Coastal Tempest Strands the Falcon on the Flats
A ferocious south-wester wreaks havoc on shipping, forcing rescues and leaving a merchant vessel stranded in the mud.
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.
Chief Officer Jensan of the Catherine Sudden, who has been sailing in the coast waters for nine years, says the storm of Sunday night and Monday was the worst he has known in his experience. The Catherine Sudden is now discharging ballast at Weatherwax's wharf. She managed to reach this port, after great difficulty, having first been blown across the bar and into the harbor on Sunday. Sunday night the tug Traveler tried to take the Sudden and the Falcon up the harbor, but fouled a hawser around her propeller. The tug whistled for the lighthouse tender Manzinita, which happened to be at anchor off Peterson's wharf. The Manzinita towed the Traveler up the harbor, when her screw was cleared, and went back for the Sudden. In the meantime the Sudden had lost all of her anchors, three in number, but managed to keep off the flat until the Traveler returned. The Falcon, with a small cargo of general merchandise from San Francisco, is now lying stranded on the flats east of the Humptulips, where she is in great danger of being wrecked should another storm arise.
“It is asserted by those on board that it took four men to hold the captain's whiskers on.”
Harbor storms remain a part of Grays Harbor life, though modern navigation has rendered the 'grounding on the flats' a less common catastrophe than in the days of sail and early steam. This account serves as a reminder of the raw, dangerous maritime environment that dictated life in early Aberdeen.
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