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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
70 stories matching sunk
- Harbor Collision Sinks Tugboat Mystic
A dense fog in Elliott Bay leads to a dramatic maritime accident, though all hands are rescued safely.
- The Struggle for Water in the High Desert
While Washington’s coastal regions flourished, homesteaders in the arid eastern interior were driven to desperation by the failure of deep-well drilling in Douglas County.
- The Dead Horses That Taught Tacoma How to Raise Sunken Ships
A Tacoma patent company says its collapsible air bags can lift wrecks from the sea floor—a trick supposedly inspired by a bloated boatload of horses in the Ohio River. Investors are already fighting over the fortune.
- Steamer Minnie M. Lost in Bellingham Gale
A stern-wheeler carrying local supplies to Lummi Island is claimed by the rough waters of Bellingham Bay.
- The Seidlitz-Powder Scheme to Raise a Sunken Ship
Confident investors bought a wreck off Grays Harbor and promised to lift it with secret chemicals, carbonic gas, and a patent they had not quite finished.
- The Peril of the Deep
Divers and engineers battle immense pressure to raise a sunken tugboat from the depths of the bay.
- 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 Pirate of Salmon Bay
A local captain confesses to scuttling his own schooner to collect insurance money, narrowly avoiding a death sentence due to a legal technicality.
- The Divine Healer Who Buried Himself Alive: A Seattle Cult Leader’s Resurrection Claim
Rev. O. M. Schlatte, known as 'Schlatte the Divine Healer,' claims to have risen from a 40-day burial in the desert after fasting and praying for God's guidance. Now back in town, he asserts his authority over the famous 'Healer' of Kansas and prepares to resume his ministry.
- 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.
- The Tragedy of the Lottie
Seattle's Chinese community demands justice after a human-smuggling operation ends in mass drowning.
- The Water Under Walla Walla
As the city weighs Mill Creek against artesian wells, old-timers warn that riparian lawsuits could drown the project.
- Grays Harbor Boom Town Stalls as Newspaper Folds
A speculative boom town faces extinction as rail lines bypass its empty streets.
- The Mud-Sunk Streets of Pioneer Square
A local editor slams city officials for leaving commercial thoroughfares in such disrepair that industrial wagons are being swallowed whole by the earth.
- The Mud-Trap at the Old Seattle Gas Works
A young delivery driver narrowly escapes a watery grave after his team sinks into the treacherous quicksand of the tide flats.
- A Sudden Squall Rocks the Seattle Waterfront
A fierce windstorm capsizes a sailboat, sinks a boathouse, and tests the nerves of local sailors.
- The $2 Fee That Sunk a Warehouse: Railroads Tighten Grip on Seattle's Waterfront
A group of local businessmen planned a major grain warehouse at the foot of Battery Street, but Northern Pacific's refusal to budge on switching fees scuttled the deal—and highlighted the railroads' stranglehold on Seattle's shipping future.
- A Sick Child, an Empty Cupboard, and $22 in the Collection Plate
A Unitarian minister in Tacoma argues that charity is only a bandage, and that a man who works hard and still cannot feed his family is the church's real problem to solve.
- Two Frozen Men Drowned Within Twenty Feet of a Rescue Line
The new Ballard schooner Lily and Maud broke up off Deception Island, and the crews of the Utopia and Justine could only watch.
- Spokane Newspaper Monopoly Consolidates
A brutal newspaper war ends as the Morning Spokesman is absorbed by the Morning Review, leaving 50 people out of work.
- The City's Private Water Pioneer
Before the city operated its own utility, one visionary resident sank a deep well on Ninth Street, betting his own fortune that he could out-pump the ground itself to supply a growing Seattle.
- The Unlikely Tale of the 'Pull-Back' Train Stopper
A small-town mechanic's wild invention—a massive rubber cable designed to hook trains that left without their passengers—actually worked.
- Broken Bones at the Capstan
A dangerous industrial accident aboard the steamer Chehalis nearly claims a life in Lake Washington.
- The Unsafe City: A Local Builder Battles Seattle’s Negligence
After the city left a decaying, debris-filled bulkhead to collapse onto his building site, one developer takes his grievance to the public—and hits a wall of municipal bureaucracy.
- Tragedy at Gilman Mine
A miner is killed by a runaway pipe, just days before he was to retire to his ranch.