The Customs Feud That Fired on a Chilean Bark
A Chilean vessel left Tacoma without clearance and was chased by a U.S. revenue cutter in Puget Sound—an international incident sparked by jealousy between Chile's local representatives.
Port Townsend, Oct. 17.—[Special.]—The Chilean bark Augusta, from Tacoma for Valparaiso, was fired upon by the revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott last night. She was attempting to go to sea without obtaining the customs clearance. She refused to heave to at the Wolcott's command and a shot was fired across her bow. The trouble is the outcome of official jealousy existing between Chile's two Puget Sound representatives. De Lion authorized the bark to proceed to sea without a custom house clearance, and as she was going down the Straits the customs authorities seized her and reported the facts to the treasury department.
“She refused to heave to at the Wolcott's command and a shot was fired across her bow.”
Puget Sound was a busy international shipping corridor in 1892, and this small chase shows how customs paperwork, diplomatic pride and federal power could collide on the water. Port authority has always been tangled up with who gets to move goods—and who gets to say so.
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