Author: seamarsh

Frenchman’s Obsession with Slocum and the Spray

In the Wake of the Spray Guy Bernardin is a French racing sailor who had an impressive racing career in the 1980s sailing in the new Open 60 class in the OSTAR, the Route du Rhum, two BOC round-the-world races and the Vendée Globe in 1990. He never quite made it to the top of… Continue reading Frenchman’s Obsession with Slocum and the Spray

Salmon Fishing on the Columbia–CRFPU, CRPA, Bumble Bee

Note: I compiled this history from many online sources. Salmon was a dietary staple of Northwest aboriginal people. Large, tasty, and available at predictable times and places, the fish were an ideal source of protein, easily caught with basic fishing technologies such as spears, baskets, nets, and brush weirs. Natives harvested salmon all across western… Continue reading Salmon Fishing on the Columbia–CRFPU, CRPA, Bumble Bee

Cruising Puget’s Island and Beyond

The names of the first European explorers are “writ large” all across the charts of the northwest. Spanish, English, Russians, Americans, and a few Frenchmen are immortalized in place names. The most prolific of these navigators was Captain George Vancouver. He managed to gratify all his sponsors and friends in high places, but with true… Continue reading Cruising Puget’s Island and Beyond

100 Years of History for Seattle’s Ship Canal and Locks

The Lake Washington Ship Canal and the locks that connect Lake Union to Puget Sound is such an integral part of the city that it’s practically impossible to imagine life without them. Whether you are boating, paddling or just strolling along the water’s edge, you can appreciate that Seattle’s navigable inland waterways are an engineering… Continue reading 100 Years of History for Seattle’s Ship Canal and Locks

Is the Columbia Bar the Graveyard of the Pacific?

Whether you visit the mouth of the Columbia by boat or live here as I do, you can’t avoid the constant reminder that the Columbia Bar is the “Graveyard of the Pacific–the most treacherous stretch of water in the world,” or words to that effect. Exactly who decided this (or that a river is capable… Continue reading Is the Columbia Bar the Graveyard of the Pacific?

Sailing and Climbing the “Three Peaks” of Washington

How do you explain the attraction of the Pacific Northwest to a visitor? You might focus on the political, the cultural – or even the meteorological climate. Or you might begin with the geography – the physical shape of the mountains and the coast, and describe the ways that sea and shore meet and create… Continue reading Sailing and Climbing the “Three Peaks” of Washington

Cannons from 1846 Wreck Spotted on North Oregon Coast

2014 discovery of Cannons Excites Town of Cannon  Beach The two half-ton cannons found on the Oregon coast have returned after a six-year restoration at the Center for Marine Archeology and Conservation at Texas A & M university. They were finally put on display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria on May 24—and… Continue reading Cannons from 1846 Wreck Spotted on North Oregon Coast

The Salvage Chief-Still Going Strong at 70

When an empty fuel barge went on the rocks of North Head last month, the US Coast Guard and Washington State Department of Ecology were in charge of a salvage effort led by Sause Brothers (owners of the barge) and Foss Maritime (owners of the tug). They in turn called in two oil-spill response organizations… Continue reading The Salvage Chief-Still Going Strong at 70

2014: Cycling Historic Waterways from Quebec City to Buffalo

(Cycle-Touring the St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain and Erie Canal) If you are a regular reader of Bicycle Paper, you may recall I’ve written about my discovery of the lost art of canal biking in my home city of London, and followed it up by riding across southwest France on the canal from the Mediterranean to… Continue reading 2014: Cycling Historic Waterways from Quebec City to Buffalo