❖ Elliott Bay Shrimp Fleet ❖

1940

KAHLENBERG (ex-Navy Patrol craft 1138)
The 50' steamer was built at Mare Island, N.Y., in 1913.
Operated for a time on Puget Sound as a demonstration
boat for Kahlenberg Oil Engines, she was refitted
with a 25 HP steam engine and Scotch boiler.
Capt. France "Franz" Nelson, a former tugboat
master in Alaska purchased the KAHLENBERG to
use as a shrimper at Seattle, with his
wife Elsie, serving as crew, and sometimes son, Bill.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo from the Marine Studio, Seattle, WA.
from the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

The last surviving vessel of a once-numerous Elliott Bay shrimp fishing fleet was Capt. Franz Nelson's KAHLENBERG, a former naval tender assigned to Oriental waters, and with a gun mounted in front of the pilot house. Fishing grounds were the full width of Elliott Bay between the foot of Yesler Way and Smith Cove. The secret of successful shrimp fishing in Elliott Bay's deep waters was to know the locations of not less than six sunken vessels upon which drag nets would snag and tear, also where mounds of earth were deposited off Elliott Avenue during the Denny Regrade operations. 
      The dragnet on the stern was 15' W x 25' L and attached to a cable, lifted by a steam winch. The average haul lasted for 30 minutes and covered c. one fourth of a mile or so, depending on the wind and tide.
      A good haul often will yield 30 to 50 pounds of shrimp. But a haul would often lead to mostly rubbish or fish. One that brings up no shrimp; fishermen call that a "skunk" haul.
      The shrimp are cooked in boiling water and live steam within 30 minutes of being caught.
      In more recent history, Advanced Diver Magazine has an interesting report on diving on the bottom of Lake Union searching for historic vessels. One of the two vessels on the bottom of Lake Union that they chose to feature on their website is the wreck of the KAHLENBERG. They have been working with the Department of Natural Resources and the Center for Wooden Boats to explore and document the wrecks that litter the bottom of Lake Union. You can view their findings here.
Some of this text was reported in the Seattle-Times August 1940. 
Gordon Newell, editor. H.W. McCurdy's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Superior Publishing.