1.A New Adventure Begins to Take Form

About 4 years ago, while house sitting on Orcas Island, I happened to see a book with a detailed accounting of Peter Puget’s Exploration of the Sound by  Robert Wing and Gordon Newell.

Google images

 It was named, Peter Puget and I read it from cover to cover, thinking how much fun it would be to replicate this journey, once I got Shatoosh to the Puget Sound. I was a long way from getting Shatoosh to the Sound. I still had to cruise the Snake and Middle Columbia Rivers, go through 8 Locks and Dams and figure out if it would be feasible and smart to cross the Columbia River Bar and cruise a 25 ft boat up the Washington coast, which at times, can not be a friendly place due to the extreme weather conditions. Well, if you are a long time faceless blog reader, you know all that happened and without incident. Last summer, as I was making my way south  from my coastal cruise I continued to talk and think about this possibility and after my first docking in Gig Harbor, I headed to an old used book store and found  the book, buying it right away. Since that time, I have read it again, several times over, and stopped at several places to investigate possible landing sites in Pashmina and anchoring sites in Shatoosh.

As I write this, it is  February and the winds are howling outside my sweet abode, causing a large tree to fall blocking the back gate to the property. I am snug inside compiling information, typing up lots of notes and putting together a planner.















This will be one of my more simpler adventures. I talk often to my buddy, Too Tall Tom, who is an avid explorer/history buff and I am hoping he will take the challenge to join me, either on Shatoosh or with his little Skol, a 16 ft Arima, as a consort vessel.. Too Tall Tom is responsible for trailering Shatoosh to the Columbia River for me. This guy is always fun and funny to have on board. See Snake River blog  June 2010. 

28 May 2012: Memorial Day

Too Tall Tom and Skol are making there way up I-5corridor  from California to join Shatoosh, Pashmina and Hira and weather permitting in June we will begin our  Replication of Lt. Peter Puget's Exploration of the Southern Waters of Puget Sound.  I will be posting numerous sections of the history of these great Explorations prior to our departure. Read along and learn about this epic adventure that Captain George Vancouver orchestrated in 1792.

It is fitting that we celebrate today's posting in their honor as being British Naval Officers, as Too Tall and Hira being veterans of the US Army and to celebrate all those who have served and died in the military. My hopes of posting this adventure on the blog is that our awareness will increase about the Voyage of the Discovery and the Chatham, that as a result of this new information we will continue to cruise these waters with increased awareness, honor these great explorers and be extremely grateful for the hardships they endured as they ventured into the unknown.

We are about to have a great adventure so stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this one as we are about to have some fun.

References used in preparing all of the upcoming postings:

1. With Vancouver in Inland Washington Waters: Journals of 12 Crewmen,April- June 1792, Richard Blumenthal, also personal conversation 24 Feb 2012 in Bellevue Wa.
2. Peter Puget, Robert Wing/ Gordon Newell, 1979: authors deceased and publishing company no longer in existence.
3. The Interwoven Lives of George Vancouver, Archibal Menzies, Joseph Whidbey, and Peter Puget: The Vancouver Voyage of 1791-1795, John Naish, 1979
4. Peter Puget on Puget's Sound, Murray Morgan 1979
5. Sailing with Vancouver, Sam McKinney: author deceased
6. Google Images with special reference to Steve Mayo's artwork regarding the Discovery/Chatham/ Columbia Rediviva. While I emailed Steve Mayo for permission I never got a reply. Since the images were on Google Images, I took liberty to use them. I apologize for any infractions.
7. A large scale model of Captain George Vancouver’s ship of exploration, HMS Discovery, from which Lt. Peter Puget led the survey crews whose charts put the Northwest on the maps of the world. The Discovery model, commissioned by Discovery Modelers Education Center in Seattle, currently is on loan for display at the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Permission to use photo granted by: The Discovery Modelers Education Center, 860 Terry Ave. N, Seattle WA 98109. 206-282-0985 

8. Vancouver's journals online-google.

9. Wikipedia.com
10.Google Images
11. The Salish Sea by Stefan Freelan