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Friday, October 5, 2012

Drive-by Astoria #16: The Butterfly Fleet

Astoria, Oregon ~ September 15, 2012
W. Marine Drive at Columbia Street and Bond

I was surprised a number of weeks ago to see a new mural in Astoria. Apparently it was unveiled about July 10th. I was no less surprised to learn about the butterfly fleet itself and these amazing sails that look like wings. At one time there were 2,500 of these boats in our coastal waters, but the Maritime Museum was not able to find a single one remaining. The mural was painted by local artist Dorothy Danielson on the side of the Wauna Credit Union building. There is a book called The Butterfly Fleet on Amazon.com. The cover is very similar, but I don't know the connection. The scroll on the mural reads:


THE BUTTERFLY FLEET

BEFORE ENGINES - THEY FISHED
IN BOATS POWERED BY THE WIND
IN THEIR SAILS & WERE CALLED
THE BUTTERFLY FLEET
THEY WERE AT THE MERCY
OF THE WIND & TIDES 
& AS SUCH IT WAS A VERY
DANGEROUS PROFESSION - THEY
DID NOT ALWAYS COME BACK -
THESE PREDOMINATELY SCANDINAVIAN
FISHERMEN & WOMEN PREFERRED 
USING GILLNETS - WHICH THE FISH
SWAM INTO & GOT HUNG UP. THERE
WERE DAY FISHERIES & NIGHT FISHERIES -
THE NIGHT ONES WERE LIKED AS THE
FISH HAD A DIFFICULT TIME SEEING
THE NET, SINCE THEY HAVE BEEN KNOWN
TO SWIM ALONG SIDE OR GO AROUND -
ON A GOOD TRIP THEY CAME HOME
LOADED TO THE GUNNELS --


Speaking of adventures, Lee Spangler is off on a new one. For anyone who would like to follow along, his blog is here.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

3 comments:

Lee Spangler said...

Thanks a lot for promoting my blog. I miss you all. Glad you shared about the butterfly fleet. Can you imagine how dangerous it was. This was even before the completion of the jetty!

tom brosman said...

What a great issue of this site. The picture and the Butterfly Feet....great work.
Tom Brosman
Olympia

Halcyon said...

Really nice mural. Thanks for the bit of history. :)

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