The Ghost Ship of Schwabacher Dock
A schooner that spent months idling in Seattle’s waterfront suddenly departed on a mysterious voyage, leaving local shipping men baffled and its owner tight-lipped about its destination.
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.
The schooner Emma and Louisa, which was alongside Schwabacher dock for two days last week, left Sunday on a mysterious voyage, the destination of which is unknown. She came to Seattle from Honolulu last December and up to a week ago was lying idle in the stream off the Centennial flouring mill. She was then purchased by John G. Lacey, of the MacDougall & Southwick company, and was brought alongside Schwabacher dock to be overhauled. When seen by a Star reporter regarding the use the schooner was to be put to, Mr. Lacey was inclined to be reticent. He stated emphatically that she was not going to be put on the Alaska route, but was to leave shortly for South America to be turned over to some merchants at Chile, who had recently purchased her. Who the parties were who bought the schooner, or to what use they intended putting her, Mr. Lacey refused to state. It is much out of the ordinary for a vessel the size of the Emma and Louisa to leave Puget Sound for South American ports. Old shipping men fail to recollect of any instance in which a vessel of 170 tons or thereabouts left for that coast. The schooner was originally owned by a man named Wilson, of San Francisco.
“Old shipping men fail to recollect of any instance in which a vessel of 170 tons or thereabouts left for that coast.”
The waterfront remains a place of mystery, though today's 'ghost ships' are more likely to be logistics-laden container vessels than 170-ton schooners. The Schwabacher dock, once a hub of maritime commerce, mirrors the modern tension between the city’s industrial roots and the opaque, globalized nature of contemporary maritime trade.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.