Went down to Oregon over the weekend to look at a specific airplane, and on the way back on Sunday visited the Maritime Museum in Astoria, something we have meant to do for a couple of decades now.* Well worth visiting if you're in that area.
The attached photos give you an idea of what they have there.
The big green engine is an Atlas diesel.* To give an idea of its size, the flywheel on the front weighs two tons.
The painting and the model are of the Beaver, the first steamship in the Pacific Northwest.* Owned by the Hudson Bay Company, the boat underwent various modifications and had--- IIRC-- an almost 50 year career in the Northwest, eventually foundering on a rock in Vancouver harbor, British Columbia.
The battleship and sailing ship are samples of the excellent models of northwest signficance they have on display.
The musem has a number of watercraft on display inside.* This early Columbia River gillnetter is my favorite.* Wonderful design, I think.
They also have a fully-rigged salmon troller from (I think) the 1940s.
Outside they have the lightship that was anchored six miles off the mouth of the Columbia River until 1979 when it was replaced with the buoy in the foreground.
The last photo is for Eric Henning, who I assume is currently in the midst of his move from Alaska to here.* It's the Columbia's mushroom anchor, which with the ships all-chain rode, held the vessel in place even in the face of screaming winds and thirty foot waves.
The Columbia River bar is the most dangerous bar in North America, the western hemisphere, or the world, I can't remember which.* The museum puts a major focus on the bar and pilots that go out in every condition imaginable to board ships and guide them across the bar into the river where they are then taken over by a river pilot.* The process is reversed for outbound ships.* Several past pilot boats are on display inside and outside the museum and there are some very good video presentations on the realities of being a Columbia River bar pilot.
There is also a major focus on the USCG's presence and patrol and rescue activites on the bar, with several generations of USCG vessels on display.
The museum is not huge, but it is very well done and the displays on everything from commercial fishing to the transport of of bulk goods up and down the river and across the bar are excellent.
Of particular interest to me was a full-size pilothouse of a typical modern river tug, the ones that push and pull strings of barges as far up the river system, which includes the Snake, as Lewiston, Idaho.* I had read about the way these boats are steered both here and on the Mississippi watershed, using levers instead of a wheel, and finally thanks to this exhibit I now know what the system looks like and how it is used.* Very different from what we are used to in our boats.
So if you're in the Astoria area, the museum is well worth a visit in* my opinion.
*
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 1st of February 2012 02:58:32 PM
The attached photos give you an idea of what they have there.
The big green engine is an Atlas diesel.* To give an idea of its size, the flywheel on the front weighs two tons.
The painting and the model are of the Beaver, the first steamship in the Pacific Northwest.* Owned by the Hudson Bay Company, the boat underwent various modifications and had--- IIRC-- an almost 50 year career in the Northwest, eventually foundering on a rock in Vancouver harbor, British Columbia.
The battleship and sailing ship are samples of the excellent models of northwest signficance they have on display.
The musem has a number of watercraft on display inside.* This early Columbia River gillnetter is my favorite.* Wonderful design, I think.
They also have a fully-rigged salmon troller from (I think) the 1940s.
Outside they have the lightship that was anchored six miles off the mouth of the Columbia River until 1979 when it was replaced with the buoy in the foreground.
The last photo is for Eric Henning, who I assume is currently in the midst of his move from Alaska to here.* It's the Columbia's mushroom anchor, which with the ships all-chain rode, held the vessel in place even in the face of screaming winds and thirty foot waves.
The Columbia River bar is the most dangerous bar in North America, the western hemisphere, or the world, I can't remember which.* The museum puts a major focus on the bar and pilots that go out in every condition imaginable to board ships and guide them across the bar into the river where they are then taken over by a river pilot.* The process is reversed for outbound ships.* Several past pilot boats are on display inside and outside the museum and there are some very good video presentations on the realities of being a Columbia River bar pilot.
There is also a major focus on the USCG's presence and patrol and rescue activites on the bar, with several generations of USCG vessels on display.
The museum is not huge, but it is very well done and the displays on everything from commercial fishing to the transport of of bulk goods up and down the river and across the bar are excellent.
Of particular interest to me was a full-size pilothouse of a typical modern river tug, the ones that push and pull strings of barges as far up the river system, which includes the Snake, as Lewiston, Idaho.* I had read about the way these boats are steered both here and on the Mississippi watershed, using levers instead of a wheel, and finally thanks to this exhibit I now know what the system looks like and how it is used.* Very different from what we are used to in our boats.
So if you're in the Astoria area, the museum is well worth a visit in* my opinion.
*
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 1st of February 2012 02:58:32 PM
