Wooden Boats in Port Townsend, Then and Now

9/7/2018

There are a lot of wooden ships docked at Port Townsend this weekend for the Wooden Boat Festival, and some of them are real beauties. I really enjoy seeing them and comparing the harbor now to how it would have looked back in the 1880's when my Tales of Chetzemoka series takes place. I can almost picture Isaac's ship Raindrop in amongst these tall ships and steamers; as I walked the docks around them, my mind kept juxtaposing these beautiful ships against pictures I'd seen of the other historic vessels which plied these same waters.

The Virginia V, the last of the Mosquito Fleet vessels, definitely grabbed my attention. An interpretive sign placed on shore nearby tells her story:

"During the early part of the last century, transportation in the Puget Sound region was vastly different than what we see today: no Interstate 5, no state ferries, no float planes, and only a minimal road network. Instead, communities were connected to each other by boats like the VIRGINIA V. The Sound was the major highway, and communities were often clustered at the water's edge. If you wanted to get from point "A" to point "B," the vessels that worked these waters were often your only option. These vessels were so numerous that a reporter regarding Elliott Bay was inspired to observe that they "were swarming like mosquitoes," which is how the boats became known as the Mosquito Fleet. SS VIRGINIA V is one of the last of these vessels, and the only remaining steam powered ship from that era."
—Interpretive sign, Virginia V

The history of the Mosquito Fleet which was made up of vessels like the Virginia V —some bigger, some smaller— inspired the Raindrop in the Tales of Chetzemoka —Isaac's ship which does so much for the communities he visits. The sight of hundreds of these vessels criss-crossing the inland sea every day must have been extraordinary.

Other Mosquito Fleet vessels, photographed in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Images from interpretive sign at Slip Point, WA.

Waterfront on Puget Sound, 1890s. Image courtesy http://content.lib.washington.edu

One of the things my husband and I love most about the nineteenth-century is what a dynamic time it was, with old and new technologies constantly meeting and mingling. At the same time Puget Sound was criss-crossed by hundreds upon hundreds of steam vessels, the skies above these waters were forests of masts proudly rising from tall sailing ships.

Tall ships on Puget Sound, 1900. Image from Tall Ships on Puget Sound. Images of America series.

Port Townsend in the late 19th-century. It's so easy to picture that big steamship as Captain Kellam's Western Dawn, aboard which Jacob and Addie were married in Love Will Find A Wheel…
Image from Port Townsend. Images of America Series.

In the twentieth-century survival bias was particularly hard on steam vessels due to the complicated and expensive nature of the technology which ran them. By the time people started becoming nostalgic for the old steamers, many had long since been scrapped. As the sign by the Virginia V noted, she is the last of the Mosquito Fleet vessels, the sole lonely remainder of an armada which once numbered around a thousand ships.

People have taken greater care to save, restore and replicate examples of sailing ships over the years, recognizing them as a tangible link to very old traditions. Sailing ships are well represented at this year's Wooden Boat Festival; as always, the regal schooner Adventuress takes particular pride of place. Originally built for an arctic expedition and launched in 1913, she still regularly sails the waters of Puget Sound. Her mission now is "to educate, inspire, and empower an inclusive community that works to improve our marine environment and celebrates our maritime heritage."

Port Townsend, 19th-century. Image from Port Townsend. Images of America Series

Amongst all the ships in dock I even saw a little diesel boat which —in size, at least— reminded me of Isaac's ship Raindrop:

As I looked on all these links between past and present, I couldn't shake the feeling that one class of wooden boats was missing: the elegant cedar dugout canoes which shared these waters with both steamships and sailing ships in the nineteenth-century. They were such an integral part of life here up until the early twentieth-century, it's impossible for me to picture a history of the region without them.

Port Townsend beach, 1895 —the photo that inspired Kitty's salmon-buying scene in First Wheel in Town. Image courtesy http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections

Suquamish canoe, early 20th-century. Image from a postcard from the Suquamish Museum.

Salish canoes. Images courtesy http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections

Though absent from the Wooden Boat Festival, traditional native canoes are still seen on these waters annually: every summer a gathering of different tribes undergoes a journey around Puget Sound. Port Townsend is fortunate to be one of their stopping points. When they stopped here in 2017 I enjoyed the unforgettable experience of chatting with a tribal elder, and at the end of July this year I watched the canoes launch from Fort Worden as they went onto the next stop on their journey.

Video of tribal canoe launching at Ft. Worden: www.facebook.com/530009710471844/posts/1105810172891792/

Canoes on Port Townsend beach, summer 2017.

Such journeys require huge commitments of time and resources from numerous individuals and groups. I can certainly understand why people who had just completed one epic journey wouldn't want to immediately turn around and return to a place they had just visited. Simple reasons of practical logistics explain why there are no aboriginal canoes at the Wooden Boat Festival: there's no grand conspiracy at work. All the same, though, I do wish people would see how intertwined the histories of all these vessels are with each other.

History is a rich tapestry of different interwoven stories, yet all too often it is presented as separate, mutually exclusive threads. Seeing historic sailing and steam vessels on Puget Sound waters without seeing the canoes which shared this inland sea with them reminds me of visiting museums where all the 19th-century western artifacts are in one room and all the aboriginal artifacts are in a completely separate space. There's a danger in segregating history this way, because it oversimplifies the complex relations that have always existed between people. This is not a matter of what is politically fashionable, but something far more important: a truthful representation of history. The artifacts belong together because they existed together, as did the people who made and used them.

The history of the Puget Sound region is a history of diverse cultures and technologies meeting and mingling; to appreciate the whole tapestry we must recognize the interweaving of the threads. By doing so we show respect to all our ancestors, and in the process gain a greater understanding of the beautiful world they created together.

And so, to all who go to see the wooden boats this weekend I issue an invitation: enjoy the elegant romance of the sailing ships and marvel at the technology of the last of the Mosquito Fleet steamships; and while you're there at the docks, don't forget to let your mind's eye add in the canoes which were part of this picture not so very long ago.

Port Townsend, 19th-century. Image from Port Townsend. Images of America Series

***

In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
The Tales of Chetzemoka

A Trip and a Tumble:
A Victorian Cycling Club Story
Time for a vacation —step right up! When Felix's newspaper sends him up to Victoria, B.C. to report on a visiting circus Ken inevitably tags along, "like a dutiful puppy", as Addie says. Meanwhile, Jacob's sent north to Victoria as well, as an ambassador for the cycling company he represents. Addie tells him to keep an eye on the chums, but no one ever could keep Ken and Felix from stumbling into scrapes. When a vivacious high-society belle and a surprisingly timid circus bicyclist enter the picture, things heat up quickly.
Be prepared for a grand circus pageant —let the show begin!
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Delivery Delayed:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance
It's obvious to everyone in the Chetzemoka cycling club that Lizzie and Isaac could make each other very happy —but does anyone really listen to their friends about affairs of the heart? A prim schoolmarm and a stoic steamship captain are hardly the people to discuss their sentiments, especially with each other. The smallest challenges seem like huge obstacles, even with everyone else trying their best to bring them together. When progress finally seems possible, a well-intentioned little girl steps in with the kind of help they'd be better off without. Will the situation be resolved in time, or will Isaac ship out for good?
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A Rapping At The Door:
A Victorian Cycling Club Suspense Story
When the delivery of a mysterious letter to Silas Hayes' mansion is followed by the arrival of a beautiful young woman who claims she can communicate with the dead, Nurse McCoy sniffs trouble in the wind. It's obvious to her that the newcomer is after Silas' fortune, but he is helplessly in awe of the medium's eerily intimate knowledge of his past and her seemingly supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, Kitty Brown's yearning to reach out to the departed spirit of her first love is making her push away her new husband, just when she needs him the most. The whole situation is a dreadful mess, and McCoy's got to straighten it all out before Silas' nephew and his bride come back from their honeymoon. Honestly, she doesn't know how any of the fools in this world would get along without her…
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Love Will Find A Wheel:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance
"I'm sure he'll be glad you're here —once he gets used to it."
When Jacob Simmons arrives in Washington Territory in the summer of 1882 and receives a glacial reception from his uncle Silas, he appreciates Dr. Brown's encouraging prediction but doesn't have much faith in it. Jacob's not even sure Silas will have time to get used to his presence, let alone consider him welcome. If the young man can't meet the draconian requirements of a contract with his business investors, he'll face exile and financial ruin, thus fulfilling old Silas' prediction that he would be just as dismal a failure as his father. His whole future rests on finding a market for a remarkable new machine —and he'll need help selling them.
***
Addie Kellam is an incredibly lonely young woman. She's more comfortable with books than with other people, yet she longs for the sort of romance she reads about in stories. It's something she fears she'll never experience herself, since even friendship seems elusive. She envies the cameraderie her brother finds in his cycling club, but the only bicycles in the town of Chetzemoka are specifically designed for men. There aren't any wheels for women anywhere —are there?
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First Wheel in Town:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance
In the summer of 1881, a Pacific Northwest town is buzzing with curiosity over a mysterious package received by handsome young Dr. Brown. Kitty Butler, the town dressmaker, is as curious as anyone else. She only knows one thing about that crate in the post office: everyone else's guesses about its contents are all wrong.

When Dr. Brown unpacks the crate and reveals the first bicycle the town has ever seen, he wants to share his enthusiasm for this revolutionary new piece of technology —but encounters overwhelming hostility instead of the excitement he'd expected. The only one who seems positively interested is the pretty young widow Kitty Butler, and Dr. Brown soon realizes how much he needs her support…
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