A Whale Surfaces in Commencement Bay and Soaks a Tacoma Couple's Launch
Mr. and Mrs. M. Sutter were ten feet from a spouting whale while crossing the bay in their launch Comet — and came ashore soaked.
Mr. and Mrs. M. Sutter can testify to the fact that there is a whale in Commencement Bay. While they were returning to Tacoma from their summer home at Burton last evening they had an experience with the monster that they will not soon forget. When their launch, Comet, was near the Government buoy the whale appeared within ten feet of the boat. After splashing the water about with his tail and spouting twice, he disappeared. For the time being Mr. and Mrs. Sutter were badly frightened and did not feel really comfortable until they had landed. Their clothing was wet with the water thrown into the boat by the whale. The whale first appeared in the bay about ten days ago and Mr. and Mrs. Sutter have the distinction of being the first ones to get within "speaking distance" of his whaleship.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sutter have the distinction of being the first ones to get within "speaking distance" of his whaleship.”
In 1904 a whale that had lingered ten days in Commencement Bay was front-page news; today the same water is a working port where harbor seals haul out on the log booms and gray whales occasionally wander into Puget Sound. The Sutters' soaking is a reminder that Tacoma's waterfront was — and still is — water shared with something much larger than a launch.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.