Plans for Whidbey Island Steamers Sought; CA Thayer Update, With Correction

The Island County Historical Society on Whidbey Island, Washington, is looking for plans to several steamers built on the island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Whidbey and Calista. ICHS Operations Officer Al Smith has checked with several local sources, such as the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, the Sand Man Foundation, and the Bainbridge Island Historical Society, but has turned up nothing substantive. If you have information or sources to suggest, including historical photos, please contact Al at ichscpvl@whidbey.net.

The San Francisco Chronicle published an update of the restoration of the C.A. Thayer, the lumber schooner which is owned by the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park. Restoration is nearly complete and she is scheduled to be moved from Alameda to her dock at the park this summer. Some of the information in the story, as well as briefs that are floating around the media based on the story, is incorrect. Thayer is, in fact, not the last of her kind. She is one of two remaining lumber schooners, the other being the Wawona, at South Lake Union Park in Seattle.