❖ MOSQUITO FLEET MONDAY ❖ H.B. KENNEDY

Steel Mosquito

H.B. KENNEDY
206030
Built in 1909 by the Willamette Iron Works,
Portland, OR.
499 G.t. / 216 N.t.
170.2' x 28.1' x 11.3'
4 cyl. triple-exp engine,
18 1/2, 27 1/2, 34, 34, with
steam at 350 lbs working pressure
and developing 2,000-HP.
(1924 she was renamed "SEATTLE")
Click to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©
Photograph by Webster & Stevens.

"Rate wars and rivalries represented only the exciting and colorful sidelights of the development of inland water transportation in the Puget Sound region as it approached its glory days and subsequent swift decline. More significant events in the affairs of Joshua Green and Charles Peabody [Puget Sound Navigation Co] transpired during the first decade of the 20-C, although with less publicity.
      (Joshua Green, in his words, was the largest individual stockholder of the company from the time of its formation in 1901 until he sold his stock to Capt. Alex Peabody and associates in 1927.)
      In 1908 the PSNC had taken over Colman Dock at the foot of Marion Street. This pier, its ornate Victorian clock tower and domed waiting room roof providing a Seattle waterfront landmark, remained headquarters of the company's steamers throughout the rest of the steamboat era, and through the decadent days of the automobile ferries which replaced them.
      

H.B. KENNEDY
206030
Litho postcard from the archives
of the S.P.H.S.©

The first brand-new steel steamer was placed under company operation when the 179-ft H.B. KENNEDY was completed at Portland for the joint Kennedy-Puget Sound Navy Yard Route. The handsome two-stacker came up the coast under her own power, commanded by Capt. W.E. (Billy) Mitchell, in command for her first 8 years of operation, a total of 408,000 miles. She knifed her way up the Sound from Port Angeles to Seattle at better than her specified speed of 22-mph. That afternoon, with a party of company officials on board, the KENNEDY continued to show off, chasing the INDIANAPOLIS that was minding her business on the regular Seattle-Tacoma run, and passing her up amid much derisive whistling. Capt Penfield, who was still being humiliated by the FLYER, didn't much appreciate the gratuitous insult from a fleet-mate and Joshua Green didn't quite approve of the performance either. H.B. Kennedy, a more flamboyant type, was enjoying the proceedings so thoroughly, however, that he didn't have the heart to expostulate––and he was impressed with the KENNEDY's speed, and by the fact that, at normal cruising rates, her modern engines consumed little more fuel than some of the smaller and slower steamers of the fleet.
      The KENNEDY wound up the day's festivities by lying in wait in Elliott Bay for the FLYER to come in from Tacoma. She then pranced out, all flags flying, to challenge that notable old champion. Captain Coffin was already slowing down for his landing, the FLYER was blowing off steam, and he disdainfully ignored the gaudy newcomer.
      Like the giant Diesel-electric 'super ferries' that have taken over her old run to Bremerton, the H.B. KENNEDY suffered a number of minor mechanical difficulties during her shakedown period, but when these were solved, she continued to perform her duties efficiently and just as rapidly as the maritime marvels of sixty years later. 
      Early in her career, the KENNEDY was diverted to the Moran Shipyard for tests and inspection, for Joshua Green was dickering with that firm on the possible construction of more modern steel steamers. She was raced over the measured mile course at a speed of over 21-mph, with Green, Manager Frank Burns and J.W. Paterson, manager for the firm which had taken over the Moran yard, checking her performance carefully.
      Paterson convinced Green that the Puget Sound yard (soon to be named Seattle Construction & Drydock Co) could build steamers just as good as the KENNEDY and could meet or beat Portland's prices. Always a great booster for his adopted home town, Green placed orders with Paterson. The result over the next three years, was a new fleet of handsome and efficient, if not gaudy, home-built Sound packets that were to carry the PSNC house flag throughout the remainder of the Steamboat era.

FERRY SEATTLE (ex-H.B. KENNEDY)
Photo is date stamped 5 May 1924;
The Navy Yard Route's new ferry.
She was scrapped in 1938.
Photographer unknown.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

       In 1924, the H.B. KENNEDY became the steam ferry SEATTLE with the conversion being done at Todd Shipyard."
The [Joshua] Green Years. Newell, Gordon. Superior Publishing Co. 1969
      "In 1938 the newly acquired Diesel ferries came up from San Francisco, the KEHLOKEN (ex-GOLDEN STATE), entered service replacing the steam ferry SEATTLE (ex-H.B. KENNEDY), the latter vessel being laid up. Although the replacement of the old steamer of 1909, vintage by the modern Diesel-electric craft, was generally viewed as an example of maritime progress, a few malcontents persisted in pointing out that, whereas the handsome old SEATTLE had operated quite smoothly at a speed of 17.4 mph, the new KEHLOKEN, a remarkably ugly craft, progressed with considerable vibration at a rate of 14 mph." The H.W.McCurdy Marine History of the PNW. Newell, Gordon. Superior Publishing. 

❖ The Familiar Put-Put of the Island Launches ❖ with June Burn

SAN JUAN II
ON 210893
Built in Bellingham, WA.
58.3' x 13.9' x 6.4'
41 t gas passenger/freight propeller,
Indicated HP 100.
1913-1929
Photo scan courtesy of Charles Torgerson,
descendent of Willard Maxwell who started the 
San Juan Transportation Company, the crew 
awarded the mail contract for c. 40 years.

     "In the middle of the narrow swift-running tidal river of Johns Pass, between beautiful Johns Island and Stewart. Still aboard the SAN JUAN II. We are whistling for somebody to row out to the boat and relieve it of its note-taking passenger. Nobody comes, though my old neighbor's boat swings at his float. He is up in the swamp, maybe. We'll have to go on to the next island and whistle for a lift––no, the good captain skillfully noses his boat into Dad's small float. Homer goes down and helps my small son, South Robin, and I off the boat, and here we are! (How it always delights one to catch or leave a boat in the middle of a channel or far out from any dock. As if somehow the world were still the simple, friendly, unhurried place they say it used to be. I know well enough that the boat's crew can quickly get enough of that sort of thing, but it is fun while it lasts!) We set our bags and typewriter onto the PAWNEE, Dad's boat, and wander off up the dusty farm road to look for the master of the farm. There comes Dad in the clumsy wagon driving old Barney! He has been up to the swamp with grain for the turkeys fattening them for the Thanksgiving market. We climb aboard and sit talking of gone days. The sea laps the beach a dozen yards from us, lolloping in and out of the potholes of the sandstone formations. How good it smells! Dad says he sits at his window during winter storms watching the spray and sniffing that fragrance of salt water and seaweed. The people who live on the islands say very little about the romance of their home, but when you do get them talking about the water, and boating, and beaches, and agates, you discover there is a very positive appreciation of the beauties around them. 
      We go down to the boat to chug over to Speiden, the headquarters of this big farm sprawled over three islands. We'll go by the reefnets and watch them fish awhile.
      Oh, the familiar put-put of the little island launches, the smell of their exhaust, foul but somehow agreeable. The boats are twenty-thirty feet long, but there is no room on them. The engine with its oil and noise quite fills the cabin. The tender rides the afterdeck. The pilot stands at the wheel. If there is a passenger he rides in the seat of the tender if the weather is fine or hunkers down inside with the engine if the weather is rough. Roomy the boats look, but there is really no room for them at all. When outboard motors will do the work of inboards they will be enormously popular for the inboard engine is a hog for room.
      The near slopes and bluffs stroll leisurely by as we swing out and around the point to the reefnets on the south slopes of Stewart Island. The incomparable thrill of being home again. Bellingham, I love you––jolly, friendly, cordial, lively little city that you are––but I love the islands more!

June Burn loved the Islands,
the people of San Juan County loved her in return.
Click to enlarge.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

The long, white graveled beaches and lush green ravines, the rocky bluffs and steep hills, the little coves, the fields of kelp, the smooth fair waters or the white madness of wind-blown channels; the grain fields and fishing banks; the flowers and birds and romance––but we are at the fishing grounds!
      One gear has already been lifted for the year, two others fishing now. Four, long, slender fishing boats lie out there on the water just outside the kelp field, the nets swung between each two boats, the leads running out fifty or more yards, spreading as they go. From the wooden floats of the leads hang lines that serve to direct the fish down the narrowing runway over the nets.
      One man in each boat stands on a high box from which vantage he can see deep into the water and know when the fish are coming down the road, bound lickety-split for his net. He gives a signal to the other members of his crew that the fish are coming, bids them be ready, tells them when to begin lifting the net and directs the speed of their lifting.
      At the gear furthest up towards the bay, Indians fish. General's thirty-foot canoe with its long, slender up-thrust bow and stern holds Willie Jim, maybe or Joe, with his two 16-year -old Indian girl helpers. In the other skiff fat old Isaac sits on the high box as watcher, while General (Major General Scott is his full given name) and one other man sit waiting for the signal.
      At the gear that I am watching, Art and Louis stand at the bows of their respective boats. The helpers are gone. Dad gets into Art's boat to be ready to help in case the fish come. I wonder what they would have done if we hadn't come along, for two men cannot easily handle a net full of fish.

      *  *  *  *  *

      Suddenly, the three men stiffen as if electrified. "Tu-tu-tu-tu-tut" Art begins to shout, which interpreted means "Here come the fish!" "Not yet!" he shouts. "Now!" and "Slow boys! Slow, now! Now they're in! Haul her in, fast! Uumph, umph, umph!" the men grunt as they haul the net up. The towboats come together slowly, the fish wiggling and leaping in the net.

      "Altogether, boys! Over with them! There goes a big fellow overboard––catch him, Louis! Ah-h-h!" as the net is emptied over into one of the boats––the one least full of fish. It is the end of the season and few fish are being caught. This is the only haul of the day, the boys are delighted to get even these few that leap and flop and squirm in Art's boat beside which I sit in PAWNEE's tender.

      Once this summer, the boys say they had 1,600 salmon in the boats, 800 of them having been hauled in at once. What shouting and yelling, and pulling, and tugging there must have been that day! What a shining silver mass of salmon! What leaping overboard, what flopping and slithering! It is a thousand wonders the net didn't tear, so old and black it is.

      The fish buyers come along every day and twice a day during the big run. Men hip-deep in fish, pitchfork the "shining apostrophes" from the 40' fishing boats into the fish buyer's barge, whence they are once more pitchforked into the receiving places of the cannery.

      So much for reefnet fishing. See you tomorrow. June." Puget Soundings. June Burn.1929

❖ MOSQUITO FLEET MONDAY ❖ CHIPPEWA––AGROUND NEAR CAPE HORN ❖

STEAMER CHIPPEWA
127440
Dressed ship for her first run
to Victoria, BC.
Moored in front of the Empress Hotel.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Once a splendid, twin-stack, passenger steamship launched in Toledo, Ohio in 1900, the CHIPPEWA was designed to run as a fast commuter ship on the Great Lakes. She did so for seven years before a sale was negotiated by Joshua Green of the Puget Sound Navigation Co. with Arnold Transportation Co. Green's partner, Charles E. Peabody, negotiated to purchase two other steamers, the INDIANAPOLIS and the IROQUOIS.

      A mechanical overhaul was done on the CHIPPEWA at Hoboken prior to the departure on the afternoon of 18 February 1907, Capt. McClure, commanding and C. F. Bishop as chief engineer.

      On her trip west to Seattle, she traveled 17,500 miles on the Cape Horn passage. She spent 54 days, and 17 hours of actual running time with some extremely rough weather in the Strait of Magellan.

      Trouble began soon after the New York harbor pilot was dropped. Fires started throughout the ship as seawater shorted out the electrical cables. The navigating lights went out, the boiler injector pipes began to leak, pipe joints blew out and the forward bulwarks were stove in. "Everybody is sick and everything going wrong," wrote Bishop in his engine room log. Saltwater kept getting into the boilers and it was necessary to shut one of them down completely for much of the voyage. On 24 March, just south of deadly Cape Horn at the entrance to the Straits of Magellan, the CHIPPEWA twice went aground; (click on "read more" just below ––

❖ SILK on a Seattle Dock ❖ 1917

Nippon Yusen Kaisha liner YOKOHAMA MARU
visits Seattle and Victoria.
Complimentary advertising postcard by N.Y.K.
from the Clinton Betz Collection in the archives of the S.P.H.S.©
Click to enlarge.

      The Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line published beautiful art cards promoting their shipping routes to Europe, America, Australia, India, and other parts of the world. This was not the first visit of the NYK to the Port of Seattle, they began doing business in 1898, thanks to quick thinking of Seattle's businessman/mariner James F. Griffith, to be covered in an upcoming post. 
      This NYK shipping news item of 1917, was found listed on the same Seattle Times page as the news item announcing the launch of Robert Moran's auxiliary schooner SANWAN, the latter being researched for a different post.
      Seattle maritime historian, Clinton Betz, in later years, saved a few of the NYK artistic postcards including the YOKOHAMA MARU, the ship mentioned moored at the Great Northern Pier. Let's put the two together to record that day; the NYK art piece and the silk cargo sailed safely to Seattle go nicely together.

      "Silk shipments valued at more than $1,590,000 [USD of 1917] and a general cargo of 4,800 tons are being discharged by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha liner YOKOHAMA MARU at the Great Northern Pier. At Victoria, the vessel discharged general cargo to the extent of 385 tons. The voyage from the Orient was made according to schedule and while the trip was marked by considerable foggy and misty weather, no gales of consequence were encountered." The Seattle Times. June 1917.
      If you missed reading the 1917 SANWAN launching news in the Time-Line , here is a link to the Log entry of Mr. Moran's party day on Orcas Island, San Juan Archipelago.

❖ MOSQUITO FLEET MONDAY 🍀 The SHAMROCK and the RELIABLE buddies

Steamers RELIABLE and SHAMROCK
Southbend to Nahcotta, WA.
RELIABLE, ON 111423, 
was built in 1902, Astoria, OR.,
for the Willapa Bay Transportation Co (Capt. A.W. Reed.)
Photographer unknown.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"Despite the challenge and weather of Washington coast north of Long Beach (served by a fleet of Columbia River steamers,) hardy vacationers flocked to hotels and summer cabins at Westport, Moclips, and Pacific Beach aboard doughty little sternwheelers like the HARBOR BELLE and HARBOR QUEEN and the steamer FLEETWOOD docking at Westport and Cosmopolis.
      Sternwheelers like the ALLIANCE and DOLPHIN were sailing every week from Portland to Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Cosmopolis, North Cove, South Bend, Willapa and Bay Center. The steam launch JESSIE would ferry you to South Aberdeen for a dime.
      In 1908, popularity of Washington beaches and resorts led to daily runs between Portland and tiny South Bend on the Willapa River, requiring two steamers and a short train ride.

S.S. SHAMROCK
ON 201668
Passenger and freight steamer built in 1905 at Astoria, OR
for the Willapa Bay Transportation Co.
G.t. 116 / N.t. 79
72.3' RL x 18.2' x 6.2'
Converted to a towboat in her later years.
In this original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.© 
she is seen near Nahcotta, WA.
Click image to enlarge. 

RELIABLE
ON 111423
Built in 1902 at Astoria, OR.
Seen on her South Bend route.
Photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Returning home, excursionists would board one of the Willapa Bay mail steamers, SHAMROCK or RELIABLE at South Bend, crossing to Nahcotta midpoint on the Long Beach Peninsula. Here trains would carry passengers to connecting OSN steamers docked at Ilwaco, for the relaxing river ride back to Portland. Fare: $4.25.
      In addition to carrying passengers, mail, and freight, the stubby steamers offered weekend cruises to view a wreck or whales. 
      The most festive outing occurred on June 1908, when the steamers rendezvoused for a viewing of the Great White Fleet as it passed off the coast." 

The Atlantic Fleet entering Puget Sound
1908
Romans Photo / Asahel Curtis 1908
Click to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Above text from: Steamer's Wake. Faber, Jim; Enetai Press. 1985.

❖ WRECKED ON FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH ❖ (photo update)

THOMAS W. LAWSON
ON 145943
1902-1907
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"One of the largest sailing vessels ever built was the seven-masted schooner THOMAS W. LAWSON. The tremendous steel giant of the age of sail was built at Quincy, Mass, in 1902, for the Boston millionaire, stock broker, author of that name. She had the distinction of being the largest schooner and the largest sailing vessel ever built without an auxiliary engine, costing c. $250,000. She had a length between perpendiculars of 375' and an overall length exceeding 475', carrying 43,000 sq. ft of sail. The LAWSON had a gross register tonnage of 5,218 making her far greater in size than most of the steam propelled vessels of her day.
      As the world's first and only seven-masted schooner, the LAWSON utilized a tremendous spread of sail and could carry almost double her weight in coal. She was originally intended for the Pacific trade but instead was used as a collier along the US East Coast. 
      The strange thing about this vessel that crossed back and forth on the Atlantic for most of her brief five years, was that she was named after Thomas W. Lawson. And who was Thomas W. Lawson? He was a renowned author, his most famous mystery novel being, Friday the Thirteenth. The vessel was wrecked on Annet Island in the Scillies off the outlying tentacles of the English coast on Friday the 13th, with the loss of 17 lives, all but two of her crew. She had a cargo of 58,000 barrels of light paraffin oil aboard." 
The Unusual Side of the Sea. Gibbs, Jim. Windward Publishing Co. Seattle; 1971.
Captain George W. Dow
Pilot Billy "Cook" Hicks,
Engineer Edward L. Rowe, both of Boston, were the only survivors.
      The broken and scattered wreck was relocated in 1969. One of her anchors is now built into the outside wall of Bleak House, Broadstairs, the former home of Charles Dickens.   
1960: 

Model of the Thomas W. Lawson
being viewed by Christopher Greef, age 13, at the 
Science Museum in London, Eng.
Original photo dated 26 Feb. 1960
from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

    Further reading: click here

❖ MOSQUITO FLEET MONDAY ❖ SWEETHEART, ROSALIE ❖

S.S. ROSALIE
ON 111022
Built by Hay and Wright 
Alameda, CA.
136.5' x 27' x 10'
1893-22 June 1918.
According to historian Ralph Hitchcock,
she was powered by a
compound steam engine with a 15-inch diameter
high-pressure cylinder and a 340-inch diameter
 low-pressure cylinder.
The power was rated at 300 HP.
The image is stamped verso by
the Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc.
Photo from the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society.©

There once was a very special "mosquito" who was built in California but sailed soon after to work for two years in Puget Sound before running off to immerse herself in the excitement of hauling miners to the Klondike Gold Rush. Following those years traveling the coast, she spent her best years serving people of the San Juan Islands. Here are words from Mr. Ralph Johnson, who worked in his youth, on the sweet ROSALIE. 

The San Juan Islands Route of the ROSALIE

      "As a boy, I heard of a beautiful group of islands called the San Juans, a long way from Seattle, and saw them for the first time while working on the steamer SIOUX. I made up my mind that I would try to work on a steamer running to the Islands the next summer, if possible, and after two weeks on the steamer INDIANAPOLIS in June 1912, I transferred to the steamer ROSALIE.
      At 12 o'clock midnight every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday the mooring lines and gangplank were hauled in; with her whistleblowing the parting signal, the ROSALIE left Colman Dock for Port Townsend, the San Juan Islands, and Bellingham. 

S.S. ROSALIE
ON 111022
Moored Richardson, Lopez Island,
San Juan County, WA.
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society.©
Click image to enlarge.

      We arrived at Port Townsend at four AM, then crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Richardson, on the tip of Lopez Island [above photo]; this was our first stop in the Islands and the home of Capt. Sam Barlow, master of the ROSALIE.

      Crossing the Strait in rough weather was an experience that developed 'sea-legs' and a gyroscopic balance as the steamer became a nautical ballerina in her own right.
      On the first two trips, I spent as much time as possible looking at the beautiful, ever-changing scenery and was amazed at the labyrinth of channels. Much to my disappointment I was not always able to leave my work and look at all the communities and towns tucked away in coves, but eventually, I did.
      The steamer did not always stop at all the places shown on the schedule, but there were centers of activity such as Friday Harbor, the seat of San Juan County, Roche Harbor, the scene of lime production, Orcas, East Sound, then on to Olga.
      I remember Deer Harbor as a quiet, sleepy place with a cluster of buildings beyond the dock, and a cannery on the opposite shore. 

S.S. ROSALIE
Pole Pass with Orcas Island in the background. 
Low res scan of an original photo
by James A. McCormick
from the archives of
the Saltwater People HIstorical Society.©
Click image to enlarge.

Pole Pass was the most restricted channel for clearance of any I can recall and it seemed that I could throw a stone to either shore from the boat deck of the ROSALIE.
      East Sound impressed me as one town where more freight was handled than at any other stop; I'll never forget a load of sheep we took on there. Roche Harbor was the second most active.
      An unusual stop was made when the steamer picked up a woman and girl about ten years old from a rowboat in a channel, not long after we left Richardson. I learned that they were family of a lighthouse keeper from Smith Island.
      Roche Harbor was the focal point of interest in the Islands as far as size and activity. I learned about the basic industry when we took on a load of agricultural lime that I was told brought a premium price. We discharged it at South Bellingham.
      The responsibility of navigating a passenger steamer is never a light one, but in fog, it multiplies. Add to that the channels with strong currents where a compass and course protractor are of little use. 

Captain Sam Barlow
Well-known master of the ROSALIE
Photographer and date are unknown.
Low res scan of an original photo
from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

Captain Barlow was born on Lopez and spent his boyhood and youth learning the maze of channels and characteristics. Being of Indian lineage he had inherited the knowledge of natural phenomena beyond that of laymen and his keen sense of hearing was as efficient as radar is today.
      The people of the islands I met were friendly, home-spun and seemed to bring the essence of their island with them when they came on the steamer. They were never in a hurry and a few minutes one way or the other made little difference. The islands bred an atmosphere of tranquility.
      Time is a paradox. I began working on the steamer INDIANAPOLIS as soon as school was out and the long, three-months vacation stretched into the hazy future. But a few blasts of a whistle blew ninety days into the void of no return and I almost met myself coming on board as I walked down the gangplank from the ROSALIE for the last time. My days of steamboating, as a member of a crew, were over.
      As a young boy there were three steamboats whose names held particular significance for me; the ALGOMA, an ice-crushing steamer on Lake Michigan, on which my father was engineer, the MAUDE FOSTER (MUD HEN) on Lake Union, and the ROSALIE on which my father returned to Seattle from Alaska and the gold rush in 1900.
       The ROSALIE was built in Alameda, CA in 1893, operating out of and adjacent to San Francisco until 1895. I was told while working on her that she was named for a lady affectionately known as Madam of a palace of pleasure on the Barbary Coast of S.F. and served as a gambling ship for a while. The steamer came to Seattle in 1895 and served under the house flag of the Northwestern Steamship Co., until 1897 when she was acquired by the Alaska Steamship Co. In May 1901, the ROSALIE became a part of the fleet of the Puget Sound Navigation Co., where she remained until 1904.
      The steamer then returned to the control of the Alaska Steamship Co., until June 1905, when she began flying the house flag of the International Steamship Co. In May 1911, the ROSALIE became the property of the Inland Navigation Co., for whom she served until Jan 1914, when PSNC took her back. She flew their house flag again until 1918.
      In the early morning of 22 June 1918, while tied up in the west waterway south of the Spokane Street Bridge, the watchman smelled smoke and found the steamer on fire. We alerted others on board but their combined efforts could not prevent the fire from spreading. A tug nearby with a tow of logs dropped the tow and came to the assistance of the firefighters. The lines holding the ROSALIE were severed and the steamer cast adrift, but not before the steamer CHIPPEWA, by which the ROSALIE was tied, was slightly damaged.
      The ROSALIE started drifting; to keep her from setting fire to commercial establishments along the waterway, the tug pushed the burning steamer into a mud bank. The fireboat SNOQUALMIE arrived on the scene, but because the tide was out there was not sufficient depth of water for her to get near the burning craft and the steamer became a total loss.
      She had written her epitaph in smoke. 
      She was not the fastest steamer on the Sound, but knew where she was going and usually got there."
 Writer: Ralph Johnson. Published in The Sea Chest, September 1976 by Puget Sound Maritime, Seattle, WA; membership journal.

A glimpse of the work days in San Juan County for the ROSALIE:

1907: 
Puget Sound Navigation Co replaces the LYDIA THOMPSON on the Seattle-Bellingham route (through the San Juan Islands) with the ROSALIE, Capt. Sam Barlow; Ira D. Nordyke, first mate. She only lands at Bugge Trading Co wharf dock when in Friday Harbor.
The San Juan Islander.
1907: 
In November the steamer has taken about 5,500 boxes of apples from this county to Seattle within the past week and 1,100 cases of canned fruit. Her cargo last Saturday was the largest she has ever carried between Sound ports. 

The San Juan Islander.
1909:
The ROSALIE landed at the Friday Harbor Cannery dock to unload another of the four big retorts for the packing company. 

The San Juan Islander.
1909:
The Clam Cannery shipped 8 tons of crushed clam shells by the ROSALIE to Tacoma, to be used in large poultry yards there. 
A two-ton shingle machine came in on the ROSALIE for the Western Mills & Lumber Co. The machine is a Sumner with a capacity of 50,000 shingles per day.

The San Juan Islander. 
1912: 
Captain Sam Barlow of the steamer ROSALIE was married at Bellingham on the 10 July 1912. The name of the fortunate lady we have not learned. 
The San Juan Islander.
1912:
A large amount of cement was landed at Olga last week by the steamer  ROSALIE for the big new dam at the upper lake being built by Mr. Moran. Jensen and Davis hauled the cement up to the dam site. 
The San Juan Islander.

Other known masters of the ROSALIE:
Capt. George Roberts
Capt. John "Dynamite Johnny" O'Brien
Capt. Louis Van Bogaert
Capt. C. W. Ames
Capt. William Williamson
Capt. John "Red Jack" Ellsmore
Mate: Ira D. Nordyke
   

❖ CAPTAIN ❖ ENGINEER ❖ AGENT ❖ SHIP OWNER

Looks like the Ship Owner to us.

A CAPTAIN

A Captain is said to be a [person] who knows a great deal about very little and goes on knowing more and more about less and less until finally he knows practically everything about nothing.

AN ENGINEER

An Engineer, on the other hand, is a [person] who knows very little about a great deal and goes on knowing less and less about more and more until he knows practically nothing about everything.

AN AGENT

An Agent starts out knowing practically everything about everything and ends up knowing nothing about everything, due mainly to his association with the Captain and the Engineer.

A SHIP OWNER

In order to stay in business, the Owner must employ the Captain, the Engineer and the Agent. These three characters do their best and finally succeed in putting the Owner out of business.

Author unknown. The Sea Chest. Quarterly membership journal. Puget Sound Maritime. September 1986.