The 'Mosquito Fleet' Gears Up to Patrol the Sound
A new revenue cutter, the Sybil, joins the effort to clamp down on smugglers navigating the complex and intricate channels of the Washington coast.
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.
Work on the new revenue steamer Sybil will be completed this week and she will be placed in commission next Monday, First Lieutenant Albert Buhner taking command. This steamer is for duty among the islands of Washington sound, where she will cruise for smugglers. The revenue steamer White Cloud will be relieved from duty at Washington sound, and may for the present cruise about Puget sound. These steamers, with those already in commission, will form the advance guard of a mosquito fleet which in time will guard the 1,500 miles of coast line exposed to the operation of smugglers. Capt. Toner has been complimented by the department in Washington City for the manner in which he has successfully covered this long coast line. The small steamers of the class of the Sybil are constantly on the move by day or night through the many intricate channels. These revenue steamers will have no particular headquarters. One day they may be seen taking fuel from the beach on San Juan island and the next day going through Deception pass, the officer commanding them having a roving commission.
“These revenue steamers will have no particular headquarters. One day they may be seen taking fuel from the beach on San Juan island and the next day going through Deception pass.”
The 'mosquito fleet' of the 1890s was the precursor to modern maritime law enforcement. Today, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Port of Seattle’s harbor patrol still grapple with the challenge of monitoring the sprawling, complex inland waterways of the Salish Sea.
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