❖ Champion of Gallant Tradition ❖ with Ralph Andrews

Schooner VIGILANT
Skippered by the famous Capt. Matt Peasley
and later by Capt. Charles H. Mellberg.
From the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

Her five masts standing as staunch monuments to sea trade of a past era, the sturdy schooner VIGILANT was last of the sailing ships regularly engaged in commerce between Hawaii and the Pacific coast.
      "Owned by the City Mill Company of Honolulu, the vessel is employed every summer to transport millions of feet of lumber from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii. When she rounds Diamond Head with her sails filled and her big sticks straining, she's a proud sight that makes Hawaii forget for the moment that this is an age of clipper planes and trim motor freighters.

Capt. Charles H. Mellberg
Photo dated 1932.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo from the archives of the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Freshly painted after a year of idleness in Bellingham, Washington, she arrived in Honolulu recently 25 days out of Puget Sound. Her master, Capt. Charles Mellberg, reported an uneventful crossing distinguished by unusually favorable winds, which carried her along steadily for most of the distance and promised for a time to assist her in beating her best previous record of 17 days. But as she neared the islands the breezes withdrew their aid and teased her into port with occasional puffs. For one crossing last year from Bellingham to Honolulu she took 55 days.
      

Capt. Matt Peasley
Dated 1929.
Original photo from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Honolulu waterfront men remember the days when Capt. Matt Peasley, original of Peter B. Kyne's 'Cappy Ricks' stories, used to bring the schooner into port. Old-timers remember, too, the friendly rivalry between the Vigilant and the Commodore, now shorn of her masts and used as an Alaskan oil barge.
      Still fresh in the memories of many local waterfront observers is the race from Honolulu to Seattle in which these two gallant vessels engaged in November 1931. The COMMODORE departed from Hawaii for the Sound November 20 of that year. She made fair progress; was comfortably on her way when the VIGILANT sailed for the same destination six days later.
      Favorable winds carried the COMMODORE straight up to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where they dropped her like a punctured balloon and left her to icy winter squalls and tricky currents. She was taken in tow by tugs dispatched to her assistance. But before she could be brought into peaceful sound waters a storm caught her, broke the two lines, and drove her out to sea. The VIGILANT which had trailed her by more than 1400 miles up to that time, skirted the storm and scudded triumphantly into the Sound to be declared the official winner."
Ralph Andrews. This was Seafaring. Seattle. Superior Publishing. 1955
      

❖ BUSY AT BLOEDEL DONOVAN ❖

BLOEDEL DONOVAN LUMBER MILLS,
Bellingham, Washington.
Dated April 1932, with
4-masted COMMODORE
5-masted VIGILANT
Steamer WILLBORO, for New York.
Click image to enlarge.
Low res scan of an original photo from S.P.H.S.©

In 1898 Julius Bloedel founded Whatcom Logging Co with frontier businessman John J. Donovan and Peter Larson, which later became known as Bloedel-Donovan Mills.
      In the 1950s, now under the direction of his son, Prentice, Bloedel's company merged with H.R. MacMillan Co to form one of the largest forest products companies in the world, MacMillan-Bloedel Limited. Often called Mac-Blo, it was eventually taken over by Weyerhaeuser in 1999. Bloedel Hall at the UW, Seattle, was named for Julius Bloedel. The Bloedel Conservatory of Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver was named for his son Prentice Bloedel for donating nearly $1.4 million for its construction in 1967. The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, WA., was created by Prentice Bloedel and his wife Virginia.

      The two schooners in the photo above can be seen under sail below. Unfortunately, the WILLBORO was sunk by a torpedo from U-159 on 10 Sept. 1942 two hundred miles SW of Capetown. Six people lost their lives.

The COMMODORE (ex-BLAATIND)
as she is trying to catch a tow off Cape Flattery,
 headed to Bellingham for more lumber.
After all the other sailers were gone, the
COMMODORE and the VIGILANT sailed side by side.
Original photo from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

CAPTAIN CHARLES MELLBERG
8 January 1932
On board the VIGILANT after the
much publicized 'race' with the COMMODORE.
VIGILANT was towed into the Strait of Juan
de Fuca after the 38-day crossing ahead
of the COMMODORE. The passage was
2,289-miles across the Pacific.
Low res scan of an original photo from the
Saltwater People Log©

Schooner VIGILANT
Heading to sea with a full cargo of lumber.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo from the Saltwater People Log©