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663 stories matching crew
- Seattle Loses by Half a Length—and Wins the Lake
In August 1894, Seattle's first amateur regatta drew crowds to the Madison Street shore of Lake Washington for a four-oared thriller against Portland and Burrard Inlet. The home crew lost by less than half a length, but set a course record and gave the young city a new civic stage.
- The Whole Lake Turns Out: Seattle's 1894 Rowing Championship
Crews from Portland, Vancouver and the Burrard Inlet club row for the senior cup off Madrona Park, with the finish line at the foot of Madison Street and every boat on Lake Washington pressed into spectator service.
- The Day Burrard Inlet Rowed Away With Lake Washington
At the first amateur regatta ever held on Lake Washington, British Columbia crews dominated the junior fours and senior singles while Seattle prepared for its turn on the water.
- Rivals Take the Water: Coast Oarsmen Gather on Lake Washington
Portland, Vancouver and Willamette crews descend on Seattle for a two-day championship — with a champion single-sculler and a grudge match on the line.
- The Ghost of the Gatherer: A Captain’s Suicide Haunted by His Own Cruelty
Decades after a horrific voyage where officers maimed and murdered sailors to escape their 'demoniac' captain, the master of the ship dies by suicide in Puget Sound, fulfilling a prophecy of vengeance.
- The Sound Goes Silent: Steamboat Crews Strike Over Wage Cuts
A coordinated walkout by skilled engineers and captains across Puget Sound brings mail service to a halt as operators face the reality of losing their irreplaceable workforce.
- The Eastern Oregon Burned at Percival’s Wharf
A repair crew’s paint store caught fire aboard the steamship Eastern Oregon, forcing men to jump forty feet to the mudflats and killing one cook; the blaze threatened Percival’s Wharf before rain helped firefighters.
- The General, the Strikers, and the Company That Wouldn't Ride With a Scab Crew
Brig. Gen. A. V. Curry explains why he handed the rifles back to Spokane's Company G after its men refused to travel with a substitute crew — and why he thought the colonel who disarmed them had acted too hastily.
- Seven Months at Sea: The State of Maine’s Ordeal
The State of Maine left New York in July 1892 and reached Seattle 201 days later, her crew disabled by saltwater boils, her water spoiled, and her captain forced to beat men to the pumps.
- Ten Gales, Three Lost Schooners, and a Widow Who Wasn't
A Seattle seal hunter back from eight months in the North Pacific describes a season that swallowed whole crews — and explains why he'd rather kill seals with a spear than a gun.
- The Waterfront War of 1893
Sailors and vessel owners clash as labor unrest cripples Grays Harbor shipping.
- The Umatilla Disaster: A Harrowing Sea Rescue
After striking rocks off Cape Flattery in a blinding snowstorm, the crew of the steamship Umatilla survived a perilous escape, aided by local Indigenous people.
- The Fiery End of the Steamer E. W. Purdy
A freight steamer loading hay near La Conner is reduced to a smoldering wreck by a midnight blaze, leaving its crew destitute and stranded.
- A Landslide Tipped a Locomotive Into Lake Washington and the Water Boiled
A freight train running the Lake Shore road hit a slide in the dark, the crew jumped for their lives, and the engine rolled over on its side in the lake, its wheels still churning as the steam died.
- When the Great Railroad Strike Reached Seattle
In July 1894 the Pullman boycott finally tied up the Lake Shore road in Seattle — local switchmen walked out in sympathy, and the company answered with firings, Winchester-armed deputies and a federal judge.
- Union Sailors Clash With Non-Union Crew at Port Gamble
A violent confrontation breaks out as union men attempt to remove a non-union crew from a barkentine, leading to seven arrests by a federal marshal.
- Harvest Hand Brutally Whipped by Crew Near Hadley
A threshing crew allegedly used a fabricated charge of sexual assault to justify the violent beating of a fellow laborer.
- The Hoodooed Ship That Left Three Dead
At Port Townsend, sailors call the Linlithgowshire cursed after a third officer is killed—and the ship’s recent history makes the word stick.
- Two Coal Colliers Vanished With Seattle Men Aboard
The Keweenaw and the Matanzas, both familiar in Seattle harbor, were given up for lost between British Columbia and San Francisco—taking a crew that included the Keweenaw's captain, his son, and a Seattle engineer.
- Who Left Four Men Clinging to the Buckeye?
When the steamer Buckeye swamped in Rosario Strait, survivors say Captain Hahn rowed ashore with the crew and never sent help back for the men freezing on the wreck.
- Shanghaied Aboard the Babcock: A Captain's Escape and a Crew Taken at Gunpoint
Capt. Graham slipped his guards at Port Townsend while his wheat ship waited—after a Tacoma crew of 23 was rounded up with beatings, revolvers, and two bewildered Japanese men.
- Sailors' Union Wins a Crew—and the Shipowners Promise a Fight
A schooner captain signed a union crew at $35 a month, infuriating owners who say they'll tie up their ships before paying more.
- Thirty-Six Hours Rudderless: The J.C. Ford's Last Voyage
A lime cargo catches fire, a rudder snaps, and eight sailors are rescued off Grays Harbor moments before their ship goes down.
- The Waterfront Standoff
Striking union sailors are outmaneuvered when non-union crews are covertly transported to a ship at Port Blakeley.
- Nineteen Men and a Copper Keel: The Bering Sea Vanishes Off Cape Flattery
A newly built Tacoma sealing schooner is found bottom-up off the Washington coast, with five white and fourteen Native crew aboard. The owners still hope the report is wrong.
Also about this, in other words
- The Great Crew Shortage of 1887
Facing a labor scarcity and rising costs, Seattle ship owners considered an radical, cost-cutting plan to import crews from the East Coast.
- Labor Clash at Schwabacher’s Wharf
A schooner captain's attempt to use non-union crew to unload freight leads to police intervention and a tense standoff.
- Labor Unrest on the Waterfront
The collier Wellington faces delays after the crew abandons ship over wage disputes.
- The Mutinous Voyage of the Bark McNear
A crew alleges their captain was perpetually intoxicated, abusive, and endangered the ship while failing to provide decent food.
- The Starving Crew of the Iroquois
A US Navy vessel arrives in Port Townsend after a harrowing, months-long drift across the Pacific, leaving its crew near starvation.
- A Wet Rope, a Live Wire, and a Boy on a Bricklaying Crew
Reed Crews was coming down from a tin roof when a wet rope touched a power line. The accident left him dying and exposed the everyday lethality of 1909 work.
- The Crew That Wouldn't Sail: A Mutiny on the War Hawk
Seattle's shipyard workers and legal system clash as the crew of the brig War Hawk refuses to depart, citing safety concerns, while the city watches a habeas corpus battle unfold.
- Labor Clash on the Waterfront
A standoff between a non-union crew and labor organizers ends in a swift legal dismissal.