How a Notable Vessel Met Its End on Willapa Bay Fifty years ago, the 125′ X 30′ expedition ship Hero was taking shape at the Harvey Gamage Boatyard in Maine. Designed by Potter & M’Arthur, Inc., naval architects of Boston, Massachusetts and based on a traditional fishing trawler, it was the last wooden vessel built… Continue reading Death of the Antarctic Ship Hero
Category: Nautical History
Harbo & Samuelson “Hitch-Rowed” the Atlantic
First Atlantic Row: Harbo and Samuelson in 1896 The bizarre and risky activity of “ocean drifting by rowboat” has its origin in 1896 when two Norwegian fishermen departed Manhattan in an attempt to row the North Atlantic. Their boat was a solid plank-on-frame 18-foot dory heavily-loaded with canned food and water. They landed on the… Continue reading Harbo & Samuelson “Hitch-Rowed” the Atlantic
After 75 Years, Katie Ford Sails on in B.C.
In the summer of 2016, I received an email from the Canadian owner of the 44′ cruising yacht Katie Ford, inviting me to its 70th birthday party in Victoria B.C. This classic old sailing yacht was built in in 1946 at Astoria Marine Construction Company (AMCCO) and was considered the finest sailing vessel on the… Continue reading After 75 Years, Katie Ford Sails on in B.C.
The Cutty Sark Sails into the 21st Century
In 2008, the world’s only surviving clipper ship, the Cutty Sark, suffered a disastrous fire that came close to destroying the entire hull in its permanent drydock beside the River Thames in Greenwich. This news was especially shocking for me because I grew up less than a mile from the great ship and considered it… Continue reading The Cutty Sark Sails into the 21st Century
How the Taste for Tea Created the Tea Clippers
Tea reached Europe from China around 1560 on Portuguese and Dutch ships, but it was a latecomer to England. In London, coffee was the drink of choice among businessmen and Edward Lloyd’s coffee house became the center of shipping insurance. The most English of drinks only gained popularity when Charles II was restored to the… Continue reading How the Taste for Tea Created the Tea Clippers
2017: Old Astoria Pilot Boat Arrow 2 Returns
The pilot boat Arrow 2 disappeared from the Astoria waterfront in 2012 and has been greatly missed by the seamen who admired its unique traditional hull shape and general low-tech appearance. There was much speculation about its final disposition: would it become a reserve boat for Foss, be converted into a pleasure boat, or rust… Continue reading 2017: Old Astoria Pilot Boat Arrow 2 Returns
Astoria Yard’s WW II YMS Minesweepers
AMCCO Shipyard’s Minesweeper (YMS) Production Remembered The 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor last December gives us a chance to review the incredible history of the “war at home” in Astoria—a time when thousands of ordinary women performed extraordinary feats in many traditionally male-dominated jobs. Every aspect of their daily life was affected… Continue reading Astoria Yard’s WW II YMS Minesweepers
WW II Minesweeper Tradition Lives on in Seattle Yard
Wooden Hulls Still Restored at Pacific Fishermen Yard Almost every kind of boat imaginable has traveled up and down the Seattle Ship Canal and through the locks over the last 100 years, but few of the thousands of crew or passengers who enjoy that spectacle are aware of another part of local maritime history. It… Continue reading WW II Minesweeper Tradition Lives on in Seattle Yard
Salmon Tender Duke–Oldest Boat on the Columbia River
After 112 Years Afloat, the Duke Retires to Museum in Astoria The older a wooden boat gets, the more work it takes to keep it seaworthy. That’s a lesson that many boatmen learned the hard way. On the lower Columbia River where there are still a handful of owners maintaining and using traditional wooden gillnetters.… Continue reading Salmon Tender Duke–Oldest Boat on the Columbia River
Ole Evinrude’s Outboard Engine is 100 Years Old
How Ole Evinrude Invented his “Detachable Rowboat Engine” It has been 100 years since the first successful Evinrude machine took the boating world by storm. Ole Evinrude was born in 1877 in Christiania, Norway, and his idea was so revolutionary that it really did have a name for a while—more of a description. It was… Continue reading Ole Evinrude’s Outboard Engine is 100 Years Old