The Steamer Evangel’s Labor Dispute
Marine engineers in Port Townsend demand the steamer Evangel adhere to the eight-hour labor law, sparking a local controversy over safety and staffing.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A petition is being circulated among the marine engineers at Port Townsend asking that the steamer Evangel, running between there and Whatcom, be compelled to carry two engineers. The engineers allege that the boat is violating the law, which requires vessels of her class running more than twelve hours per day to carry two engineers. They say that one of her owners claims she makes 10 miles per day, which, with all the stops she makes, cannot possibly be done in twelve hours. Then on Saturday night she always comes to Seattle, arriving here Sunday morning, thus, they claim, being about twenty hours out at least one day in the week, and she being a passenger and mail boat, they insist on her complying with the law as they understand it.
“The engineers allege that the boat is violating the law, which requires vessels of her class running more than twelve hours per day to carry two engineers.”
This 1892 dispute over the enforcement of labor laws on the Puget Sound reflects a century-long tension in the Pacific Northwest between maritime commercial interests and the rights of workers to fair, safe, and legal working conditions. Today’s debates regarding gig-worker protections and ferry staffing levels echo these same foundational conflicts over the regulation of transit and the valuation of human labor.
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