Sunday, October 28, 2012

Olympia Budd Inlet- Puget Memorial

I return to Budd Inlet in Olympia again. This time I have my hand-held GPS off of Shatoosh to take some readings along the Olympia Port Plaza, which lies along Joseph Whidbey's historic latitude of 47 degrees, 03 minutes and 00 seconds. The Plaza is already staged for future memorial sites, which makes this a no-brainer location. Everything is so perfect about it.

You can arrive by boat, car, bus or by foot. You can dock and dine at Anthony's Home Port Restaurant, visit the Farmer's Market, amble down to the State Capital, visit art galleries, coffee shops and funky shops. There is enough to see for a week's trip.

Lt. Peter Puget and his exploration team would be delighted to see what has taken place in 220 years. I am getting way ahead of myself in the lengthy process of getting a memorial on this latitude, but I can already see it situated where I am standing. I'm going to keep my dream alive.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

A Memorial to Lt. Peter Puget

Shatoosh, Pashmina and Hira are continuing in the wake of Lt. Peter Puget. It seems his following sea has pushed us from traveling in his wake, to having an article written in Sea Magazine, and now to launching plans to create a memorial to honor his historic adventure.

It has been over 220 years that the HMS Discovery anchored off the shore of Blake Island in May of 1792 and Lt.Peter Puget, Lt. Thomas Manby, Joseph Whidbey and Archibald Menzies and their crew of 16 able bodied seamen plied the southern waters in 2 small  launches in search of the Northwest Passage. To this date, there are no known memorial plaques to honor their efforts in Puget Sound.

I, along with Skip Dreps, a dedicated advocate for military/veteran recognition, and bronze sculptor/artist, Gareth Curtiss will be undertaking the creation of three memorials to be placed along Puget's Exploration Route to commemorate his incredible Exploration.

We are looking at Blake Island to commemorate the launching of the expedition on 20 May 1792, Cutts Island to commemorate a breakfast site on day 2, where they shot crow to supplement their food supplies and Olympia, Budd Inlet, where on 26 May 1792, Joseph Whidbey took his noon sight of 47 degrees, 03 minutes and 00 seconds. Lt. Peter Puget determines that the southern waters have been explored and the infamous Northwest Passage did not exist in these waters. He orders the men to store the oars, step the masts and the southerly wind fills their sails, taking them back to their mother vessel, the HMS Discovery which was anchored behind Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island. Captain George Vancouver honors Lt Peter Puget by naming the southern waters, Puget's Sound.

Don't you think it is time the boating community of Puget Sound and the State of Washington honor, Lt. Peter Puget? Lets make this long, overdue memorial happen.

Please see Gareth's beautiful work on his website: www.garethcurtiss.com.Gareth Curtiss

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

SEA Magazine October Issue

Feature Article:
Rediscovering Puget Sound: Cruiser Retraces Peter Puget's Journey...Page 48
A cruise in Peter Puget's wake leads to fresh discoveries for one longtime cruiser by Hira Barbara Reid

Almost a year ago, I received an email from Mike Werling, the editor of Sea Magazine. One of the magazine readers had contacted him that he might look at my blog as it was worthy of publication. Mike took a look, liked what he saw and wanted to do an article on my recent cruise to the San Juan Islands. At first I was disappointed with the choice. Earlier in the summer, I had crossed the Columbia River bar and cruised my pocket cruiser up the Washington coast. I thought that was note worthy of an article, for sure, but Mike talked about the San Juan Islands were more reader friendly, as it was a favorite of cruisers. Ok, Ok, but in a hushed breath and a bruised ego, I said to myself, "I don't know of many men, much less women, who had taken their 25 foot boats across the bar and up the west coast of Washington."

He described how he would copy and paste from the blog directly, select photos and I would have to handle some special requirements for them to have increased DPI's done. I thought that sounded simple enough and he would have the hard job of sifting through the numerous postings, editing them and coming up with the article. I agreed to give it a go. Months went by without hearing anything, then I heard that the plan was still in the works. It was at that point I told him about my plans for replicating Lt. Peter Puget's Exploration of Puget Sound.

His ears perked up on that note. Months went by and then another email. Was I still doing the Puget trip? Yes, I said.  It was upcoming. He shifted gears and Puget became the focus for the next article.  In August I get another email. There has been a sudden new opening for the Puget article, but we have to move fast. The photos have to be sent and I ended up not liking the selection the art director did, so I renegotiated photos, especially the one of me in my Peter Puget uniform. I make some important points about Puget's exploration that could be overlooked in the numerous postings. Mike is so easy to work with and listens to my concerns.
I surrender to the process and head for Hawaii.

I am really pleased to see what a great job Mike did with all the info. This is just a sampler from the blog and Mike refers his readers to my blog for reading the full journey. He did manage to pack a lot of photos and information into 5 pages. I was happy to see my picture in my uniform, but really happy for many things.
























Sea Magazine is the largest boating magazine on the west coast and has a huge subscription base. This gives readers a look at my blog, the Albin 25 pocket cruiser, and the incredible historical aspect of the Voyage of the HMS Discovery and Chatham, Captain Vancouver, Lt. Peter Puget, Archibald Menzies, Joseph Whidbey and Lt. Thomas Manby. I would be happy if readers, after reading the article, cruised Puget Sound with a new awareness about these explorers, perhaps they would cruise with one of the history books on board, or replicate Puget's exploration on their own terms. We could all become more informed about these explorers and really embrace cruising Puget Sound with the passion and commitment of Lt. Peter Puget and the members of the HMS Discovery.


Boating/Marine stores carry Sea Magazine and you can also check with local book stores.


Remember that Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones will be coming out with a new Dreamspeaker Cruising Guide to Puget Sound in 2013. Check out their website: www.dreamspeakerguides.com