An Empty Boat on the Sound—and No One to Claim It
A fisherman finds a small boat adrift between Port Madison and Seattle, with a bottle aboard and no sign of who set it loose, prompting fears of a drowning.
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.
Peter Jensen, a Norwegian living at 111 Light Street, while coming to this city from Port Madison yesterday morning, discovered an empty boat adrift in the Sound. Jensen, who is a fisherman, has two boats—one in this city and the other at Port Madison.
About three miles out on the Sound he saw a small, round-bottomed boat with oars. It was riding right side up in the water. There was a bundle and a bottle in the boat. So far as Mr. Jensen could see, there was no clue as to who owned the boat or occupied it.
When he arrived in the city he reported the matter to the harbor master. It is thought that someone went out hunting and, while away, was pitched into the Sound. Whether there is any truth in the supposition can only be ascertained when the owner of the boat makes inquiry or some person recognizes it. If it should prove to have been a drowning, it would be hard to tell from what place the man started.
“So far as Mr. Jensen could see there was no clue as to who owned the boat or occupied it.”
Puget Sound’s waters have always been a place where small boats vanish and rumors surface before facts do. The 1895 item is a classic cold-case beginning—boat, oars, bottle, no body—and it foreshadows the modern search-and-rescue and missing-person notices that still run along the same shoreline.
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