Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 8 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 13 |
| 1886 | 7 |
| 1887 | 8 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 14 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 10 |
| 1892 | 14 |
| 1893 | 23 |
| 1894 | 12 |
| 1895 | 26 |
| 1899 | 4 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 9 |
| 1908 | 4 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
203 stories matching deck
- The Pacific’s Lesson: Floating Decks and Real Sailors
A correspondent proposes turning steamer decks into life-rafts—and blames the wreck of the Pacific on owners who replaced seamen with freight handlers.
- The Slave Ship That Vanished: An Old Man’s Confession in Seattle
A weathered sailor walks into a Seattle saloon and recounts the night his crew mutinied against a slaver, only to watch the ship sink with 200 souls aboard.
- 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.
- The Day the Sloop Fired on a Federal Cutter
In 1860, twenty-four Port Townsend citizens chartered a sloop to save $5 on fares to Olympia. When intercepted by a revenue cutter, their captain opened fire with a brass howitzer—only to discover he’d just threatened the U.S. government.
- The Trickle-Down Fury of the Waterfront
A brutal hierarchy on a Seattle steamboat illustrates the chaotic and abusive nature of labor relations in the 1889 maritime trade.
- The Adjustable Ferry That Never Needed a Dock
A bold new invention proposed for the Tacoma waterfront promised to eliminate expensive landings by using adjustable decks to handle any tide.
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.
- The Waterfront Showdown of 1877
A mob attempts to forcibly eject Chinese laborers from a coal ship, but is repelled by a quick-thinking mate and his revolver.
- The Tragedy of the North Star: A Lost Crew and a Community’s Grief
Fifty-two days after departing for San Diego with a heavy timber load, the brig North Star is officially presumed lost, leaving a community to reckon with the perils of the Pacific and the cost of the lumber boom.
- Ida May Love Went to Sea as 'Dan McArdle'
A Whatcom newlywed walked out on her husband, her skirts and her name to serve seven weeks aboard the warship Monterey — and the Post-Intelligencer tracked her to a Leavenworth dance hall, where she was still talking about 'us boys.'
- 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.
- The Hanging Party That Wasn't: Puget Sound's First Murder Arrest
A retired sailor recalls the day a ship's crew nearly lynched a stevedore at Port Blakely—and the strange reunion that followed years later.
- The Cry That Came Too Late on the Pend Oreille
A deck hand fell from the steamer Ione near Locke Landing while trying to catch a wind-blown parcel. His crew heard the cry but could not reach him in time.
- The Senator’s Homecoming: A City Roars for Watson Squire
Thousands line the Seattle waterfront as the Bailey Gatzert steamer arrives, carrying newly re-elected U.S. Senator Watson C. Squire home from Olympia in a spontaneous ovation of cheers, champagne christenings, and civic pride.
- The Wreck of the Lily Grace
After surviving a harrowing gale and the total loss of his ship near Cape Flattery, a sea captain washes up in Seattle to recount a battle against the elements.
- The Lumber Lobby Scores a Panama Canal Win
Pacific coast lumbermen outmaneuvered the Panama Canal Commission to exempt deck-loads from tonnage fees, signaling the power of regional industry over federal regulation.
- The Slave Smuggler's Lie: A Seattle Sailor’s Close Call on the Congo
In a gripping first-person account reprinted in local papers, a young American sailor recounts his terrifying encounter with a slave ship off the coast of Africa, where he nearly fell for a deceitful mate's story to avoid a deadly confrontation.
- 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 Marshal’s Club: A Vagrant’s Death on the Falmouth Harbor
When a Whatcom city marshal struck a drunk vagrant with his billy club, the man died. Now, a furious letter found under the body demands justice in Seattle.
- The Final Voyage of the Wildwood
A steamship captain recounts the harrowing night his vessel burned to the water’s edge while docked at Olympia.
- The Rogue of the Sound
A smuggler on the Puget Sound recounts a brutal night of human trafficking and violence, offering a chilling glimpse into the lawless reality of the 1880s maritime border.
- The Cold Transit of the Ching Wo
Elderly Chinese passengers endure miserable, freezing conditions on a freight steamer as they seek a final journey home.
- Two Steamers Saluted Off Cape Flattery—Then Vanished Into the Storm
A schooner captain’s account places the missing Keweenaw and Montserrat together off Washington’s coast on a night of monstrous seas, just before both were lost.
- The Captain, the Dark Dock, and the Cry 'Man Overboard'
A Seattle jury weighs damages in the drowning of Capt. George Hill at Anacortes, where lanterns, liquor and a first officer's memory shape the case.
- The Buckeye Went Down in a Gale—and One Passenger Almost Made It
The steamer Buckeye broke up in the Salish Sea; a rescued stockman described how shifting cattle, a swamped lifeboat, and freezing water killed H. Kautzman within sight of help.
Also about this, in other words
- The Human Deck of Cards
A society spectacle at the Armory features 52 people dressed as playing cards in a meticulously choreographed dance that ended in a 'living' game of whist.
- The Marked Cards of Walla Walla
A pinochle game and a swindle lead to a high-stakes legal battle over the finer points of gambling law.
- Industrial Accident at the Everett Waterfront
A deck hand is critically injured after a barrel of acid falls, highlighting the daily dangers faced by laborers on the docks.
- A Stampede and a Sinking Ferry
When a boiler let off steam while crossing a band of horses, the resulting panic nearly cost a ferry crew their vessel.