❖ BURNING OF THE BERING ❖ 1964

The BERING
217255
Almost gone.
She had spent 20 years moored as a breakwater at
Shilshole Bay, Seattle, WA.
and then here came the firemen.
Photo with a back stamp of 25 Jan. 1964
Original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

1918: Launched as ANNETTE ROLPH at Rolph, CA. Early in 1925 when the Rolph Steamship Co began operations in the coastwise trade between Portland and San Francisco it was ANNETTE who made the initial voyage. In 1936 her name was ARTHUR J. BALDWIN but when she was taken over by Alaska Steam her name was changed to BERING.
1942: "Another of the surviving wooden vessels of the WWI period was found to be badly strained following a stranding in SE AK waters. She rested on the beach for several months before she was refloated and with constant pumping, she was kept afloat while she was towed to Seattle. Upon her arrival, she was condemned and sold for $1 to the Tregonning Boat Co who secured her as a breakwater for a proposed small boat mooring at the entrance to the Lake Washington Ship Canal. After some years the vessel was beached near the canal entrance. 
      The War Shipping Administration that had been operating the BERING, reimbursed the owners in the amount of $100,000. "
H.W. McCurdy's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Gordon Newell, editor.