8/9/21

Sekiu and the schooner Louise

 This 1909 photo of the schooner Louise S. on its side in Sekiu is featured in an interpretive display about shipwrecks at Clallam Bay State Park, and I've always found it arresting.  

The schooner Louise S. aground just offshore of Sekiu, WA in 1909.  Photo from the Bert Kellogg collection.  

The ship itself provides a glimpse into a time period on the Olympic Peninsula when boats like this would have been a common sight sailing from coastal town to coastal town.  But the other thing, of course, that this photo features is in the background...the shoreline of Sekiu.  And just as the ship speaks to changes in our modes of transport, the shoreline in this 1909 photo speaks to changes in the shoreline.  Here is the modern view from more or less the same spot:

8 August 2021 photo of the boat haven in Sekiu, Washington, taken about here.

The changes here made it hard to orient the photo, but I tried to focus on the iconic Three Sisters (here is a closer-up historical view of them), which are barely visible in the modern photo, sticking out of a parking lot behind the boats.  The shoreline here has been filled and, obviously, a breakwater built to create the modern boat haven.  I can't find much online about the history of the breakwater, fill or the marina in general, so if anybody knows more please reach out.


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