The Ghost Ship of Possession Sound
A modest notice from 1877 reveals the perilous, everyday reality of life on the Puget Sound, where a wayward sloop was snatched by the tides.
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.
Picked Up! On the 12th instant, below Lip-Lip, the sloop 'Clara Bell.' Owners apply to Capt. William Gove, Master of Steamer Cyrus Walker. Port Gamble, Feb. 19th, 1877.
“Picked Up! On the 12th instant, below Lip-Lip, the sloop 'Clara Bell.'”
Lip-Lip refers to the historical Indigenous place name for the point near the modern-day mouth of the Snohomish River, a vital waterway that remains the backbone of regional logistics. While today's nautical mishaps are tracked by GPS and automated distress beacons, this brief notice underscores how in the 1870s, the Sound acted as both a highway and a graveyard for small wooden vessels.
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