❖ PROTHERO'S GLORY OF THE SEAS ❖ (Updated)

Anyone living in the Pacific Northwest, faintly interested in boats under construction, the craftsman doing the work, the celebration of a completed vessel preparing for launching, the classics polished to the nines for the wooden boat shows –– almost everyone within the smell of salt spray has heard of the boatbuilder, Frank Prothero (1905-1996.) He told a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter that he has built upwards of 250 boats in his career.
Here are a few photos and an essay about his last, the GLORY OF THE SEAS.

Frank Prothero
Master boatbuilder
At work in the summer of 1986,
Lake Union, Seattle, WA.
Photo by Liddell from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Words shared by the Wooden Boat magazine senior editor, Tom Jackson,  about Mr. Prothero and his beautiful wooden schooner Glory of the Seas; 
Number 150, September/October 1999. Thank you, Tom.

"Years ago, after a Museum Small Craft Association meeting at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, a group of maritime historians bundled into some of the center's small boats and set off across Lake Union to visit, among other places, the legendary Frank Prothero's floating shop. He was in fine form that day, thoroughly at home, and comfortable under the microscope. His appreciative guests had a lot to admire stickered stacks of enviable wood, tools that had all the signs of honest purpose and use, examples of tight and interesting joiner work in progress––and GLORY OF THE SEAS, the 65' schooner Prothero had been building for himself for many years.

GLORY OF THE SEAS
after the christening, but still on her cradle,
Lake Union, Seattle.
July 1986
Click image to enlarge.
Photograph by C. Fujii
From the archives of the Saltwater People Log©

Hand-carved teak covering board
by Frank Prothero
for his GLORY, Lake Union, 1986.
Photo by G. Gilbert
from the archives of the Saltwater People Log©

      The hull had long been finished and was afloat alongside the barge. Her builder had most recently been engaged in below-deck joiner work. Every detail showed remarkable workmanship. Carvings, for example, had been worked into the rounded corners of cabin bulkheads at the end of the saloon. For those who had been aware of Prothero's sailing yachts––ALCYONE, now based in Port Townsend, is a great and familiar example––GLORY OF THE SEAS was the one everyone was waiting for. It was to be Prothero's final statement, the crowning achievement of a lifetime of experience. In his interview with Peter Spectre in 1982, when he was already a decade into the project, Prothero spoke prophetic words, 'I don't think I'll live long enough to finish her. I don't see how I could.'

Frank Prothero
Pulling on the mooring lines of 
GLORY OF THE SEAS.
Summer 1986, Seattle, WA.
Photo by Liddell from the archives of
the Saltwater People Log©

    

Going back a few years at Frank's shop,
66-ft diesel launch
One of the biggest built in Seattle in the 1950s.
She floated free of her week-end launching
at the Prothero Boat Co, 29 Oct. 1956.
She was designed by Willam Garden-
Phil Brinck Assoc. for the Lakeside Gravel Co.
She will be finished by Vic Franck's Boat Co.
Photographer unknown. From the archives
of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

In December 1995, only a few years after that visit by the museum folks, a fire broke out in Prothero's shop. Fortunately, just before the fire Prothero had been moving to his son Bill's place in Lynnwood, so most of the tools were saved. Employees of Lake Union Dry Dock bravely cut GLORY OF THE SEAS' mooring lines and maneuvered her out of danger. The shop burned and sank. It was raised, however, and today it is being used by another boatbuilder.
      Less than a year after the fire, 16 November 1996, Prothero died at 91. But it wasn't a case of heartbreak. Bill says the fire was 'just one more thing to overcome' for someone used to repairing boats. 'Father wasn't trying to finish this boat.' he says. He had finished boats the same size in less than a year with his crew. 'He had been working on her for 30-years before he died. He just enjoyed, working on boats. He used to say the only reason to take them out was to have an excuse to work on them when you get back. He was still working on the boat the night before he passed away,' despite losing a leg to complications of diabetes. However, GLORY OF THE SEAS will be completed. Bill Prothero will retire in a few years, and he has been slowly finishing the schooner, preparing for the day when he will use her as a cruising summer home for his family.
      GLORY OF THE SEAS is moored today [1999] near Lake Union Dry Dock, not far from where Prothero's shop used to be, tethered in among the sheet-metal-sided buildings of the dry dock and its neighbors. She rides tranquilly amid the noise and haste of what's left of the bustling Lake Union working waterfront that the elder Prothero and many of his relatives knew well in its heyday. Most recently, Bill has added ballast, installed a 100-hp John Deere engine, repainted, and revarnished her brightwork. He recently hauled her to install through-hull fittings for the engine and repaint her bottom. 'The boat is being worked on, but not very fast,' Bill says. As of March, he was hoping to have the boat over to the Center for Wooden Boats for the July 4 Lake Union Wooden Boat Show.
      GLORY OF THE SEAS may yet be the glory of Puget Sound."

Prothero admires his schooner
GLORY OF THE SEAS
after 28 years.
Dated September 1993.
Photo by G. Gilbert from the
archives of the Saltwater People Log©

Photographs of GLORY OF THE SEAS in November 2019, in Port Townsend, Washington. 
The news on the docks: a father and son have stepped up to restore the GLORY. 

Click here to read a snippet for clipper GLORY OF THE SEAS. 

Glory of the Seas
Photo courtesy of K. Pool, 11/2019.
Click image to enlarge.
Location: Port of Port Townsend, WA.
For Saltwater People Log.

Glory of the Seas
Courtesy of K. Pool, 11/2019.
Click image to enlarge.
Port Townsend, WA.
for Saltwater People Log.

Glory of the Seas
with some red cedar planks removed
that expose her rotten frames on the starboard side.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo courtesy of K. Pool, 11/2019
for Saltwater People Log.
When this was posted she was still ashore in the
Port of Port Townsend, WA.

❖ SMALL CRAFT, TALL CRAFT, ALL SAILORS FIND PORT TOWNSEND

Metsker's PUGET SOUND COUNTRY
with a detail highlighting
Port Townsend, WA., on Admiralty Inlet.
Click image to enlarge.

Windjammers loading lumber, grain, and 
general freight for world markets.
Location,  Port Townsend
1890s.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo print copied by Huff from an original.
Archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

U.S. RUSH
Built by Hall Brothers Yard, WA., in 1885
Anchored Port Townsend, WA.
Photo by P.M. Richardson from the archives
of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

Schooner PROSPER
Built by Hall Brothers Yard, WA.
Sailing into Port Townsend, WA.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo pre-dating 1911
by P.M. Richardson
from the Saltwater People Historical Society©

Barkentine KOKO HEAD
Built 1908 by Hind-Rolph
Sailing into Port Townsend, WA.
Photo by Torka's Studio, Port Townsend, WA.
From the archives of Saltwater People©

Union Dock, Port Townsend, WA. 
Dated 1908.
Litho postcard from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Port Townsend began with homestead claims filed in April 1851, six months before Seattle's pioneering Denny party landed at Alki Point.
      By 1854 the U.S. Customs office moved here.

U.S. Customs House
Port Townsend, WA.
Litho postcard from the Saltwater People
Historical Society©

It had been in Olympia, which forced sea captains to sail the length of Puget Sound before legally going ashore. Isaac Ebey had been appointed customs collector in 1853, and he campaigned for Port Townsend to be designated as the official port of entry. From his home on the west shore of Whidbey Island, he could see ships turning in or out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and cross the inlet to clear them.
      With ships required to stop, Pt. Townsend readily grew as a supply center. Its legal services included banking and merchandising and also consul representation by Great Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the independent kingdom of Hawaii.

Union Dock, Port Townsend, WA.
SS CHIPPEWA on the left.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo by P.M. Richardson from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

Pt. Townsend's 1850s economy at first depended largely on San Francisco's gold rush appetite for Puget Sound timber. By 1858 and into the 1860s it benefited from gold discoveries on the Fraser River and in the Cariboo District of B.C., thousands of miners streamed north. Through the 1870s Pt. Townsend grew steadily but unspectacularly. For a while it expected to be the West Coast terminus of the transcontinental railroad, a vain hope fostered by the appointment of Judge James Swan as Northern Pacific agent. The tracks stopped at Tacoma instead. Nonetheless, Pt. Townsend burgeoned, boosted by the population surge and overall optimism that rode the rails across the entire state in the 1850s.

Gig ashore, Port Townsend, WA., c. 1910
Original photo from the archives of the 
Saltwater People Historical Society©

       Pt. Townsend slumbered without a major industry until 1927, when a pulp mill opened. In one way, the long lull was a blessing: handsome commercial buildings and homes were neither altered nor razed. They remain as a remarkably intact legacy from the past."
Source:
Above text: Ruth Kirk and Carmela Alexander. Exploring Washington's Past. The University of WA. Press. 1990.

Waterfront, Port Townsend, Washington
Undated photo.

Point Hudson boat harbor with
entries for the Pacific International
Yachting Association's regatta, July 1957.
Port Townsend, WA.
Photographer unknown.
Original photo from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

1938 Danish Spidsgatter PIA
S38 D14
Aho'i and Maggie
Home Port –– Olympia, WA.
Early departure from Watmough Bight anchorage,
San Juan Archipelago, 6 Sept. 2018.
En route to meet with 300 wooden boats at the
42nd Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show.
Photo courtesy of mariner Jason Hines,
who sailed to the show in his Danish-built, SVANE.

Point Hudson

42nd Annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show

Courtesy of PIA crew Maggie Woltjer©

September 2018.

Our roving reporter/mariner Maggie of PIA©
helps us wrap it up with flowers.
Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show, Sept. 2018.
Wooden Boats Forever.
Thank you to these talented participants;
volunteers, woodworkers, sailors, photographers, florist.

❖ SIXTY-EIGHT MINERS AND A GOLDEN SCOOP ❖

S.S. PORTLAND (ex-HAYTIAN REPUBLIC)
with flags flying and gold aboard, 
steaming for Seattle, WA. 17 July 1897.
Litho card from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"As the steamer PORTLAND neared Cape Flattery on 17 July 1897, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporters had assembled at the offices of the Puget Sound Tug Boat Co in Port Townsend. Rumor had it that the steamship was carrying gold-laden miners from the Klondike region in the Canadian Yukon. The enterprising reporters wished to charter a tug to intercept the PORTLAND before it reached Seattle. Assigned the tug SEA LION, they headed out the strait to Cape Flattery, where they met the steamer and got their story, one of the major scoops of the century. On board the PORTLAND were 68 miners with $964,000 worth of gold dust and nuggets, estimated at one and a half tons of gold. 'A TON OF GOLD' the Seattle P-I bannered in understatement, but a nation and a world were nevertheless electrified by the news and the Klondike promise.
      The Port Townsend Leader chose, however, to ignore the event, noting only that 'the tug SEA LION went to the Cape yesterday;' they featured a story two days later, headlined 'MOUNTAIN OF GOLD,'  about the purported gold find of three Port Townsend men at the headwaters of the Big Quilcene River in the Olympics. 'We have a Klondyke (an early spelling) of our own right here at our door,' Dr. J.C. House proclaimed. Acknowledging the stampede that was gathering throughout Puget Sound for passage to the Yukon, House repeated, 'For mine, I will take my Klondyke in the Olympics and won't have to travel 2,500 miles to get there either.' As it turned out, chances were better in the Klondike. House estimated that his find was valued at 'thousands, if not millions,' but nothing came of it. But the economy of Puget Sound, moribund since the depression of 1893, surged into prosperity with the rush to gold.
      Pt. Townsend men were among the first to schedule trips north. Among them was William J. Jones, who founded the Leader but sold it to become a U.S. commissioner stationed at the Alaska-Yukon border. His concern for gold was secondary. Representing the US. government in the affairs of its citizens taking gold out of Canada, Jones also turned his newspaper background into a side enterprise  when he contracted as special correspondent with 21 newspapers, including Frank Leslie's Weekly, the New York World, and the New York Herald, but not the Leader. He received fifteen dollars from Frank Leslie for a one-thousand word article, and eight dollars to ten dollars per column from other periodicals. His early reports, reprinted by the Leader from other papers, told of the trials of the ill-prepared miners during that first year of scramble after gold.
      Port Townsend merchants did their best to make certain that no one was under supplied. 'Last on, first off' was the marketing slogan local outfitters used to attract the hordes of stampeders. Nearly all Klondikers en route to Skagway stopped in Port Townsend, their last U.S. stop before Alaska and the rugged Chilkoot Pass. Local merchants advertised in Klondike promotional publications, noting that the gold-seekers'  supplies would be stowed on top of those manifested in Seattle and would therefore be unloaded first, giving Pt. Townsend passengers an edge in the mad dash to Dawson before the snows closed access to the Yukon for the winter. The Pt. Townsend Board of Trade claimed that outfits could be bought in Pt. Townsend for 5 to 20 percent less than any other city on Puget Sound, and they even found miners to testify to that fact. Whatever the truth behind the hype, most gold seekers chose Seattle, and the booming business in the Queen City settled any lingering arguments about which town would be the primary metropolis of the Northwest. All Port Townsend got for its effort was an enduring though unsubstantiated legend concerning JACK LONDON.
Above words Simpson, Peter. City of Dreams. Bay Press, Pt. Townsend. 1986.

There is Seattle waiting to welcome the gold ship,
1897.
Photo caught O. by Frasch.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S. © 

"The PORTLAND came very near being two days late winning a place in history for herself. The EXCELSIOR had picked up the first of the Klondike miners at Nome and arrived at San Francisco on 15 July carrying almost as rich a treasure as the PORTLAND. It was a publicity man named Erastus Brainerrd who made the steamer PORTLAND famous, gave the great gold rush to Seattle and made Alaska a 'suburb' of that enterprising Pacific Northwest city." Newell & Williamson. Pacific Coastal Liners. Superior Publishing. 1959


      

❖ DORJUN to THE CAPE HORN ISLANDS ❖ 1933

WEST MAHWAH
ALL ABOARD FOR SOUTH AMERICA
21 September 1933.
Original photo from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

DORJUN, hopping on board the WEST MAHWAH 
with Amos Burg, dated Sept. 1933.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

In quest of photographs of disappearing Indian tribes of the Cape Horn Islands, Amos Burg (1889-1986), Portland, OR, explorer, author, lecturer, purchased this 1905 US Life Service boat and had it shipped to his home state of Oregon. Lashed to the deck of the WEST MAHWAH, they sailed from San Francisco, CA. in September 1933. Burg was keen to study the Cape Horn Islands for what became well known reports for the National Geographic Society. The assignment lasted almost four months. 
      DORJUN has her own website if you'd like to read about her later life owned by the Bruce Garman family in the San Juan Islands, as well as her restoration in Port Townsend, WA., click here.

26-ft DORJUN, 
Stormbound in Tierra del Fuego, with Amos Burg.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

L-R: Amos Burg
and seaman Fred "Spokane" Hill
1926.
 photo by Pacific-Atlantic Photos, Inc.
from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

Fred "Spokane" Hill, an experienced seaman, met the novice Amos Burg aboard the S.S. WAIKIKI in 1913. They became fast friends who voyaged the inside passage, working salmon canneries to pay expenses. Next, they became the first to paddle the Columbia River, from the head quarters in Columbia Lake, BC, to the Pacific, 20 Oct 1924 to 7 Jan 1925; this before the c.14 dams were constructed. 
      From this point Burg became a sought after speaker in Portland and soon after, on the national circuit, before he headed off to explore South America, from the port town of Magellanes, Chile (present day Punta Arenas.) Amos was solo until, through the aid of the captain of the southbound steamship, introduced to a young crew member, Roy Pepper (1914-2005.) Pepper described himself as "1st Mate, Steward, Chief Cook, Sailor, Bosun, 2nd Engineer, most everything else. Amos was impressed that Pepper could bake biscuits without an oven and cut his hair with a jack knife; the voyage on the WEST MAHWAH was  Pepper's first time at sea." 
      Please feel free to comment if you would like to add to the story of DORJUN in the San Juan Archipelago. National Geographic has South America covered.
      Read about the exploits and career of Amos Burg, see The Last Voyageur: Amos Burg and the Rivers of the West by Vince Welsh, Portland, OR. (2011)
      Book search here.

❖ POINT WILSON, The Greeter Light ❖

Point Wilson Lighthouse,
Port Townsend, Washington.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"There was much fanfare when Point Wilson Lighthouse was established at the west side entrance to Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound in 1879. Its strategic location was near the bustling seaport town of Port Townsend, which was in those years targeted for the major shipping center for that corner of the world. Sailing vessels and steamers ran in and out of the port with regularity, and next to San Francisco, no port had a more boisterous and sinful waterfront that did old Port Townsend. Houses of ill repute were numerous and the shanghaiing of sailors and drifters was a day to day occupation for both runners and grog shop owners.
      Every navigator entering or departing Puget Sound had to take Pt. Wilson into his reckoning if he didn't want to strike an obstruction lurking under the salty brine. When the weather was clear one could properly give the point a wide berth, but the culprit was fog, and when it settled over the local waters, sailor beware. Unfortunately, for three decades after settlement of the area, mariners rounded Pt. Wilson without the assistance of either a guiding light or fog signal, rather incredulous when one considers the importance of the major turning point from the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Admiralty Inlet.
      Pressure of the most determined variety finally got action from the Lighthouse Board to press Congress for funds, and on 15 December 1879, the beacon became a reality. It was a light of the fourth order, and to alert ships in foggy periods, a 12-inch steam whistle was installed.
      David M. Littlefield, a veteran of the Civil War and a highly respected citizen of the community was the unanimous choice of the lighthouse inspector to serve as the guardian of the light.

Point Wilson Lighthouse,
Port Townsend, Washington.
Photo by P.M. Richardson pre-1911.
Original from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

      Captain George Vancouver, the renowned British navigator probably rested easier in his grave knowing that the spike of land which he named Point Wilson [for his 'esteemed friend' Captain George Wilson, of the British Navy] was finally marked by a navigation aid. He rounded the tip of the sandy promontory in a heavy fog and was unable to judge the extent of the body of water into which he had entered. With some of his men charting the shore and others sounding in the boats, he continued sailing along the beach until another projection, now known as Point Hudson, was sighted. There as if by magic, the sun broke through revealing perhaps the most beautiful scenery ever seen by the eyes of the sea-weary Britishers. Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound were gazed upon in rapture. To the northeast, a mountain towered above the foothills, reflecting the glow of the noonday sun. The Utopian site was the same mountain sighted earlier from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to which Vancouver applied the name Baker. Against the western horizon were the snow-capped peaks of the Olympics with their dynamic, sawtooth character, and above the skyline to the south, the greatest surprise of all––king over all it surveyed, the lofty 14,000-ft majestic, snow-covered mountain to which the explorer bestowed the name Rainier, after Rear Admiral Rainier of the British Navy. Unfortunately, little regard was given to the ageless name applied by the native Indians––Tahoma. Beneath that marvelous ring of mountain ranges spread a series of deep, intricate waterways, the fabulous inland sea which was named for another British man of the sea––Peter Puget. Puget Sound was to become a place set apart. 

Point Wilson Lighthouse and Fort Worden,
Port Townsend, Washington.
Photo by P. M. Richardson from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

      Point Wilson, once the haunt of Indians who brought their canoes to rest on its shores, and fished its bountiful waters for centuries, was now the site of a lighthouse. It was a 46-ft frame tower rising from the keeper's dwelling, with a fog signal unit attached. To differentiate the sentinel from the one on Admiralty Head, the fixed white light in the lantern was varied by a red flash every 20 seconds.
      A share of vessels have met with mishap near Point Wilson, but the lighthouse has been a welcome sight to mariners ever since its inception. Though Port Townsend was destined to lose out to other Puget Sound ports as the hub of shipping, specifically after the rail links remained on the eastern shores of the Sound, it nevertheless played a key role in maritime history. The lighthouse became the greeter light for the entire Puget Sound area and continues that important role today." 
Text from: Lighthouses of the Pacific, Gibbs, Jim. 1986. Schiffer Publishing Co.

❖ Light of our Life ❖ ❖ POINT WILSON

Point Wilson Light Station, 1907
The top postcard is signed by author,
James G. McCurdy.
Postcards from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

"The Olympic Peninsula terminates upon the east in a long sickle-shaped promontory, which jutting far out from its base, holds back the turbulent waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with its outer, rugged shore line, while protecting the narrow expanse of Puget Sound to the southward, within it's sheltering arm. Every mariner entering or leaving Puget Sound has to take Point Wilson into his reckoning if he does not wish to leave his vessel stranded upon it's sandy shores. In clear weather it is an easy matter to give it a wide berth, but in a dense fog––that is another matter.

      For over thirty years seafarers had been navigating their vessels past this obstacle without a lighthouse or a fog signal to aid them. But in 1879 as a result of continued pressure, the lighthouse department erected a beacon at the tip of Point Wilson with a deep-toned whistle to assist in keeping vessels at a safe distance. The first keeper at Point Wilson station was David Littlefield, a Civil War veteran who had arrived at Pt. Townsend at an early date and married Maria, the oldest daughter of the pioneer L. B. Hastings. The couple raised a large family and were residents throughout their long lives. 

Marrowstone Light Station
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

      A lighthouse and fog-signal were established at Marrowstone Point in 1888 to help out the situation, and today if a vessel takes to the beach at the entrance to the Sound, it will not be the fault of the government, but rather that of the person in command of the ship."

Text from By Juan de Fuca's Strait by James G. McCurdy. Binford's and Mort, 1937.