Maritime Heritage

The trip to Portland proved to be fruitful and with another appointment or two, we can make some serious progress northward.  In the meantime we will enjoy cruising the San Juan Islands until my next scheduled trip back to Portland. 

We spent a few days in Anacortes and enjoyed visiting the Maritime Heritage Center which includes the historic 1929/39 Snagboat, Preston.  The rivers of Puget Sound were served by hundreds of steam paddle-wheelers in the late 1800’s.  Because the hulls were easily punctured by submerged stumps and logs, Snag boats were needed to keep the tributaries cleared. 

Three steam powered sternwheelers served as Snag boats for the area, they were the Skagit (1885), the Swinomish (1914), and then the W.T. Preston (1929 and 1939).  The Preston used a 70-foot boom and a 1 ¼-cubic yard clamshell dredging bucket.  Steel “spuds”, fore and aft, were lowered through the hull to anchor her to the bottom.  

Helm Station W. T. Preston 

The crew would locate submerged hazards by sweeping the riverbed with a cable suspended between two skiffs. 

The Preston served the Puget Sound from Olympia to Blaine for more than forty years before she was retired in 1981 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. 

She had used the main reciprocating steam engines, as well as many pumps and other hardware from her 1914 predecessor; and then in 1939, the Army Corps of Engineers made some additions or modifications.  Her replacement, Puget, operates today out of W.T. Preston’s previous dock at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. 


Engine Room - W.T. Preston

We found the Preston Snagboat in Anacortes a worthwhile tour not to be missed.  We also discovered some interesting history, past and present, in the adjacent museum building which houses photos and artifacts. 

Auxiliary Donkey Boiler  - the Preston

We learned that the USA 17 BMW Oracle racing trimaran was built and launched in Anacortes.  Constructed of light durable carbon fiber composite, it reached up to three times that of the wind which powered it. 

Builders and Planners of USA 17

Builders of the craft chose Anacortes as a construction site because of its proximity to the small town of Sedro-Woolley where the firm Janicki Industries provided high-tech tooling or molds needed to create carbon fiber hulls with extremely precise specifications.  She was the fastest and most revolutionary craft for racing at that time.  After attracting worldwide attention for several days while conducting sea trials in Rosario Strait, USA 17 was shipped to San Diego and went on to win the 2010 America’s Cup at Valencia, Spain.