❖ SUCIA ISLAND ❖ San Juan County

Sucia Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Vintage photographs from the collection of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Thanks to the members of the various yacht clubs making up the Interclub Boating Association of WA., Sucia Island is preserved as a marine park.
      Sucia, the island paradise that Puget Sound boating people bought without the aid of governmental funds, was publicly turned over to the WA., State Department of Parks on Sunday, 29 May 1960, in ceremonies at one of this island's major harbors –– Fossil Bay.
      The donor of Sucia Island is the Puget Sound Interclub Assoc, a service group of 42 WA., State boating organizations.
      It has been a refreshing acquisition of a recreational playground. In an age when public bodies at all levels are besieged with requests for funds to buy lands, build roads, improve parks, and other worthy-enough projects, this group of NW boating people is probably the only group in the country today [1960] that decisively walked out, signed sizable notes to insure a major purchase, raised the funds from its own, then turned the island over to the state to maintain as a boating playground forever. It has been a monumental five-year effort.
      

A Clyde Banks view
from the early 1940s.
From the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

Sucia Island is one of the most beautiful of the 174 islands in the San Juan Archipelago. Comprising 362 acres of land, it is directly north of Orcas Island. It is not as large in land-area as the other major islands, but is an ideal marine park with extensive water boundaries, four harbors, many beaches and other tiny islands and indentations."
Written for the SYC Binnacle, June 1960

❖ History and Romance of the San Juan Islands ❖ 1930

Shaw Island Ferry Landing, 1936.
  Photo courtesy of "Bert" Birtwistle, Victoria, BC.
Bottom photo, Shaw Islanders c. 1920.
On the opposite side of the island, the Fowler, Crawford,  
 Bruns, Lee, Mathisen, Shaw, Start, Stitt, families,
enjoying a Point Pleasant picnic before they helped
establish the Shaw Island Park in 1927, 
located not far west, along the beach.

"Come, let us make a visit to Shaw Island, the fourth in size of the San Juan group. It is easy to do, since they built the new ferry slip and the ferries are making regular calls every day.
      One of the interesting things about these islands is their individuality. Getting acquainted with another one is like making a voyage of discovery into a new country. You never have any idea what you are going to find; or if you do have an idea, it is sure to be rearranged.
      However, the neighboring islands know considerable about each other. Perhaps I should say, the people on the neighboring islands know. Invariably, when I have said that I am going to some other place, the hearers will say, "Well, you'll find it thus and so." And I have learned by this, that lands, as well as people, have personality.
      Occasionally we find that there is a difference of opinion, too, which proves that lands have a dual personality. 
      For instance, when I decided to make the acquaintance of Lopez Island, friends said: "Lopez Island people are like one big family. They call each other by their first names, or nicknames, and they are very good to each other." This was the consensus of opinion. Dissentlng vote was like it, only different. It said, "Lopez people are clannish, you will find it hard to get in with them. They are too religious, too."
      Now it can be seen that both sayings amount to the same thing, but one was the opinion of a grouch, so Lopez has a clear cut personality.
      Orcas has variations as can be expected in one so rugged and rambling.
      But we are talking about Shaw now. People said; "you will find that Shaw Island people always pull together, and what they pull for, they get."
      I proceeded to find out what they were pulling for. One of these things is a brand new ferry slip, that, of course, is the first thing to be seen as we leave the ferry. There was some surprise when we learned that Shaw was getting a ferry. From outside the island looks almost uninhabited. Who travels and what can they have for shipping? Well, during the past year and without ferry service, they have shipped hundreds of cases of eggs. They ship cream and apples, as well as logs and piling. Besides, their people import a lot of things.
      I want to tell about some more of the things the people "pulled" for. Probably the most important in years past was their telephone. No telephone company could afford to build a line for the business they would get, so the residents went into their own pockets, as always. They also found the poles and put them up, and for ten years one of their neighbors has kept the central office in her dining room without charge. She jumps up from her meals and out of her bed to make the connections. This is really community spirit, and her neighbors show their appreciation by not disturbing her late at night except for emergency calls. This is one of the things they do to help each other.
      

San Juan County Pioneer Picnic, June 1929.
At the Shaw Island County Park, Indian Cove, WA.
Courtesy of Ellen Bruns Madan.

      But here is one they have done for others. Ever since the military reserves of the state were created, several hundred acres of Shaw Island belonged to the government. Forty years ago [1890], the residents began agitating for a park. In 1925, when the federal government had the land on the auction block, they went into their pockets again, this time to buy land for the county. Sixty acres of ideal park site on Indian Cove were purchased and deeded to the county. Their hands went into their pockets twice before the required amount was forthcoming, and, not satisfied with this, the residents went together several times and cleared a picnic ground; they put up tables, benches, a rustic grandstand, and a kitchen with a stove. The men got out their trusty saws and axes, and the women followed later with a big feed––thereby making a holiday out of it.
      This is the spirit that permeates all these islands and makes them so ideal for visits and vacations."
Above words by Sophie Walsh
History and Romance of the San Juan Islands, 1930.
Publisher unknown.

❖ NET WORK ❖

First, we carve wooden needles.
These finely crafted ones were used in San Juan County, WA.

Winter Work, November 1953.
The Seattle Times.

Poulsbo fishermen wearing rain gear, repaired salmon nets, a typical winter job. From left, Mike Paulsen, who went to Poulsbo from Norway in 1909, Clarence Rasmussen, and Norman Rustad. Poulsbo was increasing its moorage space at this time to boost its fishing business––the town's biggest industry. Forty boats called Poulsbo home port in 1953 and more were seeking moorage space.

Fishermen at Salmon Bay, March 1963
The Seattle Times

A sharp knife and a fishing net had a familiar feel to Louis Zuvich, as he repaired a net at the Fishermen's Terminal at Salmon Bay.
      In the 40 years during which he fished commercially, Zuvich had an uncounted number of nets to repair.
      Such work is only one of many skills the Puget Sound-based commercial fisherman must develop.
      In his trade, he must be a skilled seaman, an expert navigator, an able businessman. He must know the currents, tides, and depths, where and when to find the fish.
      He must be a mechanic, engineer, and carpenter, and must have a feeling for treating the sick and injured. In breakdowns of men and equipment at sea, only a narrow gap keeps an inconvenience from becoming an emergency.
      Zuvich, who learned his fishing from his father at Gig Harbor, and his 60-ft CONFIDENCE, long have been part of the commercial fishing scene at Salmon Bay.
      With a three-man crew, the CONFIDENCE engaged in bottom fishing during the winter––"just making wages," in Zuvich's words.
      The profitable season came during the summer when Zuvich and a crew of seven or eight purse seined for salmon in Alaskan waters, operating out of Ketchikan.

Rehanging Net, June 1993
The Seattle Times.

Gary Sparrow, Fishermen's Terminal, Seattle, WA.
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S©

Onshoree, the patterns made by hanging fishing nets is not lost on fishermen such as Gary Sparrow, for whom the design is reminiscent of the peaking ocean waves that accompany fishermen during their work at sea. Sparrow and fellow crew of the purse seiner, the VERMONT, are spending four to five weeks at Fishermen's Terminal rehanging their nets, a chore more time consuming than the regular task of mending. "Some guys do it every year," says skipper Bill Blanchard, "but those same guys tinker with their boats all winter. I'm the kind who believes you can do this about once every ten years." The crew is hoping to complete this job, which involves disassembling and reassembling all the net pieces, in time to enjoy a few weeks off before the season begins.

SUMMER BEGINS

Keep the water close and have a great summer.

❖ ANTIQUE ANCHOR LOST AND FOUND ❖

These three great photos of the anchor during a spell
without her blanket of water in the new crate.
 Port Townsend, WA.
Photographs shared by Captain Flanagan©.

The maritime history talk in the Pacific Northwest newspapers and society newsletters has revealed  what has been "underground" for several years and underwater for many decades. 

      The artifact found by Doug Monk off Whidbey Island in 2008 has now been brought to the surface and made known to the public––it will be an interesting study to follow. There are fascinating comments submitted to the published newspaper columns, some from learned historians; those publishers and dates sited in the image below.

      Historian Steve Grimm of Seattle is giving a presentation on the research data that convinces the team they have found Captain George Vancouver's anchor, written up in the expedition log books as lost at Strawberry Bay, near Cypress Island, Skagit County, WA  in 1792. 

      Grimm's talk is scheduled for this coming Friday 20 June 2014 at the Northwest Maritime Center, Port Townsend.  Below is a clip from the site of the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, WA. 

Aside from the possibility of the anchor being left behind from Capt. Vancouver's 1792 exploration there are no other known artifacts in Washington State surviving from that visit.  
     

From the archives of the Saltwater People we can share this 1952 b/w  photo of a very colorful mural depicting Capt. George Vancouver's visit to Kealakeakua Bay off the island of Hawaii in 1792. The English explorer is being welcomed by King Kamehameha I; this artwork hung in the transport THOMAS JEFFERSON, a former commercial passenger liner, occasionally visiting Seattle.

See a 2007 article from The Vancouver Sun newspaper found on the Bellingham Maritime Museum site here.

St. Peter's Churchyard, Petersham, Surrey, Eng.

Original, undated photo from the 

archives of the S. P. H. S.

Click to enlarge.

     A quote from a book in the Saltwater People collection, Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound, Professor Edmond Meany; Binford's and Mort, 1957:

      "Professor George Davidson, now of the Univ of CA, was for more than forty years engaged with the US Coast and Geodetic Survey on the Pacific Coast. A few years ago, in a letter to the present writer, he said, 'I have gone over every foot of the work done by Vancouver on this coast and I wish to say that he was a great big man.'
      This is a monument greater than the naming of an island, more enduring than an engraved slab of marble. The whole world will always honor Vancouver for his brilliant achievements in the science of geography."