Fireboat Duwamish Profiled by Seattle Times
The Seattle Times profiled the fireboat Duwamish on Friday. The article notes that the owner, the Puget Sound Fireboat Foundation, has a new president, David Morse, and will conduct a major fundraising push later this year.
Built in 1909 in Seattle for the Seattle Fire Department, she was equipped with three American LaFrance steam piston pumps rated at a capacity of 3,000 gallons per minute each. After an upgrade in 1949, the pumps delivered a total of 22,800 gallons per minute. This capacity was only exceeded in 2003 by the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Fireboat #2, which delivers 38,000 gallons per minute.
PSFF hopes to have Duwamish refurbished in time for its 100th birthday in 2009. (Photo courtesy Maritime Heritage Network)
posted by Joe Follansbee at 7:00 AM
1 Comments:
Like MOHAI, the Puget Sound Fireboat Foundation has clearly been undergoing some major changes in recent months; it's board being sharply reduced and the naming of a new president.
Now PSFF is launching a revitalization campaign for the project. I wonder what potential may be revealed if that campaign were to refocus the organization on collaborative efforts with the greater maritime heritage community.
It is only a matter of time before Duwamish--and if PSFF obtains Alki, her too--will lose moorage permits for SLU just like Wawona.
Now is the time for solidarity.
This is also a good time for the maritime heritage groups in Seattle to reach out once again to PSFF in its hour of transition and welcome it into the ranks fighting for a larger maritime heritage center. After all, Duwamish is another key representative of our collective seafaring past. Moreover, she desperately needs repairs and a home--as do so many ships--and we can raise far more funds together as a unified entity (even when sharing resources)than we can ever raise independantly. That is just a fact of economics.
The maritime heritage organizations cannot continue competing for support and forcing the public to split hairs in choosing which part of their broad maritime heritage they wish to preserve.
If the maritime heritage community can speak with a unified voice, from a unified location, and offer the public a unified membership allowing them to be loyal to all by simply being loyal to one, then we will can achieve what we have each set out to do.
4:29 AM
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