A frequent visitor to Port Angeles Harbor for four decades and one of the workhorses of the region’s timber boom is leaving for good.

The 71-foot tug Samish is Panama-bound.

The steel tug is owned by Dunlap Towing and was used to haul log booms from Port Angeles to Everett, Tacoma and Olympia.

A company spokesperson told me that with the dwindling number of lumber mills in Puget Sound coupled with the changing methods of transporting logs, the company no longer had a use for the tug.

Dunlap Towing purchased Samish from military surplus — she was built during World War II — and had it rebuilt for its purposes by Dakota Creek Industries in Blaine in 1976.

Smoke flares not Canadian?

The naval ordnance that washed ashore on Dungeness Spit that was disposed of Feb. 12 by blasting by members of 129th EOD Company from Joint Base Lewis-McChord caused quite a stir in the Dungeness Valley.

In a Feb. 13 report in the PDN, which included a photo of the shells before they were exploded, it was speculated that they might have floated over from Canada.

My phone started ringing off the hook by current and retired Coast Guard personnel who recognized the shells in the photo and told me the ordnance in question definitely was not Canadian.

The model, they said, is a Mark 25 smoke float, which is used by the Coast Guard to mark the location of a survivor during search-and-rescue operations.

The Air Force and Navy also use the smoke floats for locating target areas in anti-submarine warfare, determining wind direction and velocity, as well as showing the location of survivors during search-and-rescue operations.

Platypus activity

Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled out Intruder last week.

She’s a 50-foot commercial fishing vessel that hails from Friday Harbor.

I understand that once the mast and rigging are removed, the deck will be rebuilt and the area under the mast will be strengthened with a couple of fiberglass I-beams.

Platypus also hauled out Lady Maribel, an 85-foot McQueen that hails from Seattle.

The wooden vessel that was built in Richmond, B.C., was brought to Port Angeles to have her bottom painted.

Memory lane

Kristena Rose also came out of the water for bottom paint and is sitting on the hard at Platypus Marine.

She is an 88-foot steel commercial fishing vessel that hails from Neah Bay.

The boat was built in Denmark in 1962 and was registered in Canada for more than 40 years.

When the vessel first came to the North Olympic Peninsula, she was known as Western Wind.

On Feb. 21, 2001, while entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Western Wind was boarded by the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs agents.

More than 2½ tons of Colombian cocaine were seized. The captain of the boat and his four crew members, all Canadians, were arrested and detained in Seattle for immigration violations stemming from their illegal entry into the U.S.

The cocaine in what was regarded as the Northwest’s biggest seizure was destroyed.

Western Wind was confiscated and moored at the Coast Guard station on Ediz Hook. She was eventually hauled out of the water and stowed on the hard in the area where Westport Shipyard’s building now sits.

The Customs Service began forfeiture proceedings, and a buyer from California ultimately purchased her. He moved the boat to Port Townsend, where time and restoration costs got away from him, so the boat was seized by the Port of Port Townsend to satisfy arrearage.

Western Wind eventually was sold at auction, and her current owner changed her name to Kristena Rose.

Port Angeles Harbor watch

Tesoro Petroleum on Monday bunkered the anchored Polar Adventure, an 895-foot crude-oil tanker that is part of the Conoco­Phillips fleet.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Tesoro provided bunkers to Rio de Janeiro, a 940-foot container ship that is flagged in Germany.

She made her way to Port Angeles from Vancouver, B.C., and will remain anchored in the harbor for a couple of days before sailing to Tacoma on Tuesday.

Tesoro also bunkered Crimson Jupiter, a Panamanian-flagged, 656-foot cargo ship built to carry wood chips.

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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts.

Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.