❖ BELLINGHAM SHELLBACKS ❖ 1932

Schooner VIGILANT headed out.
She carried millions of feet of lumber from 
Bellingham, WA to Hawaii.
Click to enlarge.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Alace A. Clift (L) and Ferle M. Rogers,
of Bellingham, WA. Date of photo 23 June 1932.
Taken at the west coast port of San Francisco, CA.
Photo by Acme Newspictures, Inc. 
 from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Alace A. Clift (L) and Ferle M. Rogers, Bellingham, WA., decided their most exciting vacation would be to journey to Honolulu on the lumber laden, five-masted schooner VIGILANT. She was one of the few sailing vessels still in active service. The gals were refused bookings as passengers––but before the vessel cleared, the two signed on as stewardess and supercargo before sailing down the coast and across the broad Pacific.
      Capt. Ralph Peasley and Capt. Charles A. Mellberg were two of the most famous in 
command of the VIGILANT. 

❖ SHELLBACK ❖

Shellback papers for "Pappy" Beachum
(1906-1980)
Captain Walter Clarence Beachum
grew up on Whidbey Is. where he learned
his trade from Captain Bartlett Lovejoy,
of the Black Ball LIne.
Pappy was master of ferry IROQUOIS on the
Seattle-Victoria route before becoming
 Chief Pilot for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
 for 23 years––retiring 1968.
From the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

"The sailor's commendatory term for the landsman's old salt. Some authorities say that it comes from his back being bent like a shell; but it seems more probable that the implication is that the shellback is growing barnacles from having been at sea so long.

      The term is fairly well known to landspeople. The degree of "able shellback," signed by Rex Neptune, is currently [1945] being conferred upon men crossing the Line for the first time aboard troopships."
Sea Language Comes Ashore, Joanna Carver Colcord. Cornell Maritime Press, N.Y. 1945.