The Great Snohomish River Canoe Disaster: A Tale of Terror, Whales, and Pluck
Four prominent local businessmen nearly lost their lives when a massive whale capsized their boat in the dark, but one man’s calm courage saved them all.
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.
ACCOMMERCE. — A party consisting of Messrs. Plukett, Bellentine, Korhne and Forward, met with an accident on the Snohomish river last Sunday night, which came near resulting disastrously to the whole number. They were descending the river in a canoe, and the night being dark the look-out was unable to discern objects any great distance ahead. When near the mouth of Bennett’s Slough he discovered to his terror a ponderous mass directly in the course of the canoe, and not ten feet distant. He had barely time to shout to the pilot to 'port his helm,' when on she came with crash, capsizing and emptying her entire load into the angry waters of the river. Three of the party struck out for the nearest shore, which they fortunately reached, but the fourth, Mr. Bellentine, with rare presence of mind and indomitable pluck, clung to the upset canoe, 'blinded' [bailed] up the thimblets and floating items, and taking on his plank companions, reached the shore at a late hour of night, where they soon made themselves comfortable inside and out with steaming drinks and dry clothes. No blame attaches to the crew, as he was responsible for the presence of the one [whale] at that time of night.
In 1877, Snohomish residents navigated the same treacherous waterways that define our region today, but with far less safety gear and no Coast Guard. This story highlights the inherent dangers of local river travel before modern infrastructure, reminding us how much safer—and more predictable—our commute has become.
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