New Book Releases

For over a century, the Olympia harbor tugboat Sand Man has worked on Puget Sound waters.

Built in Tacoma in 1910, Sand Man towed such commodities as sand, gravel, oysters, logs, and more to and from Budd Inlet. The tugboat was owned by three commercial companies and one private owner. In 1997, the Sand Man Foundation formed, took ownership, and placed Sand Man on multiple historic registries. Through fundraising efforts, the deteriorating Sand Man was miraculously saved and rebuilt after three sinkings. Over the years, the vessel participated in many Olympia Harbor Days activities and vintage tugboat races and was the festival’s first logo boat in 1983. Sand Man, a workhorse and survivor, is known as “Olympia’s Tugboat.” This is the story of Sand Man, the little tug that could and did. 

Lisa Nickel grew up boating on Puget Sound in her family’s own tugboat. She holds a master’s degree in creative arts and learning. After retiring from a 30-year teaching career, she is now the author of multiple magazine articles. She received the 2022 Algona Great Blue Heron Award for her dedication to her teaching career, partnership in science education, and charter lead educator of the Algona Blue Heron Community Gardens. Maritime historian Chuck Fowler’s previous publications include Arcadia Publishing’s Tall Ships on Puget Sound, Tugboats on Puget Sound, and Patrol and Rescue Boats on Puget Sound, as well as Exploring Maritime Washington, published by The History Press.

For more than 150 years, the activity on and around Commencement Bay-since the 1840s, when Charles Wilkes first named it, to the present day-has been a barometer for measuring Tacoma's maritime and industrial growth and development. Wilkes's early exploration assured the inclusion of Puget Sound within the boundaries of the United States following negotiations with Great Britain in 1846. Drawn to the deep waters of the south shore of the bay, the Northern Pacific Railroad established its transcontinental terminus here in 1873 and, in the process, created the city of Tacoma. In the early years, the waterfront was alive with the sights and sounds of commerce. The "longest wheat wharf in the world" lined the south shoreline, longshoremen handled cargo, the Mosquito Fleet carried people to and from the municipal dock, and the Puyallup River delta was transformed into the bustling Port of Tacoma.

This engaging pictorial history traces the evolution of South Puget Sound from the provider of rich resources for the First Nations to Olympia's role as an important international seaport. The estuary was named Puget's Sound after Lt. Peter Puget, of British captain George Vancouver's 1792 exploration of the region. The capital city of Olympia was a frequent stop for Mosquito Fleet steamers a century ago and has evolved into a major port for the worldwide export of timber. Today, people enjoy Olympia as a vibrant, modern seaport with many recreational opportunities.

Hall Brothers designed and built some of the finest sailing ships ever constructed on the Pacific coast. Isaac, Winslow, and Henry Knox Hall acquired their shipbuilding training at the center of America's boatbuilding industry in Cohasset, Massachusetts, during the 1840s. Following the Gold Rush of 1849, Winslow Hall migrated to San Francisco. In 1863, he built the Sarah Louise, which was the first Hall vessel to be launched from the West Coast. Eleven years later, the Hall Brothers Shipyard was established at Port Ludlow in the Washington Territory. In 1881, the shipyard was moved to Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island. From the launching of the Annie Gee in 1874 to their last ship, the five-masted schooner George E. Billings, built in 1903, Hall Brothers constructed 108 vessels for merchants in the Northwest, San Francisco, and Hawaii.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, known locally as the Ballard Locks, are an integral part of Seattle's extensive waterways. The busiest facility of their kind in America, the Ballard Locks form the heart of the channel connecting Puget Sound's saltwater with Seattle's main freshwater lakes. When completed in 1917, the locks were second only in size to the Panama Canal and the first of their kind on the West Coast. They function primarily to maintain the lakes' levels and allow the movement of vessels between them and the sea. The Ballard Locks are among Seattle's top tourist attractions; more than one million people visit annually. They watch salmon and other fish migrate through the fish ladder, visit the botanical gardens, and watch the nonstop parade of ships—from working vessels to pleasure craft—as they rise and fall in the locks.

Before the advent of roads in western Washington, steamboats of the Mosquito Fleet swarmed all over Puget Sound. Sidewheelers, stern-wheelers, and propeller-driven, they ranged from the tiny 40-foot Marie to the huge 282-foot Yosemite, and from the famous Flyer to the unknown Leota. Floating stores like the Vaughn and shrimpers like the Violet sailed the same waters as the elegant Great Lakes lady, the Chippewa, and the homely Willie. A few, like the Bob Irving and Blue Star, died spectacularly or, like Major Tompkins, shipwrecked after a short time, while others began new lives as tugboats or auto ferries; some even survive today as excursion boats like the Virginia V. From 1853 to modern car ferries in the 1920s, this volume chronicles the heyday of steamboating--a unique segment of maritime history--from modest launch to sleek liner.