Three Times Overboard
Two fishermen survive a harrowing ordeal in the high seas off Cape Flattery.
Capt. Martin Olsen of the schooner Annie and his mate were fishing off the Flattery banks when their dory was caught by a mountainous swell and capsized. The two men were thrown into the sea, and the situation was made more perilous by the fact that the mate could not swim. Olsen managed to grab his companion and right the boat, but no sooner had they done so than the dory was again thrown over. This happened three times in total. Finally, while floating high on a wave, they saw the schooner Caroline, which had been in company with the Annie, and were rescued, nearly exhausted from their struggles.
“The waves were running as big as a house and tossing the little dory about like a cork.”
The treacherous waters off Cape Flattery remain one of the most dangerous stretches for mariners on the Pacific Coast. While modern GPS and satellite communication have revolutionized maritime safety, the raw power of the Pacific Ocean described here remains a constant, humbling reality for those working in the fishing industry today.
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