West Point Light Station
Cargo vessels bound for ports on the Pacific Rim from Seattle round a sharp spit of land at the northern end of Elliott Bay. Named West Point by explorer Lt. Charles Wilkes, the point also marks the westernmost point of land within the city of Seattle. The federal government recognized the importance of the point [...]
More Info
Washington Street Public Boat Landing
The Washington Street Public Boat Landing Facility on Seattle’s central waterfront illustrates the city’s reliance on Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. The earliest Anglo-European settlers chose the area in the 1850s because of its natural harbor, which made Seattle the nation’s primary arrival and departure point for the Klondike gold fields in 1896. For [...]
More Info
Point Robinson Lighthouse
Enormous cargo vessels traveling north and south through Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma make a sharp turn at Point Robinson, located on the eastern tip of Maury Island, which is connected to Vashon Island. Early mariners labeled the area the “fog net,” because fogs often obscured the point, catching inattentive ship masters. A foghorn [...]
More Info
Browns Point Lighthouse
Browns Point marks the north entrance to Commencement Bay and the Port of Tacoma. The government established a post lantern on the point on December 12, 1887, the same day a similar lantern was lit at Point Robinson, north of Browns Point on Maury Island in Puget Sound. Fog was the greatest problem in the [...]
More Info
Sand Man
Tugboats have formed the backbone of Puget Sound’s working waterfronts since the 19th century. In 1910, the Crawford and Reid Shipyard of Tacoma laid down the keel of the 59-foot, 19-ton Sand Man. While the wooden-hulled tug was under construction, owner A.J. Weston, attended the Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, where he saw a demonstration of [...]
More InfoPoint No Point Lighthouse
In May 1841, US Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes, exploring the uncharted waters of Puget Sound for the government, named a spit of land barely visible from the deck of a sailing ship Point No Point. But the early history of the site had little to do with maritime. In 1855, the local S’Klallum, Chimacum and [...]
More InfoPlover
Built in 1944 at Bryants Marina in Seattle, the MV Plover was used as a foot passenger ferry for the Alaskan Packers Association’s cannery on Semiahmoo Spit, now home to Semiahmoo Resort & Spa. This nostalgic vessel ferried cannery workers and townsfolk back and forth across the mouth of Drayton Harbor near Blaine until 1964. [...]
More InfoPirate
Locally designed and built, the wooden racing boat Pirate has recently returned to Seattle for a complete restoration. Designed by Ted Geary, the boat was built in 1925 at Seattle’s Lake Union Dry Dock Co. Early in the process, the builders decided to make her the best boat of its type on the west coast. [...]
More Info
New Dungeness Lighthouse
New Dungeness Lighthouse sits on the end of a six-mile long sandspit, one of the longest in the world. Named by British explorer George Vancouver, because it reminded him of Dungeness in his home country, the spit developed a bad reputation among mariners, who nicknamed it Shipwreck Spit. Local native tribes also used the landform [...]
More Info
Chittenden Locks / Lake Wash. Ship Canal
Early Anglo-European settlers in the Seattle area faced the daunting challenge of moving products such as coal and logs over muddy roads and through shallow rivers. Pioneers dreamed of a water route west from Lake Washington to Puget Sound. Civic leaders agreed a canal was needed, but they argued for decades on the correct route. [...]
More Info
Marty McOmber
Dan Leach
Deborah Bach
Zach Wellington Simonson-Bond
Pete Leenhouts
Mary D. Christie
Zoe Olson
hannah hindley
Brendan Floyd
Aislinn Palmer
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
CWB Maritime
Madhuri Hosford
Joe Follansbee
Sue Loiland
Janeen Armstrong.
Oregon Maritime Museum
Comments on Maritime Attractions