in what was then Art and Grace Thompson's store for malted milk balls and bubble gum in between running along the Wetmore Slough sewer line pipes. One wrong step and into the swamp you go! Image courtesy of Puget Sound Regional Archives.</span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1912, a
2,100-foot wooden trestle bridge was built across the mouth of Wetmore Slough and
continued around Callahan's Point to 48th Ave S. and Bradford Street, allowing automobile travel along Lake
Washington between the Mt. Baker neighborhood and Seward Park. The visible hump
in the middle of the span allowed passage of boats from the lake into the
slough. Rainier Valley old‑timer Judd Hines recalled trapping muskrat amongst
the ducks and cattails as a young boy in his little boat in the slough near the
trestle bridge just after the lake was lowered. After drying the skins in the
attic of his father’s plumbing shop, Judd would take them to Sears and Roebuck
where he could get $2.75 for a big prime one, good money in those days. (RVHS
oral history)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Lake Washington Boulevard trestle over Wetmore Slough, 1913. Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, #29548.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This bridge
fell into disrepair in the 1920s and in 1928 Rainier District businessmen
proposed to dredge a 200‑foot wide, 2,000‑foot long canal south from Lake
Washington to Genesee Street to permit Columbia City to become a seaport town,
welcoming ocean-going vessels to its (new) shores. The Genesee Improvement Club
reasoned that dredging would be cheaper than obtaining fill dirt and the time
was ripe for the sanitary improvement of the stagnant swamp which acted as a
mosquito incubator. (<i>Seattle Daily Times</i>,
3/29/1928). In 1915, the <i>Rainier Valley
Citizen</i> had written of a similar proposal -- to dredge the slough to
accommodate the large ocean-going steamers the ship canal would bring. Think
back to yesteryear’s visionaries and just imagine, if Columbia City was a port
of call to the cruise ships of today!</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wetmore Slough looking northerly toward Lake Washington after a heavy rain storm, 1920. Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, #12846. </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">For some reason or another, the seaport project failed to get sufficient traction; instead, the wetlands (a.k.a. “the unsightly slough”) continued to be filled with dirt. By 1937 the trestle bridge no longer spanned water and was demolished by WPA workers. Additional fill material was provided by municipal garbage between about 1945 and 1963, much to the chagrin of neighboring residents. What had once been waterfront property became a sensory overload of rats and seagulls, steamy fumes, rotting vegetable matter, flies, and garbage fires. To add insult to injury, the Rainier Valley Dump drainage polluted the lake, curtailing summer swimming and forming a cause for later community activists. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue;">Park and Playfield Developments</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">The Rainier Field House recreation center was begun in 1928 and with the passage of the 1948 Park Bond came funds to complete it. In 1957, at the mouth of the former Wetmore Slough, Stan Sayres Memorial Park was crafted out of land which had surfaced back when the lake was lowered, where the H1 Unlimited hydroplanes race for the Seafair Gold Cup each summer. The passage of Seattle’s Forward Thrust bond measure brought recreational improvements to the former slough area, now the 57‑acre Genesee Park and Playfield, in the late 1960s. Two of four planned tennis courts were built ;the fill had yet to settle. Volunteers began work on the Arnold Sadler fitness course in 1979. In the early 1980s over $800,000 was planned for improvements. An off-leash dog park and a new community center were created in the 1990s. 21st century park improvements totaling over $2.1 million thus far include synthetic turf for soccer and lacrosse fields and stadium style lights over the previous garbage landfill. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A 1984 Seattle-King
County Department of Health report on abandoned landfills, in which Genesee (Rainier valley) was one of the sites studied, notes: “The fill has
areas where the ground surface over the past 65 years has been raised
approximately 50 feet.” We venture to guess Seymour Wetmore wouldn’t recognize
the place!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Aerial of Genesee Park area, courtesy Seattle Parks and Recreation. The Stan Sayres Pits are at the top on the north end of the park. The intersection at the lower left hand corner is where Rainier Avenue meets Alaska Street and, just to the east, is where where Genesee Park meets Rainier Playfield.</i></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Nancy Dulaney, Rainier Valley Historical Society</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2016</span></i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Genesee Park and Playfield, 4316 S Genesee St, Seattle, WA 98118, USA47.564444599999987 -122.2785079000000222.042410099999987 -163.58710190000002 73.086479099999991 -80.969913900000023tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-75497164759794259432016-05-19T10:45:00.000-07:002016-06-07T11:53:14.182-07:00Making the Cut: The Yesler Mill on Union Bay<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On New Year’s Day, 1890, <i>The Seattle Post-Intelligencer</i> published an article touting the benefits of purchasing property at Ravenna Park, north of the city limits. To bolster the argument, the article pointed to the settlement of Yesler as a neighboring thriving community:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Yesler Mill, a settlement of some sixty houses, with ice factory, church and stores -- just a little east from the Park -- is doing a flourishing business and affords us lumber at $1 per thousand [board feet] cheaper than other mills.”</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since the town of Yesler had only been platted two years earlier, it seems doubtful that all “sixty houses,” church, and stores were in evidence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The community which would be variously known as the Town of Yesler, Yesler Mill, Yesler Junction, or simply Yesler -- was laid out in 1888 as something like a company town to support Henry Yesler’s second mill on the north shore of Union Bay. The town father himself passed away in 1892 and had little to do with the mill operations.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">[For an expanded version of this essay, including details on the town and its institutions, see the blogpost <a href="http://remnantsofourpast.blogspot.com/2016/05/mill-village-yesler-on-union-bay.html" target="_blank">Mill Village</a>.]</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Yesler Mill was built on the north shore of Union Bay on Lake Washington on the property that is now the University of Washington’s Urban Horticulture Center and the adjacent Yesler Swamp, west of Laurelhurst. Equipment was probably transferred to the location from the original Yesler Mill in Seattle which had burned down in 1887.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Men, women, and a child atop logs at the Yesler Mill on Union Bay. Photo dated 1892?, Courtesy of Seattle Public Library.</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />Soon after the mill was established a spur railroad line was put in to connect the mill to the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway line, now the Burke Gilman Trail. Maps of the day are not always reliable; however, we see the railway spur on maps from 1890 (O.P. Anderson and Co., Seattle and Environs) and 1895 (Seattle and Lake Washington Waterway Company, Guide Map to Seattle), but the Baist Maps, beginning in 1905, show no spur. The apparent loss of direct rail transportation for lumber up to the main line is one indication that things did not always run smoothly at Yesler Mill.</span><br />
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<i><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Baist Map, 1908, UW Special Collections. This map demonstrates how, prior to the cutting of the ship canal, the waters of Union Bay lapped up to and across a portion of E. 41<sup>st</sup> at high tide.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 21.528px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">FIRE AND ICE</span></span></h3>
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<i><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This photo from the collection of the Seattle Public Library is undated, but was probably taken prior to the 1895 fire. The railroad is apparent in the background. What appears to be a small church appears at the far right hand. This may have been the Yesler Junction Church.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fire was the enemy of all sawmills. A catastrophic fire of unknown cause devastated the mill in 1895, only seven years after it was established. A lengthy article in the <i>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</i> on September 17 of that year described the chaos:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“YESLER MILL BURNED. Devouring Flames consume the Plant and Lumber Yard. The Town Narrowly Escapes. Employes (sic] Can Do Nothing but Watch Mill and Lumber Burn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The entire plant of the Yesler mill at the town of Yesler, on a spur of the Lake Shore road, was destroyed by fire last night, together with nearly the whole stock of lumber, the wharf and eight cars of the lake Shore road. The fire burned so fiercely that the flames were visible throughout the city and for miles around and it was thought that the whole town of Yesler had been destroyed….Fire was discovered at 11 o’clock by the night watchman in the dry kiln. The watchman blew the whistle and in a few minutes a large crowd had gathered, but the fire spread with wonderful rapidity, and in a few minutes the entire mill was in flames."</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The reporters on the scene were able to give a rip-roaring first person account of the conflagration:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />“About this time a wind from the south sprang up, driving the men away from the lumber back among the houses on the hill. The timbers began to fall and broke the water pipe, leaving the men helpless. The flames at this point were leaping into the air full seventy-five feet and the heat was terrific. Standing on the tracks were six logging cars and two box cars belonging to the Lake Shore road, two of which were loaded ready to ship East: one had logs aboard and the others were empty. As the flooring timbers were burned away these eight cars crashed down into the lake. About the same time the boilers and engine were heard to fall.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In about thirty minutes there was nothing left of the mill but a few smoking timbers. The fire confined itself then to the immense piles of lumber, and gradually ate it way toward the office.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So rapid was the progress of the fire that one of the men, H. Butler, at work on the wharf was cut off from escape and had to jump into the water. He seized a boom chain and hung on until he was rescued.” (p. 2)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The report goes on to relate how the fire eventually burned itself out “chiefly for lack of further food,” and how water from the neighboring ice plant saved some lumber piles and the mill post office building.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reporting in the days following the fire focused on the untangling of insurance claims and the burning question: would the mill be rebuilt?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is clear from the newspaper accounts that there was more than one going concern on the mill property at the time of the fire. This was not a company town in the traditional sense. Portions of the mill property were leased to the Great Western Lumber and Supply Company while the ice company also appeared to be an independent entity. Other claims were less clear: “There appears to be some doubt as to the proprietorship of the wharf and dock burned, and it will probably be some days before a full adjustment of the losses can be reached.” (<i>Seattle P-I</i>, September 18, 1895, p.8) </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A bulletin in the same paper three weeks later reports that “A.H Ruelle, of Ruelle Bros, lessees of the Yesler mill, at Yesler, recently destroyed by fire, is now in the East closing accounts of the firm. He expects to make arrangements before his return to erect a new mill, probably on the site of the old.” (<i>Seattle P-I</i>, October 6, 1895, p. 8.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The receivers of the Lake Shore and Eastern Railway also suffered losses, as described in the <i>P-I</i> article of September 18, 1895. In addition to the train cars lost it is likely that a good portion of the spur line was damaged or destroyed. Since the spur line disappears from maps soon after this date, one might conclude that the line was never rebuilt.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Sanborn map provides intimate details of the workings of the ice company. It had the capacity to produce 20 tons of ice per day, pumping water directly from Lake Washington into 7500 gallon tanks, 16 feet tall. The plant was in operation day and night in summer; closed in the winter. Being a fire map, Sanborn goes on to tell us, somewhat prophetically, “The station pump [will] supply sawmill with pressure in case of fire.” The Sanborn notes conclude that the building is “substantial, premises tidy.” (Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Seattle, 1893, Vol. 2, Sheet 55a)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This small snippet of map may be the best depiction we have of the mill property in the few years it was active before the 1895 conflagration. The diagram also shows the route of the railroad spur, a “Yessler [sic] W. C. & L. Co. boarding hotel,” lumber runs, planked roadbeds, and a combination office and post office.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">The lengthy article describing the fire in the </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">P-I</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"> also gives a snapshot look at operations at the mill:</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“[The mill] had a capacity of 75,000 feet in 12 hours and employs 36 men. It was a two-story structure with the sawmill on the upper floor and planing mill and engine room on the lower floor. It contained two double circular saws, an Allis edger, two large wood planers, a sticker, a shingle machine and a lath machine, a Corliss engine and a Noyle engine, two large boilers, an Allis steam setwork with twin engine…Of the 1,000,000 feet of lumber in the yard, only 15,000 to 20,000 was saved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 21.528px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">DECADES OF CHANGE</span></span></h3>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The years between 1895 and 1912 are somewhat hazy. All sources agree that at some point a shingle mill was constructed on the property that was the Yesler Mill. In her history of Laurelhurst, Christine Barrett reports that folks used to set their watches by the mill's noon and four o'clock whistles. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One encounters the term “Yesler Mill” in newspaper articles and on maps as late as 1918. Whether the mill was operated by the Yesler Logging Company or an affiliate during this period is not clear. It is possible that the term “Yesler Mill” was just a comfortable moniker.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Beginning in 1912 the researcher finds references to a Two Lakes Mill which manufactured shingles at Yesler Station and maintained an office in the downtown Henry Building. Articles of Incorporation for the Two Lakes Mill were filed August 24, 1912. Newspaper ads include the following:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Wanted: shingle bolts and stumpage near Lake Washington at once. Two Lakes Mill Co.” (1912)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Wanted: to let contract for hauling several hundred cords shingle bolts, Two Lakes Mill Co.” (1913)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Shingle your house all over with shingles made in Seattle. Inquire about our four grades and prices. Two Lakes Mill Co.” (1916)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 1918 Polk City Directory contains a bolded listing for Two Lakes Mill: “Mnfrs of High Grade Premium Red Cedar Shingles.” However, the very next year the listing had been reduced to two words -- “wholesale shingles” -- perhaps indicating a downturn in the business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Any doubt that we are talking about the same property where the Yesler Mill stood is laid to rest by an annotated diagram in the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for 1919 showing the workings of “Union Bay Shingle Co./Two Lakes Mill Co’s Shingle Mill.” Notes on the diagram indicate that the mill had a capacity of 105,000 shingles in eight hours, that there was a night watchman, and that water was taken from Union Bay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The question of corporate names does not die easily. In 1917, <i>The University District Herald</i>, under the headline “Yesler Mill Running,” reported “This </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">mill has been idle for some time and it is indeed good to see the wheels turning again. It furnishes work for a bunch of men who are causing their earning to benefit Yesler in general.” (July 27, 1917) On April 25, 1918, <i>The Seattle Daily Times</i> reported that a shed had been destroyed by fire at the Yesler Mill Company plant, but that the mill itself was saved by the fire department.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The mill may have dodged this bullet in 1918, but most sources agree that the mill buildings succumbed to fire sometime in the 1920s. (Thompson, Barrett) There would be no rebuilding this time. It is likely that the cutting of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1916, and the subsequent lowering of Lake Washington, made it just that much harder to run a lumber mill of any kind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the lake waters receded, they left the mill wharf high and somewhat dry and the mill pond only slightly damp. At some point an attempt was made to dredge a channel into the bay in order to make the mill run viable again. This last ditch effort must have had only limited success because by the mid-1920s the mill was gone. Long-time resident Jim Thompson recalls watching the mill burn in 1928 or 1929.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While some lake mills may have benefited from access to the big steamers that the cut afforded, the Yesler Mill, on a shallow bay, was already too low in the water to make that leap. The mill's loss was the U Dub's gain. All the mill acreage, as well as most of the newly exposed wetlands at Union Bay, was acquired by the university with new uses in mind.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">MEMORIES OF YOUTH</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1971 not-yet-famous author Ivan Doig wrote a piece for The Seattle Daily Times based on the recollections of his neighbor in the area known as Exposition Heights overlooking University Village shopping center. Bill Lozott, Doig’s informant, recalls going down to the dredged mill channel to swim after a hard day’s work in the mid-1920s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 2010, Jim Thompson, shared memories with the Friends of the Yesler Swamp and in 2016 spoke with this author. Both Lozott and Thompson recalled sawdust piles on the old mill site that would smoke and occasionally combust on hot days. Thompson remembers that the mill run “was dug deep enough to accommodate a tug;” he and his pals kept a very small sailboat, “the tar baby,” in the mill run.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My friend John found this old boat in the swamp. At that time they were building 43rd NE. Part of what they were doing to build it -- they had tar. So John and I went up and secured the tar, brought it down, melted it, and used it to caulk the boat somewhat. It was just a little throwaway. About a 10 or 14 foot little sailboat. So we went sailing. I was in my very best clothes -- and we tipped over! So I’m swimming in a brand new suit of woolen clothes.I had to throw them away, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>The dredged mill run can be clearly seen about center in this aerial from 1937. Even after the mill closed, neighbors attempted to keep the run open for boat launches. The channel eventually was abandoned to the encroaching wetland now known as Yesler Swamp. Image Courtesy University of Washington Special Collections.</i></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Guy Reed Ramsey, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Postmarked Washington: King County</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">, 1966.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Christine Barrett, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">A History Of Laurelhurst</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">, 1981.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Lucile McDonald, </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The Lake Washington Story</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">, 1979.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The website of the Friends of Yesler Swamp. http://yeslerswamp.org/history/</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">Valerie Bunn's blogspot: https://wedgwoodinseattlehistory.com/author/valariebunn/.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Various articles from <i>The Seattle Times</i>, <i>The Seattle Post-Intelligencer</i>, and <i>The University District Herald</i>, including: </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ivan Doig, </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">“The home-town boy,” </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Seattle [Daily]Times</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">, April 18, 1971.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Special Collections, University of Washington, including historic maps collection</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Puget Sound Regional Branch, Washington State Archives, property and corporate records. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Memories of Jim Thompson, courtesy of Friends of the Yesler Swamp, 2010, and as told to Eleanor Boba, 2016</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">-- Eleanor Boba, 2016</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Northeast Seattle, Seattle, WA, USA47.654981695243237 -122.2874450683593847.633591195243234 -122.32778556835937 47.676372195243239 -122.24710456835938tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-89063514769477561152016-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:002016-05-05T08:43:57.276-07:00Ship Shapes: The Ed Monk Sr. Ships Plans Collection<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Grant funding from King County 4Culture has allowed us to plunge into the daunting task of preserving and cataloging the remarkable Ed Monk Sr. collection of ships plans. In this essay we'll revisit the man with the plans.</span></i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7LmOtzIAH9FWjHbVCGNcZ3TKbGO0s3J2x0S_gV0pY7ilMgDdCGtQYtdPz1uNXGEfInYhBgmwZH_BxfGw1hqeLf6LUuQ3MsRaSNLGDubFMgAqWHOhjF5nOXvBVXVdxHKpwo6f7lGvcE0/s1600/Ed+Monk+BW+portrait.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7LmOtzIAH9FWjHbVCGNcZ3TKbGO0s3J2x0S_gV0pY7ilMgDdCGtQYtdPz1uNXGEfInYhBgmwZH_BxfGw1hqeLf6LUuQ3MsRaSNLGDubFMgAqWHOhjF5nOXvBVXVdxHKpwo6f7lGvcE0/s400/Ed+Monk+BW+portrait.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ed Monk Sr., circa 1967.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2014 Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society accepted a large collection of drawings, documents, photos, and artifacts related to the work of renowned naval architect Edwin Monk (1894-1973) from his family. Monk was a designer and builder of boats large and small, pleasure and commercial. His vessels are familiar to mariners all along the Pacific Coast. The collection is an invaluable resource to those fortunate enough to own a Monk-designed boat, as well as to all interested in the history of boat design. We would like to thank Ed Monk, Jr., son of the shipbuilder, for arranging the donation of this collection to PSMHS.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33avujw-OgCdBFINgfVWNbPH83-OzNWIESn1EycLYn1L972-W-BoOvrcBmrp_l-hjafGmblftahh4cmrw4_MwZlxURQKMkGiIzaKjermK5HjpgSnaVNozii2kBXNROAmn-u6mKJffGW4/s1600/Ed+Monk+at+National+Bldg+office.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33avujw-OgCdBFINgfVWNbPH83-OzNWIESn1EycLYn1L972-W-BoOvrcBmrp_l-hjafGmblftahh4cmrw4_MwZlxURQKMkGiIzaKjermK5HjpgSnaVNozii2kBXNROAmn-u6mKJffGW4/s400/Ed+Monk+at+National+Bldg+office.jpg" width="322" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ed Monk at his National Building Office, circa 1967</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edwin Monk began his career as a shipbuilding apprentice in 1914, working with his father who was a shipwright in the Puget Sound area. He built the first boat of his own design in the backyard of his Seattle home. While working at the Blanchard Boatyard on Lake Union, Monk had the opportunity to meet the legendary naval architect Ted Geary. In 1926 Geary hired Monk as a draftsman. When Geary decided to move closer to lucrative prospects in California, Monk joined him there, taking his young family to Long Beach for two years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around 1934 Monk returned to the Pacific Northwest and designed and built the 50-foot live-aboard cruiser <i>Nan</i>. Moored at the Seattle Yacht Club, the boat became both his office and home for his family for six years. A few years later he moved his work space into a small corner of the Grandy Boat Company and later to an office at on Westlake Avenue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1947 Monk, joined by fellow naval architect Lorne Garden, moved to the National Building near Colman Dock. From here he commuted to his home at Hidden Cove on Bainbridge Island. After an illustrious career, Monk died in 1973 at the age of 79.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Monk Collection includes over 2,000 individual vessel designs on over 7,000 pages. In addition we have been given several of Ed Monk’s half-hull ship models, his drafting curves, and his shop sign. His photograph collection, which chronicles the construction of his ships, is currently being cataloged for accession. </span><br />
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Remembering the Man and his Boats</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The acquisition of the Monk Collection inspired us to learn more about the man and his world. We conducted oral history interviews with his daughter, Isabel Van Valey, and with his niece-by-marriage and one-time secretary, Doris Colbert. These personal accounts supplement the great information in the book <i>Ed Monk and the Tradition of Classic Boats</i> by Bet Oliver (1998). Transcripts of the interviews may be viewed by arrangement at the PSMHS office.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM8LzXWj3dmeCQelrkMfViy2U9ox1updZXUzg283DKBFgV8lAt9tAy4hUiNYt6M6q3AEwYL_GhA64czW-5O9p5MyOgG3IEkgnqIsCsejnxEUaMg2p8UOK-Kv2X289bD38hNNXEi9fS1o/s1600/Isabel+Van+Valey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM8LzXWj3dmeCQelrkMfViy2U9ox1updZXUzg283DKBFgV8lAt9tAy4hUiNYt6M6q3AEwYL_GhA64czW-5O9p5MyOgG3IEkgnqIsCsejnxEUaMg2p8UOK-Kv2X289bD38hNNXEi9fS1o/s400/Isabel+Van+Valey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Isabel Val Valey in her home overlooking Rich Passage.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isabel Van Valey, Monk's daughter, recalls excursions on the <i>Ann Saunders</i>, the first boat Ed Monk built for himself.</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boat was a typical…I think what they call a dreamboat design…and it was kind of like a shoe, with a hull and a cabin that came up….It reminded you of a shoe. And the cockpit had a nice, big long seat on it, so we could sit on it. He was very, very cautious about us not falling overboard, and so when we went through the locks or there was any bad weather we were tied. It didn’t bother me at all, but it bothered my sister terribly. She was older and she would sit on the ropes, because she didn’t want anyone to see her. [laughs] The life jackets those days were just great big bulky pieces of cork, and this was much simpler for us.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going through the locks was the most interesting. Mother would take the bow line and Dad would take the stern line because he was near the wheel, and we would have to sit in the back on our ropes. This lady once said, “Oh, look at those poor children tied up like dogs!” And my mother was very indignant and said “I’d rather have them tied like dogs than drowned!”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was my earliest memory [of the boat], and I remember a big electric storm with thunder and lightning bolts while we were crossing in the boat. And I think that’s why I don’t like thunder and lightning now.</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAaOYEKe3DiUaxiTfwfRmVqFxUJaDlcy75ub_QHX6kB_GLAXyyZ6zM1G73V-LBcNeKxC9KjU3oqjuJxBkJgQPpG9pYqrLu8ZnT4AIAz9YeEtGIvCY-V83chOaD3Fl-Wn1pXLTegP5WUL8/s1600/Ed+Monk+Troller+plan+condensed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAaOYEKe3DiUaxiTfwfRmVqFxUJaDlcy75ub_QHX6kB_GLAXyyZ6zM1G73V-LBcNeKxC9KjU3oqjuJxBkJgQPpG9pYqrLu8ZnT4AIAz9YeEtGIvCY-V83chOaD3Fl-Wn1pXLTegP5WUL8/s400/Ed+Monk+Troller+plan+condensed.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Monk's plan for a troller</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another memorable Monk boat was the <i>Nan</i>, the family's home for several years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, it was a live-aboard. It was designed especially for us. My sister and I had a stateroom and my parents had the back stateroom and our living room was the pilot house, which eventually [had] an office in one corner. And the galley was down below on the bow. Mother didn’t like it down there because she couldn’t see where we were going or what we were doing, and I think that was one reason why Dad was inspired to move the galleys up to the pilot house.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doris Colbert recalled working with Monk during World War II:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I started to work for him he was called up by the army to make a trip up to Alaska to design flat-bottomed boats for the rivers up there because the United States government was putting in the Alcan [Alaskan-Canadian] Highway. And so they needed these flat bottomed boats to cross the rivers. This is what he designed. At that particular time it was mostly work for the government, but there were times when he did fishing boats, too, because we had to feed the troops and Seattle was a port of embarkation. </span></blockquote>
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Embarking on a Voyage of Preservation</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Monk plans, photos, and objects, while well organized, require proper archival storage and cataloging. It is a big job! UW Information School students Jodi Myers and Suzanne LeDoux have laid the groundwork for us by formally assessing the collection and estimating the resources (time, money, personnel) required to complete conservation. They also drafted a user guide for staff and volunteers working on the conservation project.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSw76XJ2UJe4Dnv7TgMuz9m_SR9g6MYF34RfTZ9WF7M7Aqu73GgZDlet8OvAtrsBpJQb2rYQNwmNfNW_IyoXVZBR3qgE3u_tgXT_PJMq584hE8JZTz6OP56-P53u-AqbKayeVukB8zic/s1600/John+Kelly+and+Monk+Collection+condensed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSw76XJ2UJe4Dnv7TgMuz9m_SR9g6MYF34RfTZ9WF7M7Aqu73GgZDlet8OvAtrsBpJQb2rYQNwmNfNW_IyoXVZBR3qgE3u_tgXT_PJMq584hE8JZTz6OP56-P53u-AqbKayeVukB8zic/s400/John+Kelly+and+Monk+Collection+condensed.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>PSMHS volunteer John Kelly has helped curate the Puget Sound Maritime ships plans collections for years. </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cultural resource specialist Katherine Kidwell has been working with </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PSMHS staff and volunteers </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">since January of this year to place the ships plans into archivally safe storage and entering detailed information about each hand-drawn page into our PastPerfect database. A great deal of work remains to be done, but we are pleased to have set sail on this exciting voyage!</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZyX73cB1X7DESulpxeSvGNHJ1LQy8RGK-0AhNniQwDLRby1SsXO3WLfUUR_ePvSoqnuZp8kzxta14GGr36HQXipnZnf18dlOpX44aelZ6sObysWwSYXhkHMZhJwj-gRaNslfO29CmdY/s1600/IMG_20160425_114442447.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZyX73cB1X7DESulpxeSvGNHJ1LQy8RGK-0AhNniQwDLRby1SsXO3WLfUUR_ePvSoqnuZp8kzxta14GGr36HQXipnZnf18dlOpX44aelZ6sObysWwSYXhkHMZhJwj-gRaNslfO29CmdY/s400/IMG_20160425_114442447.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>Katherine Kidwell shows us how the Monk ship plans are stored.</i></span></td></tr>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">--John Kelly and Eleanor Boba contributed to this post. Special thanks to King County 4Culture for funding this important preservation project.</span></b></i><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-23600766037716099452016-04-25T15:52:00.002-07:002016-06-01T08:21:14.148-07:00Making the Cut: The Locks by the Numbers<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Puget
Sound Maritime researcher Joe Baar gives us some insights into the monumental
undertaking that was and is the Ballard Locks. This is one of an occasional
series of essays commemorating the centennial of the Ballard Locks and the Ship
Canal.</span></i></span></h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Early, undated photo of the "government locks," probably mid-1940s. Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Joe Williamson Collection, Negative # 2301-4.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Early Efforts</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By 1854 a navigable connection between Lake Washington and Puget Sound to allow movement of logs, milled lumber, and fishing vessels between these bodies of water was being discussed sporadically. After the Civil War, in 1867 the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy">U.S. Navy</a> endorsed a canal project, which included the idea of constructing a naval shipyard on Lake Washington. In 1891 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began planning the project; some preliminary work occurred in 1906.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Legal challenges mounted by Ballard mill owners who feared property damage and loss of waterfront in Salmon Bay, and by Lake Washington property owners whose docks and waterfront would be left 9 feet in the air, delayed construction for another five years. Work finally began after midsummer 1911 under Major Hiram M. Chittenden’s command. All the delays in planning and construction finally caused the Navy to establish the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard across Puget Sound from Seattle, in Bremerton.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To facilitate expected maritime traffic, three low bridges and trestles crossing the ship canal route were removed, at Fremont Avenue, Stone Way and Latona Avenue. New bridges in Ballard and Fremont were completed in 1917, followed by University Bridge in 1919, and Montlake Bridge in 1925. University Bridge was improved in 1932, and in 1934 the Corps declared the Lake Washington Ship Canal project complete.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dates, Size, Usage</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Construction began on the Government Locks August 6, 1911. Both locks opened to traffic in the summer of 1916, the small lock on July 30 and the large lock on August 3. During those four years and eleven months the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers excavated 1,661,400 cubic yards of earth for the Salmon Bay locks and dam alone, then filled the resulting basin with 227,000 cubic yards of carefully-formed concrete.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Corps reported Hiram Chittenden Locks hosted 1,300,000 visitors and conveyed 50,000 watercraft and 1,000,000 tons of commercial goods during 2013. As the price of oil declines, we can expect even greater volumes in all these categories.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Comparison with Modern Structures</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Modern comparisons show the relative size of this undertaking. Forty-five years after the locks first carried traffic, the Seattle Space Needle’s foundation was completed in 1961 using continuous 24-hour concrete placement into a mass requiring 2,747 cubic yards of concrete. In 2015 the Amazon Complex’s Block 19 Mat Pour, the building’s foundation within the block bordered by 6th and 7th Avenues and Lenora and Blanchard Streets, required more than 12,000 cubic yards, which covered the excavation’s bottom more than 12 feet deep in concrete and reinforcing steel. The volume of concrete used to construct the Government Locks amounts to about 19 times what the Amazon Block 19 Mat Pour required, and is about 83 times what the Space Needle’s 5,600-ton foundation used.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Cuts - Fremont</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A continuous waterway extending from Puget Sound to Lake Washington requires two separate and sequential channels excavated through intervening landforms. Westernmost of these is the Fremont Cut, named for the Fremont neighborhood lying just across a swale north of Queen Anne Hill. In 1883 the Lake Washington Improvement Company contracted with the Wa Chong Company to provide immigrant Chinese labor to dig the Fremont Cut along the low-lying route of Lake Union’s outlet, Ross Creek, to Salmon Bay, which was tidal salt water until the Government Locks were in place. After excavating this section in 1885 the Wa Chong laborers moved on to complete the log sluice at the Montlake Portage, located near and beneath today’s State Route 520. All this work was accomplished solely by use of hand tools.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Fremont Cut’s eastern end near Fremont Avenue was separated from Lake Union by a low wooden dam, a small wooden lock, and a spillway. The cut thus continued Ross Creek’s function as an overflow drain for Lake Union and Lake Washington until the Government Locks at Salmon Bay were finished in 1916, which caused the water level behind them to rise and meet that of Lake Union. Shortly afterward Lake Washington drained westward until all the fresh-water bodies’ elevations equalized.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Fremont Cut is approximately 5,800 feet long. The maintained ship channel taking up the center section of this waterway is 100 feet wide and 30 feet deep; the cut’s entire width, bank to bank, is 270 feet. The total amount of material excavated for this cut is thus around 2,200,000 cubic yards.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">The Montlake Cut in snow, looking
east, showing the remnants of the coffer dam, circa 1916. </span></span></em><em><span style="color: #333333; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">Puget Sound Maritime
Historical Society, Joe Williamson Collection, Negative
#10345.</span></span></em></div>
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The Cuts - Montlake</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The easternmost cut at Montlake was originally named the Erickson Cut, after the first contractor hired to excavate this section. The Corps’ Major C.W. Kutz awarded C.J. Erickson’s contract on August 7, 1909, and dry excavation proceeded from October that year until October 26, 1910, when the dike on the Union Bay end of the cut was dynamited, allowing water to fill it. Further hydraulic excavation by Stilwell Brothers continued until June, 1914, and temporary wood cofferdams replaced part of the earthen dikes at both ends of the Montlake Cut to allow control of its water level so work on the Montlake Bridge’s abutments and foundations could proceed. After the last bond issue funding this construction passed in 1915, the bridge’s foundations were finally begun.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On August 26, 1916 the Portage Bay cofferdam was removed, followed several days later by the one on the Union Bay end. Lake Washington’s level then descended 8 feet 10 inches over the following three months, and the Lake Washington Ship Canal gradually assumed its normal level from Lake Washington, through Lake Union, to the Government Locks.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Montlake Cut is approximately 2,500 feet long. The maintained ship channel taking up the center section is 100 feet wide and 30 feet deep; the excavation’s entire width between the high points of each bank, is 350 feet. The total amount of material excavated for this cut is nearly 2,400,000 cubic yards.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Observations from Today</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The entire span of time between Thomas Mercer’s discussions with his fellow-citizens about what the inland lakes should be named, until the Corps of Engineers declared the Lake Washington Ship Canal complete, amounted to eighty years. Today we look forward with great impatience to the promised completion of several major public works projects, also related to transportation, in the central Puget Sound region. We are not able to calculate the cost of this new infrastructure with any real certainty, and discovering how much the Lake Washington Ship Canal actually cost the citizens, beginning 162 years ago until all the financing bonds were retired, is a task beyond the scope of this short article. What we do know from our own experience is, it wasn’t cheap then and it won’t be cheap now. These great expenses provide immense known and imagined benefits to all citizens for a very long time to come. Public works of this scale animate our society now and help bring the promise of a bright future for all of us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources include the <i>H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwes</i>t; David Williams, <i>Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography</i>; Adam Wood, <i>Images of America: The Ballard Locks</i>; Sellen Construction Company, "Block 19 Mat Pour, October 4, 2014; HistoryLink.org.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Joe
Baar has been fascinated with ships since his childhood on Brace Point. His
lifelong avocation has included stints with the Sea Explorers, small boat
school courtesy of the U.S. Army, working on yachts on Lake Union, and amassing
a large collection of maritime books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3Hiram M Chittenden Locks, Seattle, WA 98107, USA47.6657525 -122.3965246999999922.143718000000003 -163.70511869999999 73.187787 -81.087930699999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-15274420577405082482016-04-02T15:28:00.003-07:002016-06-01T08:21:39.257-07:00Making the Cut: From Creek to Canal....a First Hand Look<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /><br /><span style="color: blue;">In 1975 Ralph Waldo Johnson wrote two articles for the Puget Sound Maritime publication The Sea Chest: “Memory Digs a Canal –The Creek” followed by “Memory Digs a Canal – Concluded.” Nancy Dulaney of Rainier Valley Historical Society previews these articles which are now available digitally as a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_gRZORIBeybmt2bXcwcG83T28/view?pref=2&pli=1"><span style="color: red;">combined PDF file</span></a> – highly recommended reading for all those interested in the history of the canal and the locks. This is one of an occasional series of essays commemorating the centennial of the Ballard Locks and the Ship Canal.</span></i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph Johnson photo of the remains of the Lake Union dam, 1914.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ralph Waldo Johnson wrote of Congress authorizing a survey for the
canal in 1890 with the route approved in 1891. Born in 1895 on Dravus Street in Seattle, with the creek
running along the front of the lot, Johnson had a front row seat to early ship
canal developments. His own family home was moved in 1902 to Etruria Street at
the south end of the Fremont Bridge as the creek and surrounding properties were
appropriated for the future ship canal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In his younger years, when the tide was right, Ralph enjoyed
the diluted salt water swimming hole near Bertona Street along with the other
small boys (where were the girls?). Ralph
also identified two shallow areas along the creek where boys liked to dip their
hot feet in the cool water, locations later covered by 30 feet of water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As Ralph began school, his father took him to the creek to
watch the salmon coming up to spawn. Soon Ralph got big ideas about catching salmon at
the spillway and selling them for some “easy money” – ten cents a fish -- that
is until the game warden showed up one day to enforce the no gaff‑hook
regulation and Ralph’s mother heard about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In March 1914, the wooden dam at the Lake Union outlet
washed out and Ralph watched as the old Fremont Bridge worked its way into
collapse, leaving only the street car tracks and a few ties swinging above the
creek, an image which Ralph captured with his camera.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The</i> <i>Seattle Star</i> newspaper reported on the
fate of Lake Union dwellers after the water fell some six feet: “…several score
of houseboats, mostly occupied by poor people, leaned lakeward on their front
porches. Gas, electric, water and sewer connections were broken when the
houseboats, straining at their moorings, slid down the incline as the water
fell.” (March 14, 1914)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ralph’s boyhood adventures ran concurrent with the
development of the ship canal and locks, and he memorializes both in <i>The Sea Chest</i> articles. His July 4,
1917, Lake Washington Ship Canal dedication day photo must have been taken not long
before he left for his World War I service in France.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ralph Johnson’s memories of the time period during which the
creek became the canal are an historian’s delight. His photographs are an added
bonus -- I wonder where they now reside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interested parties may wish to check out Paul Dorpat’s 2010 <a href="https://pauldorpat.com/2010/10/16/queen-anne-addendum-2-ralph-waldo-johnson-his-darkroom/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">article</span> </a>featuring Ralph
Johnson, which gives background on his interest in photography and includes
pictures of the family home on Etruria Street, the neighborhood and, if you
scroll down far enough, early images of the ship canal, some of which are in
<i>The Sea Chest</i> articles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dorpat also gives us a look at the Lake Union
dam washout in a 2014 <a href="https://pauldorpat.com/2014/06/07/seattle-now-then-the-lake-union-dam-washout/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">essay</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-- Nancy Dulaney, Rainier Valley Historical Society</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> <a href="http://rainiervalleyhistory.org/">rainiervalleyhistory.org</a></i></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Lake Union, Seattle, WA, USA47.6399396 -122.3358948999999747.5971441 -122.41657589999997 47.682735099999995 -122.25521389999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-27141688761406528342016-03-18T15:46:00.001-07:002016-06-01T08:21:55.721-07:00Making the Cut: Ships in the Locks (Photo Forensics 101)<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Puget Sound
Maritime researcher Joe Baar takes a second look at some photos associated with
the Lake Washington Ship Canal. This is one of an occasional series of essays
commemorating the centennial of the Ballard Locks and the Ship Canal.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Several early photographic images of vessels transiting the
Ship Canal are well known and the captions commonly associated with them claim
they were taken during the canal’s first day, or first year, of operation.
Sometimes we must take such assertions with a large dose of salt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In one example, the photo reproduced on page 262 of <i>The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the
Pacific Northwest</i> (Gordon Newell, ed., 1966) shows the tug HORNET towing
the freighter ss EASTERN MERCHANT eastbound out of the large lock; the caption
purports EASTERN MERCHANT was the “...largest vessel to pass through the locks
in their first year of operation.” That year would have run from August 1916
through August 1917. <i>Lloyd’s Register of
Ships</i> tells us Asano Dockyard in Tsurumi, Japan, completed the 8,152-ton
EASTERN MERCHANT in December 1919 to the order of the United States Shipping
Board. As well, <i>Merchant Vessels of the
United States </i>shows the tug HORNET was built in Seattle in 1920, so this
photo could not have been taken earlier, belying the <i>McCurdy</i> caption. Much gratitude to Karl House for pointing out this
inconsistency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Confusion has resulted from the fact both locks were open to
traffic by early August 1916, although the project’s official dedication and
the celebratory maritime parade did not take place until July 4, 1917. By that
date, shipping had been arriving in Lake Washington via this conduit for eleven
months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>ss Roosevelt followed by mv Orcas at the Fremont Bridge, 7/4/1917;</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i> Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Joe Williamson Collection</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>ss ROOSEVELT at the Montlake Cut, 7/4/1917;</i></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><i>Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Joe Williamson Collection</i></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The REAL First
Transit</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ship GEDNEY, shown
immediately below, most likely records the first transit of the Lake Washington
Ship Canal by an ocean-going vessel. This event probably would have occurred
during 1916. A jubilant note on one copy of the print’s reverse side informs us
this trip was made with “No Pilot.” This notation lends credibility to the
photo’s provenance because survey ships normally gather information about
uncharted waters without using local guides. Also of interest is the absence of
smaller craft visible in the image (aside from tugs), a certain indicator this
trip was not the same one as the July 4th, 1917 transit led by the ROOSEVELT.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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USC&GS GEDNEY Eastbound from the Large Lock, c. 1916;<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
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ship USC&GS GEDNEY at Sitka, Alaska, before 1912;<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>-- Joe Baar</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Joe
Baar has been fascinated with ships since his childhood on Brace Point. His
lifelong avocation has included stints with the Sea Explorers, small boat
school courtesy of the U.S. Army, working on yachts on Lake Union, and amassing
a large collection of maritime books.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-89280353327712364522016-02-26T10:24:00.004-08:002016-06-01T08:22:39.512-07:00Making the Cut: The Yesler Mill at Yesler<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Lake Washington Ship Canal was constructed 100 years ago bringing change, both positive and negative, to Puget Sound waterways. A number of historians and educators are working on plans for commemorating this watershed event and looking deeper into the effects on the communities touched by the canal. This is the first in a series of glimpses into our efforts which we call "Making the Cut."</span></i><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is a work in progress! For more on the history of the second Yesler Mill, see our <a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2016/05/making-cut-yesler-mill-on-union-bay.html" target="_blank">blogpost: Yesler Mill on Union Bay.</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1888 Henry Yesler and friends built a small sawmill on the north shore of Union Bay on Lake Washington. A small company town called...what else?...Yesler grew up behind the mill and up toward the tracks of the Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (now the Burke Gilman Trail). A wharf extended into the bay on a point of land roughly where the Urban Horticulture Center now stands west of Laurelhurst. Logs were floated in to the mill run and processed into lumber and later shingles which were shipped out by train. Maybe, probably, still working on that angle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Yesler Mill survived at least two fires (typical for mills of the era), but the lowering of the lake caused by the cutting of the ship canal in 1916 left its wharf high and somewhat dry and the mill pond only slightly damp. While some lake mills may have benefited from access to the big steamers that the cut afforded, the Yesler Mill, on a shallow bay, was already too low in the water to make that leap. At attempt was made to dredge a channel into the bay in order to make the mill run viable again. This last ditch effort must have had only limited success because by the mid-1920s the mill was gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The mill's loss was the U Dub's gain. All the mill acreage, as well as most of the newly exposed wetlands at Union Bay, was acquired by the university with new uses in mind. That is a story for another day.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The dredged mill run can be seen about center top in this aerial from 1937. Even after the mill closed, neighbors attempted to keep the run open for boat launches. The area that is now the University Village can be clearly seen laid out in farming plots, lower right. University of Washington Special Collections.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The historian regrets that the era of the mill is well below the horizon for useful oral history. However, memories survive in unexpected places. In 1971 not-yet-famous author Ivan Doig wrote a piece for <i>The Seattle Daily Times*</i> based on the reflections of his neighbor, Bill Lozott,. Born in 1907, Lozott still lived on the street where he grew up on the hill behind University Village in an area called Exposition Heights, no doubt for the AYP Expo that took place on the grounds of the University in 1909. Lozott remembered the old neighborhood well. Some snippets from Doig's article:</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Around the mill and its wharf sprouted the village of Yesler, a going little community now vanished almost with a trace except in the memories of Bill Lozott and a few others."</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Another attraction: immense mounds of cedar sawdust which, come summer, would ignite in spontaneous combustion."</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"The water level receded until a flat triangle of land appeared down the hill to the west of the Lozott home [now University Village.] About 1924, as Bill remembers it, 'a Japanese family dug ditches and drained it to develop a lettuce farm.' Young Bill harvested lettuce there for 25 cents an hour. 'Then we'd go down to the old mill channel' -- trenched from Union Bay to the Yesler shingle mill after the drop in the late level -- 'for a swim to wash off.'"</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* Ivan Doig, "The home-town boy," Seattle Daily Times, April 18, 1971, p. 139.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Excellent information about the Town of Yesler can be found in Christine Barrett's <i>A History of Laurelhurst</i>, 1981, Valarie Bunn's blogpost <a href="http://wedgwoodinseattlehistory.com/2013/01/13/from-yesler-to-wedgwood/" target="_blank">From Yesler to Wedgwood</a>, and on the website of the <a href="http://yeslerswamp.org/history/" target="_blank">Friends of Yesler Swamp</a>. Much more needs to be dug up on the workings of the mill itself.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">--Eleanor Boba</span></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St, Seattle, WA 98105, USA47.6584933 -122.2906345000000122.136458800000003 -163.5992285 73.180527800000007 -80.982040500000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-88135362332860852982016-01-28T15:51:00.000-08:002016-01-28T18:39:59.245-08:00Maritime Tourism: The Los Angeles Maritime MuseumMaritime museums often seem to be an endangered species these days, yet they still have a lot to offer. We plan to drop anchor at selected maritime museums this year, beginning with the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.<br />
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The museum is housed in a Streamline Moderne building on the San Pedro channel at the Port of Los Angeles. This architectural style appropriately mimics an ocean liner. Built in 1941, the building was originally a ferry terminal for passengers traveling between San Pedro and the naval and cannery facilities on nearby Terminal Island. Today it showcases the history of the port that is one of the largest container facilities in the United States.<br />
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Ship models make up a large share of the exhibits at the museum. This is a model of the double-ended ferry <i>Islander</i> which served the San Pedro-Terminal Island run from 1941 until 1963 when completion of the Vincent Thomas Bridge ended the need for ferry service. The label informs us that the ride lasted three minutes and cost 10 cents.</div>
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A model of the famed English tea clipper <i>Cutty Sark</i>, launched in 1869. The original is on display in Greenwich, England. Not all the models currently on display at the museum relate to Los Angeles history. This situation may change.</div>
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The Chinese junk <i>Ning Po</i> does have associations with Los Angeles. Reportedly built in 1753, the storied boat became a fixture and tourist attraction along the coast of Southern California beginning in 1911. In 1938 the <i>Ning Po</i> caught fire and went down off Catalina Island where it remains.</div>
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Perhaps the most famous ship model in the museum's collection is not of a real ship. It is the <i>Poseidon</i>, star of the movie <i>Poseidon Adventure</i> (1972). The model is based largely on the blueprints for the RMS <i>Queen Mary</i>, a real ocean liner berthed nearby in Long Beach, which was used for filming many scenes in the film.</div>
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The museum is home port for a real boat. The <i>Angel's Gate</i> tug, built to serve the war effort in 1944, now provides excursion sailing in the harbor. The tug was featured in a 2015 episode of the TV series "Agent Carter."</div>
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Finish up your tour of the museum in the gift shop "Sea Chest" or on the outdoor viewing platform where you can see the USS <i>Iowa</i>, the Vincent Thomas bridge, Terminal Island, and the occasional sea lion.<br />
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<b>Eleanor Boba</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-19652201574966850102015-11-14T14:54:00.002-08:002015-11-15T12:39:47.060-08:00A Pretty Good Spread: Shipboard Menus from the Puget Sound Maritime Collection<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Menu covers of the S.S. Homeric of the Italian Home Lines cruising to the West Indies from Europe in 1957.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cruise ships and passenger liners have a tradition of fine dining. Menus in the care of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society bear witness to this tradition. We have well over 1,000 menus in a collection donated by J.A. Gibbs and inventoried by Hal Will. We are pleased to present a selection of these in this web essay.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwBbJPyV_tFehyphenhyphen-HBRPFkPmTnSWsH2bHib7OPiR2VB6_f9LDKKdeEv_sL8amYDr87Skd2lqgaAE191ndKmSWMaRzA-KgZoXtxE76LvGVSK_PUL4S9qq_PBtl4AXY5pu6K492iyadtaNA/s1600/Jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwBbJPyV_tFehyphenhyphen-HBRPFkPmTnSWsH2bHib7OPiR2VB6_f9LDKKdeEv_sL8amYDr87Skd2lqgaAE191ndKmSWMaRzA-KgZoXtxE76LvGVSK_PUL4S9qq_PBtl4AXY5pu6K492iyadtaNA/s320/Jack.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ships menu covers often included original artwork evocative of the ships destinations. A series of menus from the passenger liner <i>Denali</i>, in the service of the Alaska Steamship Line, feature Husky and Malamute dogs, a sure crowd pleaser. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLFYmCY1dN2Hz2hN6oSWP1P5Rcvvvg2TmLEdMD0sqvm3WrZisk75-C1Fme9X-iwI2cd3wyXQjWKKDYmoqSBVhg-Xt07rJTukUhiIii6T-SrSx9AXvDkhmNhRACSp0z7oxL1k3QTVXlg0/s1600/Husky+pups+Denali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeLFYmCY1dN2Hz2hN6oSWP1P5Rcvvvg2TmLEdMD0sqvm3WrZisk75-C1Fme9X-iwI2cd3wyXQjWKKDYmoqSBVhg-Xt07rJTukUhiIii6T-SrSx9AXvDkhmNhRACSp0z7oxL1k3QTVXlg0/s320/Husky+pups+Denali.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mother and daughter artists Nina and Josephine Crumrine were commissioned by the steamship line to create artwork for their ships. Full size prints decorated ship offices. A number of their original paintings are in the care of museums and archives. Most of the dogs are named leading us to believe they were painted from life models.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This 1929 menu from the <i>S.S. Dorothy Alexander</i>, en route from Ketchikan to Sitka, converts into a convenient postcard to send to your friends. The Pacific Steamship Company has kindly included contact information should the recipient be interested in cruising. The romantic, tropical imagery would seem to have little to do with the ship's destination; however, the company also served the palmy communities of San Diego and Los Angeles.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyV1qwtOgCW5brMqDa_7kj0JZV5TZUg5Sr-35uzS5fDqwBIYoZixbAjZTRLAHfRFK5oaKnAsewwIjXle4lXucGTeaTx2si-tqC9AQrHcHBomyZADjnWGvyJxy1Wi5q2LfW7eMnZJZzB5Y/s1600/Malahat+drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyV1qwtOgCW5brMqDa_7kj0JZV5TZUg5Sr-35uzS5fDqwBIYoZixbAjZTRLAHfRFK5oaKnAsewwIjXle4lXucGTeaTx2si-tqC9AQrHcHBomyZADjnWGvyJxy1Wi5q2LfW7eMnZJZzB5Y/s640/Malahat+drive.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This cover from a 1930's shipboard menu reflects the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of the period. Malahat Drive is a scenic highway on Vancouver Island, a part of the Trans-Canada Highway. The ship was the <i>SS Princess Patricia</i> in service of the Canadian Pacific Railway.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5d5_7qHnuxIfjDsjeJVxt4CzkuWhNkdZSZ6lgw8orxlT1nV2BV6DYb4xpZYXHjtMNXUZ7pbgEydiP543e0B4qWeJk9_f_YwJ1AzMh6z74gBEKdMVerjPx-BiMkdf9OF5E0_6WXAOCo0/s1600/Canadian+Pacific+Menu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5d5_7qHnuxIfjDsjeJVxt4CzkuWhNkdZSZ6lgw8orxlT1nV2BV6DYb4xpZYXHjtMNXUZ7pbgEydiP543e0B4qWeJk9_f_YwJ1AzMh6z74gBEKdMVerjPx-BiMkdf9OF5E0_6WXAOCo0/s640/Canadian+Pacific+Menu.jpg" width="419" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dinner on the <i>Princess Patricia</i> included steamed deep sea cod, prime rib, jelly omelette, whatever that is, and princess ice cream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The <i>S. S. President Jefferson</i> was one of five liners operated as the Admiral Oriental Line, a concern of shipping magnate Robert Dollar. A Thanksgiving menu from 1930 -- The Captain's Dinner -- included a "Sayonara to our Japanese Passengers," leading us to guess that the liner was about to make port in Yokohama or Kobe. A handwritten note at the bottom reads "I thought this a pretty good spread."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i> Robert Service poem graces a summer cruise to Alaska menu, 1979.</i></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-86189678078290843352015-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:002015-10-25T15:16:25.226-07:00Maritime Halloween Trivia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: orange;">MONSTERS OF THE DEEP</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpAiDed0Bah_nhafhW2rbKu1UHkoZIct15L_CvELe1siOhoyGbB4r0H7xgXV83q8xRqf2gfTPURYR_XNeUYU250z4jIUuGQfAUcSmaWvZtQeOTq2Z8DPwG-gnf46Wm4-AAZ277rqLzBE/s1600/Map+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpAiDed0Bah_nhafhW2rbKu1UHkoZIct15L_CvELe1siOhoyGbB4r0H7xgXV83q8xRqf2gfTPURYR_XNeUYU250z4jIUuGQfAUcSmaWvZtQeOTq2Z8DPwG-gnf46Wm4-AAZ277rqLzBE/s320/Map+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amateur cartographer William L. Taylor added sea monsters to his rendering of the Yukon River Delta as part of a collection of papers in the possession of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society -- <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The "Fragmentary
Records of The Custom House of St. Michael, Alaska, 1894-1917."</span></span></i><br />
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Fantastic sea creatures are an enduring part of maritime legend and lore. Test your knowledge of these beasts and spirits!</span></h3>
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1. I matched wits with a peg-legged sea captain, driving him insane. Who am I?</span><br />
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2. I destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Ferry Building, and parts of the Embarcadero with some help from special effects master Ray Harryhausen. What manner of beast am I? </span><br />
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3. I lure sailors to destruction with my beauty and song and, sometimes, with the smell of coffee. What type of creature am I?</span><br />
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4. I'm a sea witch who gave my name to an atmospheric condition that causes seafarers to see mirages. Who am I?</span><br />
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5. I'm a sea deity discovered by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. Extra points if you can spell or pronounce my name. Who am I?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xxgE8x6XLJoUW6s_008-KimYypKUD-ITsqTfNLJwPmMJ6DsGS4osymm18Ok-50SsM52IwlDLSYoABBBpuq8NYLmXqMeP3cdx_WKT9sVQ27sDPXxMgIKJxKgTzwhgLu2hYXaJwYxgoCA/s1600/steiper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xxgE8x6XLJoUW6s_008-KimYypKUD-ITsqTfNLJwPmMJ6DsGS4osymm18Ok-50SsM52IwlDLSYoABBBpuq8NYLmXqMeP3cdx_WKT9sVQ27sDPXxMgIKJxKgTzwhgLu2hYXaJwYxgoCA/s1600/steiper.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>If you haven't been scared off yet, revisit our trivia contests from past years.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nautical spooks and ghost ships</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. What ghostly mariner starred in a Disney movie long before <em>Pirates of the Caribbean</em>?<br /><br />2. What spectral sea captain starred in both a romantic movie (1947) and a television series (1968-70)?<br /><br />3. On <em>Treasure Island</em>, Jim Hawkins and company come upon the skeleton of a pirate. What is the "point" of the skeleton to the story?<br /><br />4. Which of the following is NOT a portent of bad luck in sailing tradition or literature: a woman on board, setting sail on a Friday, a black cat, the black spot, bananas on board.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. W</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ho is associated with the ship </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Queen Anne's Revenge</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Who captained the </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Black Pearl</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the Movie, </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Fog</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">, what manner of men crew the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Elizabeth Dane</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Who is The </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Flying Dutchman</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And finally, what scene from history was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow recalling when he described</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The </span><em style="font-size: small;">Somerset</em><span style="font-size: x-small;">, British man-of-war,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">A phantom ship, with each mast and spar </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Across the moon like a prison bar, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">And a huge black hulk, that was magnified </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">By its own reflection in the tide.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/10/halloween-trivia-answers.html" target="_blank">CLICK HERE FOR ANSWERS</a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-80525529932475462812015-10-25T15:06:00.003-07:002015-10-25T15:18:25.326-07:00Halloween Trivia Answers<h3>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #f6b26b;">MONSTERS OF THE DEEP</span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: orange;">Here follow the answers, more or less, to our Halloween trivia questions, which may be found <a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/10/maritime-halloween-trivia.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Herman Melville's great white whale, Moby Dick, may not have been mythological, but he certainly was monstrous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">2. The monster in <i>It Came From Beneath the Sea </i>(1955) is a giant octopus somehow connected with H-bomb tests. Skip the rest of the movie and watch the last 20 minutes for Ray Harryhausen's stop motion monster in action. Fun fact: the studio couldn't afford eight arms for the octopus, so the creature has only six!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">3. A number of sea witches and mermaids have been blamed for luring sailors to their death; the two-tailed siren is the symbol of Starbucks. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">4. The sea witch Morgana (or Morgan Le Fay) gave her name to the atmospheric condition known as Fata Morgana, in which distorted images of boats, islands, or buildings appear in the sky, causing confusion to mariners.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">5. </span><span style="background-color: white;">Cthulhu is the center of a literary universe created by Lovecraft. Spellings may vary, and, as for pronunciation, good luck with that! We will also accept Dagon, a Semitic fish god who appears in some Lovecraft work.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephant fish painted on a church ceiling.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f6b26b;">NAUTICAL SPOOKS AND GHOST SHIPS</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) starred the incomparable Peter Ustinov as the notorious pirate.</span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Captain Daniel Gregg is the titular character in the movie and TV show <i>The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">3. </span><span style="color: #333333;">The murdered pirate has been arranged by Captain Flint to point to the buried treasure.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">4. B</span><span style="color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;">lack cats (or any cats) are generally considered good luck on shipboard, probably because of their rat-catching abilities. As with all traditions, there are exceptions to this rule.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">5. The </span><em style="color: #333333;">Queen Anne's Revenge</em><span style="color: #333333;"> was the last ship captained by the pirate Blackbeard, himself a spectre in Disney's 1968 movie </span><em style="color: #333333;">Blackbeard's Ghost </em><span style="color: #333333;">(see above)</span><span style="color: #333333;">. The </span><em style="color: #333333;">Queen Anne's Revenge</em><span style="color: #333333;"> ran aground and sank off the coast of North Carolina in 1718; the </span><a href="http://www.qaronline.org/History.aspx" target="_blank">wreck </a><span style="color: #333333;">was located in 1996 and partially excavated. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">6. The </span><em style="color: #333333;">Black Pearl</em><span style="color: #333333;">, a fictional ship starring in the </span><em style="color: #333333;">Pirates of the Caribbean</em><span style="color: #333333;"> movies, sailed under both Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa. And, frankly, maybe others!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In John Carpenter's spooky film, </span><em style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Fog </em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(the 1980 original, please), the ghost ship is crewed by a group of angry lepers who were lured to their deaths while seeking a haven.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">8. </span><span style="color: #333333;">Trick question. The </span><em style="color: #333333;">Flying Dutchman</em><span style="color: #333333;"> is not a who but a what....a ghost ship doomed to sail the seas forever. Legends may vary.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">9. </span><span style="color: #333333;">Longfellow cast a ghostly pall over the British ship guarding Boston Harbor at the time of </span><em style="color: #333333;">The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere</em><span style="color: #333333;">. Paul Revere managed to avoid detection by the Somerset's sentries as he crossed the Charles River to warn the patriots of the coming of British troops searching for weaponry.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Engraving of Blackbeard, circa 1736.</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-65698387997273930072015-10-18T16:40:00.000-07:002015-11-11T13:26:02.811-08:00Deconstructing Annie<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Posters/T/Poster%20-%20Tugboat%20Annie_02.jpg" height="400" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="262" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Promotional poster for <i>Tugboat Annie</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Image courtesy of Jerry Murbach, doctormacro.com.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Filming Tugboat Annie: Fact and Fiction on Puget Sound</span></h2>
<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>ELEANOR BOBA</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In 1933 Seattle played a part in a blockbuster movie. <i>Tugboat Annie</i>, the story of a wise-cracking female tug skipper in the mythical Secoma community on Puget Sound, was the hit of the day, in many cases being held over for a <i>second </i>week at movie houses across the country! It made over a million dollars for MGM, a huge sum in the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The movie, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery, appeared in theaters only weeks after filming was complete. Background scenes featured Lake Union, Queen Anne Hill, and Puget Sound. A tugboat crashes into a ferry on Elliott Bay. And a passenger liner arrives at the Bell Street Pier to the cheers of thousands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The bulk of the filming of <i>Tugboat Annie</i> took place on sound stages, sound pools, and lakes in or near MGM's Culver City studios. However, e</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">nough scenes were filmed in and around Seattle to justify calling </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tugboat Annie</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> the first major movie to be shot in Seattle. (Barring an episode of a <i>Ripley's Believe it or Not</i> filmed in Tacoma in 1932, it was the first film to be shot in Washington State.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">THE LEGEND OF ANNIE</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The movie was based on the short stories of Norman Reilly Raine published in <i>The Saturday Evening Post</i>. Raine began writing his Annie stories in 1931 during a brief stint as a writing instructor at the University of Washington. He gathered inspiration for his popular tales from visiting the Seattle waterfront, incorporating the atmosphere and characters into his stories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The unsinkable Annie (a widow in the stories, 'though married in the movie) is a tough-talking, late middle-aged skipper who more than holds her own with both the seafaring and landlubbing men she encounters. She is master of the <i>Narcissus</i>, a sea-going tug. The yarns are full of salty language and local color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Tugboat Annie Brennan relinquished the wheel to Shiftless. 'When you wake up,' she told him, 'try to remember we're headin' for Everett, not China.' She stood in the wheelhouse doorway for a minute, and pushed back her old felt hat, drawing deep into her capacious chest the invigorating Puget Sound air, fragrant of pines and the sea. 'These is the days I like,' she went on contentedly, half to herself. 'There's a kind of a twang in the air. My goodness, I'm that hungry I could eat a horse and chase the driver." (From the story "When Greek meets Greek")</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">THE MYTH OF ANNIE</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Legends take shape where history meets myth. The most enduring mythic element of Annie's legend is that her character was based on Thea Foss, matriarch of the Foss Family and founder of the Foss tugboat business (now Foss Maritime). This myth, nurtured over decades, has taken on the status of gospel despite the fact that the women shared little beyond business acumen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thea Foss (left)
with Mathilda Berg in front of the Foss family home in Tacoma, 1910.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Image
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The reality is that Raine became acquainted with Wedell Foss, one of Thea's three sons and a partner in the family business. The Foss corporate history, written by Michael Skalley, credits Wedell Foss with suggesting the plot for Raine's first Tugboat Annie story. Raine himself identifies Wedell Foss as one of his informants in a telling interview with <i>Pacific Motor Boat</i> magazine (November, 1934):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"With the background for a story developing in my mind, and a tentative character to fit into it, I still had no plot. It was then that I sought the cooperation from the heads of the tugboat lines in Seattle and later with the Wrigley and Red Stack people down the coast. ....I sought out and talked with Wedell Foss, that canny Norse member of the Foss Company, Inc., and with George Cary, the genial partner of the Puget Sound Tug and Barge Company. From the first gentleman I got a stirring and interesting episode around which to build my plot; from the second I got material to supplement it; and so steamed back to my office full of beer and inspiration, and commenced to bang out Tugboat Annie."</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAF-2eMYIaAnjTtmmA8kU_LcndDbcNfRFEHhXwg5FAExIMPe_oFlktyWAgRYQshVzR_s-gXiBxkNvvIH3dOBKGIKYzDVSCPDPAagckJnJAGqQ3gW4Hp4M0MjUxOehcwql4SodcTss5U4U/s1600/SSHSA_PVDStmCo_KateSutton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAF-2eMYIaAnjTtmmA8kU_LcndDbcNfRFEHhXwg5FAExIMPe_oFlktyWAgRYQshVzR_s-gXiBxkNvvIH3dOBKGIKYzDVSCPDPAagckJnJAGqQ3gW4Hp4M0MjUxOehcwql4SodcTss5U4U/s400/SSHSA_PVDStmCo_KateSutton.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Kate Sutton of the Providence Steamboat Company on board the Walter E. Sutton. When asked if she was the inspiration for Tugboat Annie, she reportedly said "I hope not!" Photo courtesy of Providence Steamboat Company collection, Steamship Historical Society Archives, www.sshsa.org.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So who was Annie? Was she Wedell's mild-mannered mother, who never actually plowed the waters? Was she Kate Sutton, the owner and manager of the Providence Steamboat Company in Rhode Island whom Raine had heard of from a reporter friend? Was she entirely fictional?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The answer appears to be a little bit of each.....along with a large dose of Marie Dressler.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the <i>Pacific Motor Boat</i> article Raine goes on to explain:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Then, suddenly, I ran into an obstacle. The good lady in Providence was not, I speedily saw, a sufficiently colorful and definite character around whom to build the story....Then I recollected having seen, some time before in the film "Min and Bill" a marvelous piece of characterization of a waterfront character, played by that grand old trouper, Marie Dressler. I had my answer. I would write Miss Dressler into the character. Not, be it noted, with any idea of motion picture sale or production, but simply as someone whom I could visualize clearly as I wrote; who was rough of tongue and soft of heart; who could be adamant in a business deal, yet hold the affection and interest of magazine readers, as Miss Dressler won the affection and admiration of picture fans."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thea Foss is not mentioned in the <i>Pacific Motor Boat</i> interview although Raine must have been aware of her through his friendship with her son. Wedell Foss, himself, is sometimes mentioned as the inspiration for Annie's rival in the movie and later her son's boss, Red Severn. Others see Severn as a nod to shipping magnate Robert Dollar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">THE MYTH OF MARIE</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The bigwigs in Hollywood clearly identified Dressler with the part, as well. Fresh from her Oscar win for </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Min and Bill</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, the 64-year old* Dressler's star was riding high in 1933. Unfortunately her health was not. Knowing full well that she was battling cancer, MGM's Louis B. Mayer talked her into a punishing three-film contract over a six month schedule. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Betty Lee's well researched biography of Dressler, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">based on primary source material including the diaries of Dressler's close companion, Claire Dubrey, details how Mayer protected his valuable property:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"As he had previously arranged for </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dinner at Eight</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, Mayer ordered that the star's working day be confined to three hours, that stand-ins be used for rehearsals, and that a sofa be available for Dressler's use when the camera's were not turning."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This brings us to a second myth -- that Marie Dressler was in Seattle for the filming of <i>Tugboat Annie</i>. Despite misinformation from director Mervyn LeRoy's own self-serving and inaccurate autobiography, this is extremely unlikely. All scenes with Dressler and co-star Wallace Beery were filmed at MGM studios, even those on the water. There was no need for them to travel to Puget Sound, especially in Dressler's condition. The local newspapers, full of coverage of the film crew on Lake Union, make no mention of the presence of either star. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Another fable connected to Dressler's mythical stay in Seattle can be traced to her own autobiography. The story goes that Louis B. Mayer purchased a small cottage Marie had admired and had it moved to Seattle for use as her dressing room and residence while on location. Dressler's use of the phrase "on location" was quickly misinterpreted by some biographers to mean Seattle. A close reading of Lee's biography of Dressler make it clear that the location was a lake near the Culver City studios.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Despite such pampering, the <i>Tugboat Annie</i> shoot was not easy on Dressler and others. In her autobiography, the actress describes filming in MGM’s
tank:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“The most grueling
piece of physical labor I ever put in was during the filming of the storm
scenes in ‘Tugboat Annie.’ One coastwise sailor in the cast told me that in
twenty years’ experience aboard tramp steamers he had never encountered rougher
seas than those manufactured in our studios. They should have been good. Mr.
Mayer spent $30,000 on the dock alone! Able-bodied men were slapped down by
waves the script described as mild. There was more than one arm in a sling, and at least one leg in a plaster cast before we got through.” (Dressler, <i>My Own
Story</i>, 271-72)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.72px;">ACTORS AFLOAT</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marie and Wally may not have acted in Seattle, but there were other actors with strong local connections. MGM hired several local boats in starring roles: the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Arthur Foss</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> tugboat (then called the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wallowa</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">) played the part of the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Narcissus</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, Tugboat Annie's own boat; the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sea King</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, owned by the Gilkey Brothers, portrayed rival towboat </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Firefly;</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> and a cannery ship, the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">General W.C. Gorge</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">s, a former German steamship, stood in for the fictional </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Glacier Queen</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, a passenger liner captained by Annie's son in the movie. The ferryboat W</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ashington of Kirkland</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, sailing under its own name, is t-boned by the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Narcissus </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">in Elliott Bay. No fault of Annie's, the accident occurs when her husband is distracted by a cask of bootleg "hooch" floating in the bay.</span></div>
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Originally the Prinz Sigismund, the steamer was seized from the Germans during World War I and became an American troop transport, renamed the General W.C. Gorgas. Later the ship was used for commercial purposes, including salmon cannery work, until World War II when she once again became a troop transport. In 1945 she was sold to the Soviet Union. </div>
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Photo courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Many other tugs and boats were hired as extras. Employees of Foss Tugboat and Barge were pulled into service by Wedell Foss, a strong booster for the production. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mervyn LeRoy came to town to direct his floating actors. The director of <i>Little Caesar</i> was quoted in the paper as saying "I've directed mobs of 'gangsters,' but you can't talk to a tugboat -- you must do it with signals to their pilots." (<i>Seattle Daily News</i>, April 11, 1933.) Crowds gathered on the shores of Lake Union to watch the action.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The tug Sea King played the part of the Firefly in Tugboat Annie.<br />Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Because many of the maritime scenes were filmed in Culver City, it was necessary to build a replica of the</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wallowa </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">for exterior shots. Well-known naval architect Carl Nordstrom was hired to prepare plans of the boat. <i>The</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seattle</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Daily Times</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">reports that Nordstrom was to draw up plans for both the</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wallowa </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">and the</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sea King</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, but it is possible that the plans for the <i>Sea King</i> were never used. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Portions of the <i>Glacier Queen</i> were constructed on MGM's Stage 22. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That a replica of the <i>Wallowa </i>was
built is confirmed by photos in the book <i>M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest
Backlot</i> which show the tug on a studio lake as late as 1970 alongside
other famous film vessels including the <i>Cotton Blossom</i> from <i>Showboat</i>. <span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Plans of the Arthur Foss as drawn by naval architect Carl Nordstrom. The venerable tug still floats at the historic ships pier at Lake Union Park. Image courtesy of Northwest Seaport.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Movie magic allowed these boats to change identity for subsequent movies. The</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wallowa </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">replica may or may not have been used as an extra in another Wallace Beery film,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Barnacle Bill</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, in 1940. About the same time the erstwhile <i>Narcissus </i>had a narrow escape. According to <i>M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot</i>: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"In November of 1940, because of falling high-tension wires, fire raged through the area, destroying much of the [Lot One] set and threatening the old <i>Tugboat Annie</i> tugboat. The heat was so intense, and aggravated by a stiff ocean breeze, that windows in the studio's Cartoon Department across Overland Avenue were shattered....The tugboat survived, however, and would finally be secured on the Lot Three lake." (p. 119)</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The galley of the Arthur Foss is a bit more cramped that that of the Narcissus in the movie. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo, Alan Humphrey.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Seattleites also had their chance to be extras in a real Hollywood movie: somewhere between "a few score" and ten-thou</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">sand locals turned out as unpaid extras for the big scene where the <i>Glacier Queen</i> steams alongside the Bell Street Pier to brass bands and streamers. Other locals were on hand as background characters in the scenes filmed on Lake Union. A local houseboat dweller, Maria Fisk, was hired to double Marie Dressler in long shots on the boat. Seattle Mayor John Dore, enthralled by movie-making, reportedly donned a sailor's cap to appear in some scenes. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of course local pilots and crewmen worked the boats. Captain Clarence Howden piloted the</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wallowa/Narcissus</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>ARC LIGHTS IN SEATTLE</b></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tugboat Annie had its world premier at the Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle on July 28, 1933. The city made the most of the honor. The first showing, at 11:30 in the morning, was heralded with a cacophony of ships whistles in the harbor. The big event in the evening involved fireworks, balloons, klieg lights, and many local celebrities including Mayor Dore and Lieutenant-Governor Victor Meyers. Governor Clarence D. Martin sent a telegram, as did the film's stars. <i>The</i> <i>Seattle Star</i> covered the celebrations:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"While a cool evening breeze brought the salty breath of Elliott bay up thru downtown canyons, glaring arc lights swept the faces of thousands who came to watch the first showing of the picture which is to send the echo of Puget Sound towboat whistles around the world." (July 29, 1933)</span></blockquote>
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The ferryboat <i>Washington of Kirkland</i> makes its way through the Ballard Locks in this photo courtesy of Kirkland Heritage Society. The museum ship St. Paul can be seen in the background with an "open" sign attached to its foremast. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">TUGS IN TACOMA</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tacoma held its own premier of the movie three weeks following the Seattle event, rightfully claiming a share of cinema history. "Secoma," after all, was a mash-up of the two port cities. On the Sunday following the opening the first Tugboat Annie races were held on Commencement Bay to great fanfare. Myth has Marie Dressler personally presenting the silver loving cup to Captain Arthur Hofstead of the tug Peter Foss which had nosed out the Captain O.G. Olsen by a scant three feet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marie Dressler Loving Cup may have been donated by the actress or her people</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, the <i>Tacoma News Tribune</i> informs us that the prize was presented by Leroy V. Johnson, general manager of the Jensen-von Herberg Company which owned the local theater showing Tugboat Annie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tugboat racing became a staple at maritime events in Puget Sound from that day.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A Tugboat Annie race photographed by Joe Williamson, circa 1940.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Arthur Foss is in the lead. Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">THAT'S A WRAP</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marie Dressler died of cancer a year to the day from the Seattle premier of <i>Tugboat Annie</i>. Her character, Captain Annie Brennan, pursued her adventures on Puget Sound in two more movies, a short-lived TV series, and some 75 short stories which trickled out from the pen of Norman Reilly Raine until the author's death in 1971.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Seattle would not see another major motion picture company until Elvis Presley came to town in 1962 to film <i>It Happened at the World's Fair </i>(released in 1963). By that time Seattle was identified more with the aerospace industry than with the maritime. <i>Tugboat Annie</i> remains a pleasant reminder of rough and tumble days in a waterfront town.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cast and crew publicity photo for <i>Tugboat Annie</i>, 1933. From left front are Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Mervyn LeRoy, and writer Norman Reilly Raine. Famed cameraman Gregg Toland leans over Miss Dressler. Image Courtesy of Tacoma Public Library, C157920-3.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Selected sources: </span></span></h3>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Selected articles from<i> The Seattle Daily Times, The Tacoma News Tribune, The Seattle Star</i></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Stephen Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, and Michael Troyan,<i> M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot</i>, 2011.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Norman Reilly Raine, <i>Tugboat Annie</i> (collected stories), 1934.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Norman Reilly Raine, "That's How Tugboat Annie was born," <i>Pacific Motor Boat</i>, November 1934.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mervyn LeRoy with Dick Kleiner, <i>Mervyn LeRoy: Take One</i>, 1974.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marie Dressler with Mildred Harrington, <i>My Own Story</i>, 1934.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Matthew Kennedy, <i>Marie Dressler: A Biography</i>, 1999.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Victoria Sturtevant, <i>A Great Big Girl like Me: The Films of Marie Dressler</i>, 2009.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Betty Lee, <i>Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star</i>, 1997.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Michael Skalley, Foss: Ninety Years of Towboating, 1981.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"The Providence Steamboat Company: Still a Family Business," <i>PowerShip</i>s, the Magazine of the Steamship Historical Society of America, Summer 2012.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gordon Newell, ed., The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, 1966.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>*In good Hollywood tradition, Dressler's age is uncertain. Dates for her birth range from 1865 to 1868 to 1871, the date that appears on her grave marker.</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-35868697644588093382015-09-06T13:01:00.001-07:002015-09-09T13:22:52.981-07:00Into the Surf: The Point Reyes Historic Lifeboat Station<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fro</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">m 1927 until 1968 the Coast Guard maintained a life-saving station at Point Reyes, California, in the shadow of Chimney Rock on Drakes Bay. The station house, with its marine railway, still stands, although it is used only occasionally by nonprofit groups. Recent visitors to the shoreline witnessed some restoration work going on and were allowed a glimpse inside the structure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The road to the Lifesaving Station is a ten minute walk from the public parking lot at Chimney Rock. Look for signs pointing to the station (to the right as you face the sea) and to the Elephant Seals (to the left).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The tracks leading from the station directly into the surf by means of an incline plane are probably the last existing marine railway on the Pacific Coast. Motorized lifeboats were assured a fast launch into the surf in times when every minute counted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cradle that held the motor lifeboat waits in the ground floor boat bay for the last lifeboat, currently undergoing restoration. Living quarters for crew were on the second floor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The names and relics of wrecked ships adorn the walls of the ground floor boat bay: the cargo ship <i>Munleon</i>, lumber steamer <i>Hartwood</i>, the oil tanker <i>Richfield </i>were three of the lucky ones among many wrecks during the 1920s and 1930s. All lives were saved. During this period a shipwreck and rescue often drew crowds of spectators to the station grounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the 1950s technological advances in lifesaving began to put the Point Reyes station, with its 36-foot lifeboats and breeches buoy, out of business. In 1968 the station was closed; in 1989 it was declared a National Historic Landmark. A modern Coast Guard rescue, complete with helicopters, now operates out of Bodega Bay. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accidental tourists were treated to the release of rehabilitated sea mammals: three juvenile California sea lions (Carmella, Mariachi, and Leeward, above) and one young female elephant seal (Rail Buddy below), restored to health by the Sausalito-based <a href="http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/" target="_blank">Marine Mammal Center</a>. These guys heard the call of the sea and knew exactly what to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The U.S. Life-Saving Service (USLSS) was founded in 1871. In 1915 the service merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the modern Coast Guard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Point Reyes Lifeboat Station was originally established on another spot on the peninsula (the much less protected South Beach) in 1888. During this period, surfmen went out in man-powered boats. (Point Reyes National Seashore photo)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The life-saving station at Point Reyes has a connection to another landmark in the district....a tiny cemetery overlooking Drake's Estero on the road between the coast and town. For photos of the gravestones of some surfmen see the author's own blog, <a href="http://remnantsofourpast.blogspot.com/2013/04/point-reyes-coast-guard-cemetery.html" target="_blank">Remnants of the Past</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks to park ranger Sarah at the Lifeboat Station for information and to Alan Humphrey for photography.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>-- Eleanor Boba</i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Chimney Rock, California 94937, USA37.9896504 -122.9638856000000337.9396604 -123.04456660000002 38.0396404 -122.88320460000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-83019224998785887032015-08-02T02:08:00.003-07:002015-08-04T13:00:01.056-07:00Picnic Point Mystery Revisited<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsJvhqS9B3JBP07rIFPF3hhssVQyvhjbmOK65dfnS0bG8hSDKqaIdB451RNgzPXhR_dKZn9D1EOMEL9TyErlkcagc1qmgUTj8Xlk1wIxijzKr-795z5o6b31JkRNRylTAM5mZMjENwUk/s1600/Pacific+Queen+origin+unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsJvhqS9B3JBP07rIFPF3hhssVQyvhjbmOK65dfnS0bG8hSDKqaIdB451RNgzPXhR_dKZn9D1EOMEL9TyErlkcagc1qmgUTj8Xlk1wIxijzKr-795z5o6b31JkRNRylTAM5mZMjENwUk/s400/Pacific+Queen+origin+unknown.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Several months ago we
posted <a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/02/picnic-point-mystery-vessel.html" target="_blank">Joe Baar’s query </a>about a mystery hull at Picnic Point. Since that time
Joe has pulled together information from a number of sources to provide this
likely solution to the mystery.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A lot of information has
come in recently about the hulk beached north of Picnic Point. This vessel’s
final name was MV PACIFIC QUEEN, official number 257731. Eight ships of this
kind were built as “Auxiliary Rescue and Salvage” vessels (ARS) during 1942 and
1943. Three of these wooden vessels were originally authorized for construction
under Lend-Lease contracts with Great Britain as “British Auxiliary Rescue and
Salvage” ships (BARS) to help stem the rate of merchant ship losses due to
U-Boat attacks in the North Atlantic. Other methods for preventing such losses
proved successful more rapidly than the rescue and salvage vessels could be put
into service, so all these lend-lease agreements were cancelled before any of
the ships were completed. Anticipating a need in the Pacific Theatre, the U.S.
Navy continued construction begun under lend-lease and obtained authorization
for five more vessels of a similar design.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoGC0Fla9doMqzed0Xsw9_0FjpU9w51e6v7GheBYwDrlCsjoicIfM7KhmfwlrlA_XewATjFb4-MdeahVTYksi0kisDlgdAFr8Hjw8WaFlOStKVi-_VEMIV0P9ZDxYZmLR306GoncPt_c/s1600/NOAA-chart-18440+wih+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoGC0Fla9doMqzed0Xsw9_0FjpU9w51e6v7GheBYwDrlCsjoicIfM7KhmfwlrlA_XewATjFb4-MdeahVTYksi0kisDlgdAFr8Hjw8WaFlOStKVi-_VEMIV0P9ZDxYZmLR306GoncPt_c/s320/NOAA-chart-18440+wih+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7930646460133172501" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7930646460133172501" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7930646460133172501" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7930646460133172501" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NOAA Chart showing location of the hulk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Using tabular information
collected from Silverstone’s </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">US Warships
of World War II</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, the U.S. Bureau of Customs’ </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Merchant Vessels of the United States</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NavSource.org</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> on the internet, I was able to organize data about
the eight ARS vessels to give what I believe is a definitive answer about the
true origin of the hulk on Franzen Beach. My findings are summarized here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two ships were lost in 1945
due to accidents. Of the remaining six ships, three are positively identified
in multiple published sources as having been sold into mercantile service after
1946. A fourth ship was transferred to the government of Denmark in 1947. Of
the remaining two ships, only one was constructed with twin screws (two
propellers). That ship was USS WEIGHT, ARS-35, ex-PLYMOUTH SALVOR, BARS-7. This
exercise specifically rules out USS ANCHOR, ARS-13, as the original identity of
MV PACIFIC QUEEN. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtjxUs8Fs3ijg65aJwXPc978lH1Ks0ZE0J8Y03ZqxGDwuSLimzLelbZTL9s7gS_u14kL3FlP9xd1B7cFuJ5XELfzUj0c1MOvuJNsBfZj5xcUsYZbSf4cqfT1eLeTiSatYPWTdFXAs5e8/s1600/Pacific+Queen+from+Tacoma+Public+Library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtjxUs8Fs3ijg65aJwXPc978lH1Ks0ZE0J8Y03ZqxGDwuSLimzLelbZTL9s7gS_u14kL3FlP9xd1B7cFuJ5XELfzUj0c1MOvuJNsBfZj5xcUsYZbSf4cqfT1eLeTiSatYPWTdFXAs5e8/s400/Pacific+Queen+from+Tacoma+Public+Library.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pacific Queen after her rebuild by Puget Sound Boat Building Corporation in 1949.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Courtesy Tacoma Public Library.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A number of rumors about
this vessel have circulated since 1949, and need to be put to rest. First, the
Tacoma <i>News Tribune</i> reported on
5/15/49 that the newly rebuilt ship was “formerly an Army tug,” which is only partly
true in the generic sense that a salvage vessel can be used as a tug; and there
is no record that any of these eight vessels ever operated under the auspices
of the U.S. Army. Second, at least two otherwise reliable sources – <i>Merchant Vessels of the United States</i>
and the <i>Marine Digest</i> contain
information that this ship was built in Stockton, California, by Colberg Boat
Works, but every source agrees that all three of Colberg’s ARS vessels were
built to the single-screw design, and this hull definitely incorporates struts
for twin screws. Finally, this vessel was never a minesweeper even though it
has a wooden hull, whose heavy construction shows its suitability for a much
different mission: ocean salvage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The U.S. Treasury Department
assigns official numbers only to yachts and merchant vessels, not to U.S. naval
vessels, but documentation required to register the vessel and obtain an
official number as a merchant vessel in 1947, ’48 or ’49 should link that
number to the builder’s “Master Carpenter’s Certificate”, which will provide
absolute proof of this hulk’s identity. Both <i>Merchant Vessels of the United States</i> and a photo of the vessel’s
official number and net tonnage carved into her main beam, kindly sent to me by
Karl Elder, have identified the hulk high on Franzen Beach as MV PACIFIC QUEEN.
In addition, one of Karl’s relatives has recently measured the hulk at 173’-0’,
which matches the length given in <i>Merchant
Vessels</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoC9FXqlWskFncqqqALIMgIUGfwUIIU6YXqcgCOMAhSlXGU0e0btJHoxa-VRPHn0OmU_7z3qOa0s2hWm91pyEqWlyVUTOiHTP3s1hejc2W6-QBFJDDhp-jB2QHfbhOcJVfM5O3Z17lXE/s1600/Pacific+Queen+numbers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLoC9FXqlWskFncqqqALIMgIUGfwUIIU6YXqcgCOMAhSlXGU0e0btJHoxa-VRPHn0OmU_7z3qOa0s2hWm91pyEqWlyVUTOiHTP3s1hejc2W6-QBFJDDhp-jB2QHfbhOcJVfM5O3Z17lXE/s320/Pacific+Queen+numbers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo,
Everett Daily Herald. Date unknown. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks
to Karl Elder for supplying us with this image.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whichever ARS finally became
MV PACIFIC QUEEN, Kyle Stubbs and Karl Elder have both provided a wealth of
information about the mercantile history of this ship. Karl is the grandson of
Arvid Franzen, the final owner of PACIFIC QUEEN. Kyle has fleshed out some of
the tabular information I’ve put together above. He reports the vessel was sold
to Puget Sound Boat Building of Tacoma and they rebuilt her in 1947-49 as a
refrigerated cargo ship. By 1950 <i>Merchant
Vessels</i> shows ownership as Pacific Queen Fisheries of Tacoma, and one of
the salvors, Dave Updike, informed the <i>Marine
Digest</i> via Doug Egan that MV PACIFIC QUEEN remained in the Bristol Bay
fishery as a fish packer and processor under this ownership. Thanks to Karl
Elder for passing me his extract about this from the <i>Marine Digest</i> dated 2/14/1976.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On 9/17/1957 MV PACIFIC
QUEEN sank at Tacoma’s Old Town Dock in about 30 feet of water as the result of
a gasoline explosion and fire originating under the afterdeck. According to the
<i>Marine Digest</i>, one crew member was
killed in the conflagration. During 1958 the wreck was raised by Dave Updike
and Jim Vallentyne, floated and towed to Lake Union in Seattle for removal of
heavy internal items and the steel superstructure down to the main deck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC94E2bBaSnldWniwBRq4uIGRZaOO08m2aGwTvfSRR4Enr_aBPI-iO384av5KICtkN2jtDzcFQfGmK62nMalRJa9WS0priHxuujb22HH3q0-HHWuqbkgL717GMyWdOqP7XLhp3aj1mnZU/s1600/Pacific+Queen+from+front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC94E2bBaSnldWniwBRq4uIGRZaOO08m2aGwTvfSRR4Enr_aBPI-iO384av5KICtkN2jtDzcFQfGmK62nMalRJa9WS0priHxuujb22HH3q0-HHWuqbkgL717GMyWdOqP7XLhp3aj1mnZU/s320/Pacific+Queen+from+front.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Photo,Todd Stahlecker, 8/1/2012.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Information about the
sinking appears in Susan Hodges’ <i>Cases
and Materials on Marine Insurance Law</i> (Cavendish, London: 1999). Two cases
and appeals came before the United States Ninth District Court and all the
issues raised were not fully litigated until late 1962. In <u>Pacific Queen
Fisheries v. Symes</u> and in <u>Pacific Queen Fisheries v. Atlas Assurance
Company</u>, the cases are summarized as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PACIFIC
QUEEN was a large refrigerated wooden hulled vessel which was engaged in
freezing and transporting salmon catches from Alaska to ports in Puget Sound,
Washington State. Unknown to the insurers, because PACIFIC QUEEN supplied fuel
to the small fishing vessels operating with her, her [gasoline] carrying
capacity had been enlarged from 3,000 gallons to 8,000 gallons. During the
currency of the policy underwritten by the defendants, PACIFIC QUEEN suffered a
violent explosion caused by the ignition of [this gasoline] and became a
constructive total loss. The insurers refused to indemnify the owners for the
loss. They contended [among other things] that (a) she was unseaworthy, and (b)
she had been sailing in contravention of the Tanker Act.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
United States Court of Appeal [sic] upheld the District Court and ruled that
PACIFIC QUEEN had been sent to sea unseaworthy with the privity of her owners;
furthermore, as the owners had not exercised due diligence, the loss was not
covered by the Inchmaree Clause. However, the Court specifically refrained from
ruling the adventure illegal, as [this] was not the controlling issue of the
case. It was not the Court’s wish to set a precedent until all the
ramifications of the issue had been considered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At the Coast Guard’s and
Seattle Fire Department’s requests the salvors towed MV PACIFIC QUEEN’s light hulk
from Lake Union and beached it north of Picnic Point at the burning grounds of Franzen
Beach. Karl Elder reports he was 11 years old at the time and watched the tug
labor to ground the wreck securely for hours before and after the high tide.
This activity left a large prop-wash depression in the beach, which Karl says
took several years to fill in. His story continues, “My grampa blew the hole in
the port side to anchor the Queen. He paid Updike or Vallentyne $1 to get a
receipt.” And finally, “My grampa told me he didn't burn it because they pushed
it in too close to the hillside and he didn't want to set the woods on fire.”
This is a beautifully clear and concise explanation why the hulk is still
visible for us to ponder.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am deeply grateful to Karl
and Kyle for participating in this discussion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>-- Joe Baar</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Photos of the derelict vessel accompany a KOMONews.com webposting and my be viewed <a href="http://www.komonews.com/communities/edmonds/197676151.html?tab=gallery&c=y&img=0" target="_blank">here</a>. Note, that some details in the article, including the date of beaching, are incorrect.</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-78158667099496513862015-06-26T13:13:00.000-07:002015-07-02T07:45:50.596-07:00What’s the Scuttlebutt?*<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3_jQenx_T4n0M0y0d6snSg6IakZnQveJ9gA6KThxoMsA2X2f7F9LJwTug8bOGJC89aTgd4xASH3f3tJGQS2n2n2Fk_Ti270XC8DW9hUEf3WOR0AebqKFf5vHIkn5sPhkOu1DBnbTuhc/s1600/Fortuna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3_jQenx_T4n0M0y0d6snSg6IakZnQveJ9gA6KThxoMsA2X2f7F9LJwTug8bOGJC89aTgd4xASH3f3tJGQS2n2n2Fk_Ti270XC8DW9hUEf3WOR0AebqKFf5vHIkn5sPhkOu1DBnbTuhc/s320/Fortuna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s a lot happening at Puget Sound Maritime this warm summer of 2015. Listen
closely and you’ll hear what’s going on behind the scenes. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But first … </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue;">Imagine
you are the captain of a Puget Sound ferryboat at the end of the 19<sup>th</sup>
century, part of the famous “Mosquito Fleet.” Your job is to ferry passengers
from Tacoma to Seattle, but Oh, No! There’s a log floating right in your path!
A storm comes up suddenly! A passenger falls overboard! What’s a skipper to do?
<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Several new exhibits are in the works for the McCurdy Family
Maritime Gallery at MOHAI that will help visitors understand the realities of
navigation in the days when water was the primary highway for travelers around
Puget Sound. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our biggest project will be the installation of a large gaming console,
referred to as a “touch table,” which will use historic photos and real events
combined with modern animation to allow players to navigate Mosquito Fleet steamships
around a variety of hazards along their routes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tentatively titled “Charting Our Course,” players will choose a course:
for example, the Seattle to Tacoma run with the FLYER or the Mercer Island
route with the FORTUNA. They will then follow the historically accurate route,
making split-second decisions necessary to reach their destination safely in
the face of real-life perils. The touch table will have an engaging soundtrack
that will enhance the nautical feel of the Maritime Gallery and content that
will attract kids and adults alike with its rich but fun presentation.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition to the permanent touch table, we plan to add a non-digital
interactive mapping station where visitors will learn about and see historical
mapping instruments, then use such tools to plot a course around Lake Union. Participants
will be able to relate their maps to the panorama of Lake Union right outside
the gallery windows.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For those who’d just like to get their hands on a ship’s
wheel and steer, we will have a new hands-on helm station complete with ship’s
wheel and engine order</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> telegraph. Highlighting the
building’s history as the old Naval Reserve Armory and the Maritime Gallery’s
original function as a bridge deck mock-up, the helm station should be in place
this fall!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Mosquito Fleet touch table and the mapping station are
currently in the planning and design stages. It takes a certain amount of
resources to bring exhibits into the 21<sup>st</sup> Century and these are no
exception. The combined cost of the two exhibits will reach over $150,000, of
which a large portion is being generously donated by the McCurdy Family. The
rest must be made up of grants and individual donations. Details on a campaign to raise funds for these projects will be coming your way soon!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">………………………………………………………………………..</span><br />
<br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: blue;">FROM THE ARCHIVES</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A year ago PSM took possession of a large cache of ships
plans drawn by the late, renowned naval architect Edwin Monk Sr., along with a collection
of photographs and artifacts. These plans, photos, and objects, while well
organized, require proper archival storage and cataloging. It will be a big
job! UW Information School interns Jodi Myers and Suzanne LeDoux have laid the
groundwork for us by formally assessing the collection and estimating the
resources (time, money, personnel) required to complete conservation. They have
also drafted a user guide for staff and volunteers working on the conservation
project. This work will be a big help to us as we plan our collections work and
seek grants to fund it.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;">Special thanks to the
McCurdy Family for initial funding of our exhibits enhancement project; Christina
Januszewski, UW Museology intern, for researching and designing the mapping
station; MOHAI for donating the touch table console; the Harbor Club of Seattle
for donating the ship’s wheel; James McCurdy Sr. for donating the engine room
telegraph; Jodi Myers and Suzanne LeDoux, UW iSchool interns, for assessing the
archival and cataloging needs of the Edwin Monk Sr. Ships Plans Collection; and
students of the UW Museology Program for evaluating our gallery visitor experience
and pointing us toward the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">* Scuttlebutt: a cask of water with a hole allowing sailors
to get a drink; a place to exchange news and gossip; news and gossip!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-3251557864246734752015-05-21T17:39:00.001-07:002015-07-25T21:47:03.240-07:00Deep Focus, Part II: Joe Williamson, Reluctant Photographer<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In our very first <a href="http://psmhsinsidepassage.blogspot.com/2015/02/deep-focus-joe-williamson-photographic.html" target="_blank"><b>blog post</b></a> we talked about the Joe Williamson Collection of maritime photographs
which forms the heart of our archives. In researching the story we learned some
interesting tidbits about the man who was an avid collector of photographs, a
photographer in his own right, and a sailor, as well as one of the founders,
and first president, of our historical society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First and foremost Joe Williamson (1909-1994) was a man who loved ships. Almost
every article and interview about him refers to the fact that he wasn't wild
about photography itself. It was the output of his work that held his
fascination. He loved developing film.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1979 intrepid newspaperwoman Lucile McDonald interviewed
Joe for an article, reproduced <u><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_gRZORIBeyUXRUbFJDVVVkZlE/view"><b>here</b></a></u>,
that appeared in the December issue of the <i>The
Sea Chest</i>, the quarterly journal of the historical society. Read it to hear, in Joe's own words, how he amassed his collection of maritime photographs, as well as stories of his early seafaring adventures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLweTtz8biBSkMLrLa0_95D2hiZ9FayEv02FkYFH9IcZB7O2Qi6Bg8vc_M5ilttoJBvGSI4fgLp-Q2kjqTMWVJQlTkwaY8XTw42Uh9wlDdePKVf5JrAo9BHkZK1VD8s1TCOCXV730Mds/s1600/Joe+on+bike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLweTtz8biBSkMLrLa0_95D2hiZ9FayEv02FkYFH9IcZB7O2Qi6Bg8vc_M5ilttoJBvGSI4fgLp-Q2kjqTMWVJQlTkwaY8XTw42Uh9wlDdePKVf5JrAo9BHkZK1VD8s1TCOCXV730Mds/s400/Joe+on+bike.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This photo shows Joe, as a lad of six
or so, on a bike along with his brothers Glen (left) and Paul, circa 1915.
Photo courtesy of Leslie Williamson Lowell. As a young man Joe could be spotted
riding his Indian Scout motorcycle on his rounds making deliveries for Bartell
Drugs and other concerns. </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ships and shops</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By his late twenties, Joe had settled down somewhat and was selling maritime
photographs from a waterfront shop he called the “Marine Salon.” Between 1937
and 1962 Joe operated a series of small shops, all on or near the Seattle waterfront.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PSMHS Research Coordinator Karl House recalls patronizing Joe’s
shops as a youth:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
first met Joe Williamson because I used to buy pictures of tugboats from him
when I was a young boy in elementary school, maybe eight or nine years old. I
knew where it was, ‘cause you could go there on the bus. Well, I knew the shop
because I’d been in with my dad before, and I knew it cost 50 cents to buy an 8
by 10 picture of a tug. Their photo salon was on the little viaduct that goes
from First Avenue over the railroad tracks into the Colman Ferry Dock. That was
the first Joe Williamson shop I was in. Subsequent to that he moved to a larger
shop in the ferry dock itself and I bought a number of pictures over the years there.
He was in the shop on the ferry dock for several years.<br /> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He
was courteous and he would pull out pictures of various tugs, even though I
only had enough money usually to buy one at a time. I’d pick out a picture and
he’d sell it to me. If he wasn’t there, his wife would wait on me. She knew
about everything that was in there, where the things were filed and so forth.
Everybody on the waterfront pretty much knew a lot about what Joe did. </span></i></blockquote>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ron Burke, long-time editor of the PSMHS journal </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sea Chest</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, also has fond memories of visiting Joe’s shop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grew up in Bremerton and whenever I came to Seattle [on
the ferry], I would walk past Joe Williamson's Marine Photo Shop on the Marion
Street pedestrian viaduct from the ferry dock. As a teenager and a Sea
Scout in the 1940s, I got interested in maritime history and I used to drop by
his shop and talk to him about it. </span></span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One Christmas my grandmother gave me
five dollars. I took it to Joe's shop and started to order photos and
told him to stop me when I reached the five dollar limit. As I recall, I
was able to buy eight photos, all of which I still have and [some of which I]
have used in </span></i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Sea Chest. </span></span><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later, during my college summers, I worked on eight
different ferries and ships and bought photos of each of them from Joe.
Also, in that work, I needed Coast Guard endorsements which required current
photo ID cards and I always went to Joe to take my photos.</span></span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, Joe’s work extended beyond simply taking pictures
and selling them. He was a creative entrepreneur, turning ships photos into
Christmas cards, selling photos to various newspapers and periodicals, and collaborating
with marine historian Jim Gibbs on a series of pictorial books.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the same period he owned two ships, which he christened
<i>PhotoShip</i> and <i>PhotoQueen</i>, respectively, and which he captained in his quest for
adventure and photos. Karl House remembers them:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He
had two different boats from which he took pictures. The first one was called PhotoShip
and I’d say it was maybe a 30-foot boat. Then he bought a larger boat, called PhotoQueen,
which was probably 50 or 55 feet. He could stay out on that boat for longer
periods of time because it had all the cooking and live-aboard facilities that
you needed on a boat that size. So he’d go as far out as the San Juan Islands
and do some photo shoots there. Anyplace there was a photo opportunity.</span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G3IBhgeZjMq6i1w8ck728qS3CMZH4_zy2p_aXzQyDVpCzEjYx-HBGcEGVD3on7M-OqE7RlWxRGyigOzgokbRD0Ie0mTo26vN3tD0cwnx6EixSEmAKB8Dbj3POOwdAS5_xXiGhZyy2fk/s1600/JW+with+whistle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G3IBhgeZjMq6i1w8ck728qS3CMZH4_zy2p_aXzQyDVpCzEjYx-HBGcEGVD3on7M-OqE7RlWxRGyigOzgokbRD0Ie0mTo26vN3tD0cwnx6EixSEmAKB8Dbj3POOwdAS5_xXiGhZyy2fk/s400/JW+with+whistle.jpg" width="252" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joe’s shop was always more than a collection
of prints; it grew into a sort of gallery of maritime artifacts, including
ships models, ships name plates, and other “relics and souvenirs” as the daily
paper described it. One particular relic surfaced among Joe’s trove in 1947: part
of the whistle from the well-beloved Bailey Gatzert, a sternwheeler which plied
the waters of Puget Sound from 1890 to 1926. The familiar Bailey Gatzert whistle
consisted of four chimes (some say five), one of which Joe holds above. Seattle
Times Archives, December 7, 1947. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<h2>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joe at MOHAI</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Museum of History and Industry Curator of Photography Howard
Giske met Joe shortly after his collection was acquired by PSMHS and conveyed
to storage at the old MOHAI at Montlake. In his early 70s at that point, Joe traveled from his home on Bainbridge Island to lend a hand in the darkroom:</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He
lived in Winslow, not far from the ferry dock. He would walk down to the ferry
dock, get on the boat, gab with old pals and cronies, I’m sure – he knew a lot
of the ferryboat people. He would walk off at Colman Dock and would walk from
there to MOHAI…to Montlake! He always had interesting stories, charming tales
to tell about his walk to the museum that day. Just a chatty, lively fellow to
have on the team.</span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PSMHS board member Pat Hartle remembers that Joe would also walk
from the ferry dock to the Yankee Diner in Ballard for dinner meetings of the
historical society. Each jaunt was a walk of about five miles in one direction!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Former Puget Maritime Board President Jim Cole, who led the
charge to obtain the Williamson Collection, recalls Joe at MOHAI:</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of
course, the collection was his child. He wanted to make sure everything was
done right. It was probably hard to let go.</span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<h2>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Man with the Pipe</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joe is most often remembered as the man with a pipe in his
mouth. Howard Giske recalls setting up some of Joe’s old darkroom equipment at
MOHAI: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He had always been a pipe smoker [so] we really had to work
hard to get those lenses and condensers and things all cleaned up. He loved the
darkroom work, he said. He really wasn’t all that interested in the photography
and the camera work, but he’d smoke his pipe back there [in the darkroom.] A cloud
of smoke! You couldn't catch anything on fire really, but he would kind of
pollute the air with that old pipe. In a lot of the pictures taken of him you
see him with his pipe.</span></i></blockquote>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQqvwX4DCSAee_Q-dryenH_zjwA-ss9tIGBdVj0w2REpwp7_yl6ahezI4QbSxu1-RwwVI7lUW_jiYei1YdpmfG6XO_WoxN3_S5G2tjROEheeMYMNe3SVsAdGkC7CWegMKO3jMTxmd8WQ/s1600/PSMHS+founders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQqvwX4DCSAee_Q-dryenH_zjwA-ss9tIGBdVj0w2REpwp7_yl6ahezI4QbSxu1-RwwVI7lUW_jiYei1YdpmfG6XO_WoxN3_S5G2tjROEheeMYMNe3SVsAdGkC7CWegMKO3jMTxmd8WQ/s400/PSMHS+founders.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Joe
(center) with the other founding members of the Puget Sound Maritime
Historical Society in 1948. From left: Jim Gibbs, Tom Sandry, Joe, Bob Leithead,
and Austen Hemion. Photo, PSMHS.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-- Eleanor Boba</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sources: </span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The corporate records of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical
Society.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McDonald, Lucile. “The Famous Williamson Photo Collection.” <i>The Sea Chest</i> December 1979.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hemion, Austen. “Joe D. Williamson.” <i>The Sea Chest</i> June 1994.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Seattle Times</i>
Historic Archive, various articles.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oral history interviews with Jim Cole (2015), Karl House
(2015), and Howard Giske (2015.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Email communication
with Ron Burke (2015) and Pat Hartle (2015).</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Special
thanks to Joe’s great niece, Leslie Williamson Lowell, for use of a family photo.</span></span></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7930646460133172501.post-55287722844396927922015-04-15T16:41:00.003-07:002015-04-17T09:01:46.773-07:00Digging Deep: A Photo Research Case Study<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Puget
Sound Maritime volunteer researcher Joe Baar was given the assignment of
identifying a number of stray photos unearthed during preparations for our
recent big move. His analysis of this photo demonstrates the difficulties and
rewards of engaging in photo forensics.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2nZT3sc4zUXOSU92dUzdp51xV3ls7fJTpQaGJcMAK8RYy5IID9kLL48XCQkmemFGwD08N69EIUhqWZVEf3MTBgtmUdTqkKxh4Qchr9tqqQFunDCYqqbm4bXySqIPb1B7nZ31JtqdECI/s1600/Gloria+Maru+PSMHS+photo+enhanced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2nZT3sc4zUXOSU92dUzdp51xV3ls7fJTpQaGJcMAK8RYy5IID9kLL48XCQkmemFGwD08N69EIUhqWZVEf3MTBgtmUdTqkKxh4Qchr9tqqQFunDCYqqbm4bXySqIPb1B7nZ31JtqdECI/s1600/Gloria+Maru+PSMHS+photo+enhanced.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, for now....</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<h3>
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Photo</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our photo is a black and
white matte print, approximately 14 x 10 inches, of a Japanese motorship maneuvering in a waterway on the U.S.
Atlantic coast, just offshore from lighted buoy #30, with a Moran ship-assist
tug alongside. PSMHS records give no evidence of the print’s provenance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<h3>
<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Ship</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Neither the ship’s name nor
that of the tug is fully legible on the print. However, the shipping company is
clearly identified by the ship’s funnel insignia and by lettering on its hull:
“Mitsubishi Line”. The ship’s hull, superstructure and masting shapes place it
at a time after World War II; the tug’s streamlined funnel shape contributes to
this placement. A rough estimate of a ship’s size depends largely on the
relative size of its visible components, their proportions, and how they
compare to other, known, vessels. If a normal deck is about 10 feet high, then
what multiple of this distance matches the height of the ship’s bow as it appears
in our photo? Since the ship is positioned at an angle to the camera and its
bow is farther away than its other parts, how much should we correct this
height for perspective? All this information taken together yields an estimate
of around 450 feet in length and probably smaller than 10,000 gross tons
measurement – a slightly less boxy design than our World War II EC-2 Liberty
ships, but similar in size.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Lloyd’s Register List of
Shipowners for 1959-60 shows vessels belonging to Mitsubishi Kaiun Kaisha to
include six 7,500 GRT motor ships built 1951-56 and three 8,400 GRT motor ships
built 1957-58. Photographs of all nine of these ships, available on the
internet, show the former class was configured with a “three-island”-type hull
and the latter class was flush-decked with a forecastle. Inspection of the
vessel in our photo shows it to be one of the three later vessels, either CALEDONIA
MARU, GLORIA MARU, or OCEANIA MARU. Very close inspection of the name visible
on the starboard bow allows a conclusive identification as GLORIA MARU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<h3>
<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
When</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Japanese shipping lines
underwent a consolidation in April 1964 (Chida and Davies, <u>The Japanese
Shipping and Shipbuilding Industries</u>, Bloomsbury, 1990). In that month
Mitsubishi K.K. transferred its vessels to Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK
Ltd.), whose funnel, hull colors and markings are entirely different from those
of Mitsubishi, so our photo was taken between March<b> </b>1958 when GLORIA MARU went into service, and April 1964. Lloyd’s
Register also reflects this changeover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A postcard sold in October
2014 on eBay shows GLORIA MARU in a view almost identical to the one in our
photo. In general, the ship appears to be moving ahead slowly; a Moran tug is
alongside the bridge superstructure moving ahead almost at full speed on what
appears to be a parallel course. The card’s reverse side contains the following
information: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">NEW YORK HARBOR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The M.V. Gloria Maru, with a Moran
docking tug at the bow, on its maiden arrival in the world’s busiest harbor. Photo
from Moran.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This photo appears to have
been taken less than five minutes later than the one in our print, adding
significantly to our understanding of the scene. Lacking evidence to the
contrary, for the time being we can accept this, and our own photo, as views of
the ship on its first arrival in New York. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNOxRGSNPVs57APDCAiNn-hij-avkCYjpowoLm4Kec6-iNcbRZVkD6Katxx1Y45wx-OkbRv4cqoQtZgzS8zIHIoP2VFnFY7Z9dcfYVfPKnP4i4N6jrFLeQyRXz2GH7Gs60KqMoQCjdgI/s1600/Gloria+Maru+postcard+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNOxRGSNPVs57APDCAiNn-hij-avkCYjpowoLm4Kec6-iNcbRZVkD6Katxx1Y45wx-OkbRv4cqoQtZgzS8zIHIoP2VFnFY7Z9dcfYVfPKnP4i4N6jrFLeQyRXz2GH7Gs60KqMoQCjdgI/s1600/Gloria+Maru+postcard+image.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><i>EBay
Postcard view of M.S. GLORIA MARU taken a few minutes later than our view.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The New York Times’
“Shipping -- Mails” news discloses 14 voyages GLORIA MARU made to the United
States’ Atlantic Coast between March 1960 and June 1964. The first arrival
occurred on 3/27/1960 from Japan via Cristobal, Panama, and that voyage departed
New York on 4/9/1960 destined for Kobe, Japan. A similar pattern was in place
for all the following voyages, with occasional intermediate stops, either
inbound or outbound, in Hampton Roads, Philadelphia and Baltimore. GLORIA
MARU’s Atlantic Coast service continued after June 1964 but since she came
under NYK ownership and colors the previous April, information about these
voyages is not germane to the identification of this photograph. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Where</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A foreground feature in our
photo is lighted buoy number 30. The Moran ship-assist tug would seem to place
the general location west of Sandy Hook and south of Orient Point, Long Island.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s current Light List for the northern portion of the
Atlantic coast discloses 29 red “30” buoys, of which four are lit. One of these
is out-of-area in Maine and two have bells, one at Gowanus Flats in New York
Harbor’s Upper Bay and one in Raritan Bay just south of Staten Island. The
remaining R “30” buoy is in Arthur Kill between Fresh Kills Reach and Tremley
Point Reach. The 1947 chart edition does not show any buoy at this location,
and the 1966 edition shows this buoy just south of a relatively new pier and dredged
dock at the channel’s bend between these two reaches. The surrounding land on
both sides of Arthur Kill at this location is low and marshy, which corresponds
to what our photo shows. Two chimneys north of Tremley Point, as noted on Chart
285 of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, are just visible in the distance on
our print, ahead of the tug’s pilot house.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUed0ErMwhb7QdVFRhepciL9BPw5yYe-VpsReNTYNtajY2jB7WNr5TJomuTLrJ8QfZJrAZHyDTqdRWD7ZJ3qqEiKxZAzFFEgOeYmZ5osz0vxGWunvQX03PB4suqpIV7cdEwjl5LOhwH2M/s1600/1966+chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUed0ErMwhb7QdVFRhepciL9BPw5yYe-VpsReNTYNtajY2jB7WNr5TJomuTLrJ8QfZJrAZHyDTqdRWD7ZJ3qqEiKxZAzFFEgOeYmZ5osz0vxGWunvQX03PB4suqpIV7cdEwjl5LOhwH2M/s1600/1966+chart.jpg" height="320" width="298" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>U.S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart 285, 1966, for the area covered by both photos, showing buoy R30.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The current Google satellite
view shows the pier’s southwestern end collapsed into Fresh Kills Reach and the
middle part of the pier is enclosed in what appears to be a steel-clad
structure two or three storeys high, extending over the dock and supported on
three large cylindrical caissons in Arthur Kill. The building extends inland
some distance to at least 15 truck loading docks and the site includes baled
material stacked on an associated hardstand and two loaded, uncovered barges
moored at the remaining northeast pier. Google identifies this complex as the
Pratt Industries Paper Division, whose own web site lists its activities as a
paper mill for recycled corrugated cardboard. The whole complex is located just
south of the Travis-Chelsea NRG Energy electricity generating plant, whose
structures were first placed at this location in 1948 by Staten Island Edison. </span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>USERNAME["Joe Baar"] \* FirstCap \*
MERGEFORMAT </span><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A road and conveyor
system connect Pratt and NRG, making possible use of Pratt’s waste products as
fuel for the power plant. Further research is needed to determine what the
predecessors of the recycling facility were, in order to understand what cargo
GLORIA MARU brought or took away in 1960.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In our photo GLORIA MARU
appears to have just finished backing down and her engine has completed
shifting to an ahead bell. Evidence for this activity is the flattening boil of
propwash along her starboard quarter with a growing wash into the stream
astern; and a dispersing cloud of smoke wafting toward the photographer. These
ships were propelled by a single direct-drive 16-cylinder diesel engine,
normally producing visible exhaust when revolutions are increased under maneuvering
conditions. GLORIA MARU has backed out of her berth at Travis-Chelsea and is
headed north toward Kill van Kull and New York Harbor. If the date is before
April 8th then she’s bound for Norfolk; if it’s April 9, 1960 then she’s headed
to Kobe, Japan via Panama.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Why</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The print in our collection
lacked any material to substantiate its origin, either as notations on the
print’s face or on its reverse side, or as an attachment. A search within the
contents of all our Deeds of Gift might turn up a reference specific to this
print, but such a search would consume far more resources than we have
available. We are thus unable to determine <u>where</u> this photo should reside
in one of our collections, but <u>whether</u> it should reside there is now
easily answered: since our identification process has now placed the photo’s
venue definitively on the Atlantic Coast, it clearly falls outside our area of
interest and is most likely a candidate for de-accession from our collection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Joe Baar has been
fascinated with ships since his childhood on Brace Point. His lifelong
avocation has included stints with the Sea Explorers, small-boat school
courtesy of the U.S. Army, working on yachts on Lake Union, and amassing a
large collection of maritime books.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Arthur Kill, United States40.5517538 -74.24434359999997940.3587863 -74.567067099999974 40.7447213 -73.921620099999984