TROUBLE IN A STORM OFF WHIDBEY ISLAND ❖ ❖

 

F.V. MIDWAY
lashed to Leiter Hockett's salvage tug AMAK
after three months underwater near
Whidbey Island, Washington.
Four were lost on 9 March 1959.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

Four Seattle fishermen were lost when the 56-foot fishing vessel Midway capsized and sank in a storm half a mile off Partridge Point.
        The overturned boat was sighted by the tug Tartar and reported to the Coast Guard.
        Less than 14 minutes later the tug reported that the fishing boat had sunk.
        The men lost were Bjarne Olsen, John Eikevik, Carl Jensen, and Simon Ingebretsen.
        The Midway's 18-ft dory was found about the same day; it still had the canvas stretched over it, indicating it had not been used.
        The Midway was bound Bellingham to Seattle when the accident occurred.
        The vessel's owner, Albert Anderson, was not aboard because of an ailment.
        The vessel, a trawler, had been off the Washington Coast and had unloaded her catch yesterday in Bellingham, before departing for Seattle about 3:30 p.m. She was riding high, without cargo, and with little ballast when she capsized.
        The Midway was a sister ship of the Northern Light, which sank ten days ago in Georgia Strait. The two were launched a few weeks apart 15 years ago and had fished together much of the time.
        Text from the Seattle Times three months later.