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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1908 | 2 |
35 stories matching keel
- 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.
- Two Hours Adrift on a Capsized Skiff
After a sudden squall capsized their small boat on the way to Seattle, two young sailors survived hours clinging to the keel in the frigid waters of Puget Sound.
- The 75-Year-Old Whistling-Buoy Inventor Comes to Fit the Navy's 600-Ton Gate
James Bigler, who has built the giant steel caissons in every government dry dock in the country, arrives on Puget Sound to assemble the mammoth gate for the Port Orchard dock — a 600-ton steel vessel shipped in pieces around Cape Horn.
- The Nancy Came to Town on a Sled—and Ended Up Keel-Up in the Riverbank
Newport's finest new motor launch was meant to link the town with Metaline. Then the unloading crew lost control on an icy grade and sent $300 worth of brass, oak, and electric lights over the bank.
- The Price of a Steamboat Collision
Federal Judge Hanford orders the steam collier Willamette to pay $30,000 for a fatal 1892 collision with the steamer Premier.
- The Navy Secretary Goes Down Into the Big Hole
Secretary of the Navy Herbert rides the lighthouse tender Manzanita across the Sound to inspect the giant new dry dock at Port Orchard, settles a bitter dispute over how deep to drive the pilings, and dances the night away at the Rainier.
- Seattle's Bid to Be the Liverpool of America
In 1895, boosters imagined a Lake Washington ship canal turning Puget Sound into a freshwater harbor for world commerce, coal trade, and naval power.
- The Ill-Fated Final Voyage of the J.C. Ford
After battling leaks and heavy seas for days, a lumber schooner goes down at the mouth of Grays Harbor as a passing collier ignores its distress signals.
- Five Hours Adrift Near Marrowstone Point
A sudden shift in the wind leaves three sailors clinging to their swamped sloop for five hours in the cold waters off the Olympic Peninsula before rescue arrives.
- 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.
- The Tragedy on the Columbia River
Two men and a ferry boat are lost to the raging rapids and white mist of the Columbia River after an oar breaks in the current.
- The Unbelievable Survival of a Castaway
A mariner survives eight days adrift in a small, waterlogged boat after his ship collided with a mystery vessel in the Pacific.
- Tragedy at McNeil Island: Guard and Prisoners Lost in Sound
A routine transport between the island and Steilacoom turns fatal after a sudden squall capsizes the boat.
- The Ghost Ship of Seattle’s Waterfront
A derelict bark ship, once a billboard for local businesses, is buried in sawdust and slabs to become the foundation of a new shoreline.
- 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 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.
- The Whaler That Never Was: A Yankee Betrayal of Puget Sound
In 1877, a local newspaper exposed how Boston shipbuilders stole a lucrative contract from Seattle’s own yards, ignoring the region's superior timber and strategic advantage for whaling.
- The Race That Beat the Sea: How a Local Yacht Outpaced the Coast
Captain Burns’ Pacific coaster claims victory in a thrilling seven-round duel against the Dashing Wave, proving that beating to windward is what truly tells.
- The Legislature Tours Everett’s Industrial Dream
Lawmakers arrive in force to inspect the smelters, mills, and barge works of a city banking on being the 'New York of the Sound.'
- Mystery Schooner Washes Ashore at Peterson's Point
A 106-foot wreck appears on the beach with no identification, leaving locals to speculate on its long, lonely voyage.
- The Perilous Journey of the Steamer Mikado
Crews spent five weeks dragging the steamer Mikado toward Snohomish, then left it at Squire's ranch until winter rains.
- The Pride of Belltown: Seattle's Shipbuilding Milestone
Launched in 1876, the barkentine Kate Flickinger marked a new era for local industry, built entirely from Washington timber by Seattle craftsmen.
- The Tragedy at the Falls
A fatal explosion at Snoqualmie Falls claims the lives of three laborers as the community grapples with the aftermath.
- A Maritime Giant Hits the Water
The largest vessel ever constructed on Puget Sound, designed to carry 1.3 million feet of lumber, successfully launches in Seabeck.
- Newport Was Building a Fleet on the Pend d'Oreille
Twenty men rushed the steamer Ione while Captain Lanneau's Ruth took shape and ship carpenters arrived from Portland. Newport, the paper boasted, had more shipbuilding underway than any other town in eastern Washington.
Also about this, in other words
- Aberdeen’s Shipbuilding Ambitions
The steam barge Clan McDonald slides into the harbor, signaling the town’s growing industrial influence.
- A Newspaper Opens a Fund So Poor Men Can Afford the Keeley Cure
The Tribune sets a contribution box at Main and Fourth for Olympia residents too poor to pay for the Keeley Institute's addiction treatment, seeding the fund with $5 and naming a committee to vet applicants.
- Hewing the Great Fir: A Seattle Ship's New Mast
A local carpenter is hand-crafting a massive 84-foot fir mast for a visiting ship, showcasing the immense timber resources of early Seattle.
- The Growing Ambition of the Aberdeen Shipyards
With some of the longest ship timbers in the world, the local yards aim to become a premier shipbuilding hub.
- The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia
Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.
- Maritime Labor Violence at the Slip
A Chinese cook is brutally assaulted on a schooner at the Spring Street slip after complaining about unsafe working conditions.
- Prospecting the San Juans by Sloop
Two local men set out on their annual voyage to find coal and adventure among the islands.
- The Seattle Invention That Promised to Banish the 'Tremor' of Steamboats
A local citizen trials a double-inclined plane water wheel on Lake Union, aiming to solve the vibration and loss of power plaguing the steam-powered era.