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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 5 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 8 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 7 |
| 1895 | 3 |
46 stories
- The Night They Walked to an Indian Village: A Shipwreck Survivor’s Tale
After the steamer *Port Gordon* smashed against rocks near Destruction Island, four men survived a nightmare of broken lines and drowning comrades by building a raft from hatches—and then walking ten miles through the brush.
- The Neah Bay Sealing Conflict
A local captain alleges a corrupt scheme involving a government agent and a private trader to monopolize the sealing industry at the expense of Indigenous laborers.
- The Ghostly Harvest of the North Pacific
A brutal accounting of how 19th-century pelagic sealers, operating out of Washington ports, pushed a species to the brink of extinction through industrial-scale slaughter.
- A War Party Among the Makah
James G. Swan recounts the violent return of a Makah war party to Neah Bay after a retaliatory expedition against the Elwha people near Dungeness.
- The Broken Promises of Washington Territory
James G. Swan argues that federal mismanagement and bureaucratic neglect are the true causes of unrest, urging the government to honor its treaty obligations to Indigenous nations.
- The Makah Nation’s Fleet Challenges the Seal Hunters
With firearms banned, the Makah sealers of Neah Bay turn to traditional hunting methods, outmaneuvering white commercial competitors.
- The Neah Bay Land Grab
A historic Seattle-area editorial exposes how federal officials and a powerful monopoly manipulated reservation boundaries to seize a lucrative trading post from a local merchant.
- Makah Sealers Face Forfeiture
Federal authorities move to seize two schooners owned by Makah sealers for violating international sealing regulations off Cape Flattery.
- 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 Last Hours of the Bark El Dorado
A harrowing account of a merchant ship's destruction in a fierce gale off the Washington coast, as told by one of the few men to survive the wreckage.
- Death at the Neah Bay Cable Crossing
A cable car over the Neah Bay river snapped mid-crossing, killing a prominent attorney as horrified passengers looked on.
- The Wreck of the Bark Archer
After a violent storm capsized their ship off the coast of Cape Flattery, the crew faced fire and rising seas in a desperate struggle for survival.
- The Man Who Returned from the Grave
A shipwrecked man’s family burned his belongings and went into mourning, only to be shocked by his miraculous return.
- 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 Makah Mariners Who Returned from the Spirit Land
Two sailors picked up 600 miles out at sea by the bark Buena Vista were thought dead, only to reappear at Neah Bay to a hero's welcome.
- The Ship That Tore Its Own Bow Off: A Seattle Coal Vessel Lost to the Gale
In January 1877, the 1,200-ton ship *Commodore* was driven ashore at Cape Flattery in a ferocious storm. The crew survived, but the vessel—owned by local Port Ludlow resident Arthur Phinney and valued at $20,000—was destroyed.
- The Great Seal Controversy: Do Pups Swim or Sink?
Local mariners and traders challenge the prevailing scientific 'fables' about seal pup habits to protest federal regulation of North Pacific sealing.
- The Sealers’ Rebellion at Neah Bay
A rebellious maritime labor dispute unfolds at the edge of the Washington Territory, where independent seal hunters stand their ground against a heavy-handed federal agent.
- The Neah Bay Standoff: A Clash of Court and Cabinet
A territorial judge, a stubborn Indian Agent, and an injunction gone wrong sparked a tense, potentially violent jurisdictional battle at Neah Bay.
- The Neah Bay Standoff: A Battle over Tribal Land Sovereignty
When the government sent an Indian agent to clear traders off the Makah Reservation, a local legal battle exposed the deep friction between federal authority and corporate interests.
- The Ill-Fated Voyage of the Duchess of Argyle
A majestic ship meets a violent end against the rocky cliffs of the Washington coast, leaving a crew stranded and a vessel shattered.
- The Makah Sealers’ Schooner Controversy
A bureaucratic fight over whether tribal sealers can legally use schooners as refuge during dangerous Bering Sea storms.
- Life on the Edge of the World: A Dispatch from Tatoosh Island
A rare 1861 account of the desolate, storm-battered lives of lighthouse keepers and their interactions with the Makah people at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- A Whale Hunt off Cape Flattery
Captain Gavin of the steamer Thornton reports a vivid, bloody encounter between Indigenous hunters and a whale.
- Nineteen Sailors Survive a Wreck Off Cape Flattery
The ship Commodore struck near Neah Bay in 1877, but its entire crew made it ashore, found shelter with a local family, and was ferried back to Port Townsend.
Download all 46 as a spreadsheet (CSV) · Show them on the map