The Steamer Glide’s Heavy Load: A Narrow Escape on the Skagit
When a steamer faced a brutal northwest gale, a terrified deckhand tried to dump the cargo overboard, sparking a confrontation in the middle of a choppy sea.
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 little stern-wheel steamer Glide, Captain Bailey, came down the Skagit River into the Sound on Thursday to find a gale blowing from west-northwest and a very choppy sea. The Glide was heavily loaded with hay, a large portion of which was on the bow. After she rounded Appletree Cove, the wind increased, and owing to being down at the head, the steamer refused to answer the helm. One of the deckhands, becoming frightened, commenced to throw the hay overboard. When protested by the Captain, he said: 'I don't want any money. All I want to do is get on shore. I'll pay my share toward the general average if you will let me throw the hay overboard.' After buckling into the storm for some time and being unable to turn back, Captain Bailey ordered four tons of hay piled on the bow to be thrown overboard. At this juncture some of the passengers being very much frightened, Captain Bailey assured them that the steamer was a staunch little craft and that if all hands kept cool, there would be no danger. After the bow was relieved of so much weight, the steamer behaved better, and aside from a lateral shaking up, no further trouble was experienced. On reaching Appletree Cove, Captain Bailey ran in under the bluff long enough to allow the passengers to eat supper and to get things straightened up.
“I don't want any money. All I want to do is get on shore. I'll pay my share toward the general average if you will let me throw the hay overboard.”
Steamboat travel on the Sound was once as vital—and as vulnerable—as the modern ferry system. The passenger's desperate desire to 'get on shore' in a storm echoes the perennial anxiety of commuters stuck on a disabled vessel in the Puget Sound, reminding us that even with modern technology, the inland sea remains a formidable force.
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