As if there wasn't enough history keeping us from floating away, a story about an anchor comes aboard. On a recent walk past the Port Ludlow Marina, BJ and I noted a replacement for the rotten old wooden boat in the landscaping. An obviously old anchor was in the boat's place. As it turns out, the anchor was donated by Carolyn (Kari) and her daughter Kathryn Black (Cassi), in memory of Carolyn's parents, C. Preston and Frances Smith, husband/father Donald, son/brother Corey and granddaughter/niece Tula Marie Black.

In 1965, Donald Black and his brother, John, were scouting for an upcoming scuba diving and spear-fishing contest. The Puget Sound Mud Sharks were one of the top scuba groups in the area and enjoyed spear fishing in Port Ludlow's inner harbor, near the log dump where they said the ling cod "old folks" home was. (Of course, it was Port Ludlow!) The two brothers swam with their paddleboards and equipment from the beach where the family had a summer cabin on the southern shore of Ludlow Bay. Near where they went in, they discovered the anchor, half buried in the silt and sand. They returned with a pickup load of empty 55-gallon drums, lots of chain, several extra air tanks and a compressor to refill the tanks. Sinking the drums, bung hole down, they chained them to what was exposed of the anchor. Following a lengthy effort, they replaced the water with air by placing the mouth piece of the scuba tanks under the open bung-hole and eventually had the anchor loosened from the muck. It took the help of a bulldozer tugging on the anchor with a long cable to finally set it free, eventually being hauled up the beach. The anchor was displayed proudly in front of the cabin for many years.

It was moved again when the family built a new house, yet when it came time to move again after more than 50 years, the family decided to donate the anchor to the people of Port Ludlow. The source of the anchor remains vague, but the family likes to think it may have been part of the failed rescue of the burning ship Reaper, from July 1906, whose remains can still be seen on a beach along the bay's southern shore.

The Reaper was part of a fleet of ships used to carry lumber from Port Ludlow all over the Pacific. A lot of the lumber went to San Francisco when that city was being rebuilt after the great fire. Other ships in the small fleet were the Harvester, the Sower and the Thrasher. They were all known as "hell ships," because the skeleton crews used to load lumber at the docks of the Port Ludlow mill were filled out by shanghaiing sailors from saloons and brothels along the Port Townsend waterfront. By all reports, the ship owners and captains were not well liked.

I am grateful to Carolyn and Kathryn for this information and wish them well as they move closer to family and leave behind a memorable piece of their lives in Port Ludlow.

Love a curmudgeon and have a good week.

(Contact Port Ludlow resident Ned Luce at nedluce@sbcglobal.net.)