Schooner Survives Storm

The Wawona, a wooden schooner that survived ocean storms as a lumber hauler and later as a fishing boat, has used up another of its lives and survived again.

Snow and rain from the winter storms that struck the Puget Sound area after Christmas began filling the ship with water Thursday night at its south Lake Union moorage.

The stern was resting on the lake bottom this morning, though some of the bow is still above water.

“There is some good news, too,” said Bob Sittig, president of the board of Northwest Seaport, which is restoring the vessel. “She sank in shallow enough water so that she will be easily salvageable.”

Crews planned to remove the boat’s snow-damaged fiberglass shelter, which collapsed, and then put plastic around the boat. A new canvas roof will replace the old one, Sittig said.

Water from Thursday’s storm overcame both the ship’s internal pumps and pumps provided by the Seattle Fire Department, Sittig said. It began sinking early Friday, and the stern hit bottom.

The three-masted, 170-foot sailing vessel was launched in 1897, built to haul lumber between West Coast ports. After 15 years it served in the fishing trade in the North Pacific.

In the early 1980s the vessel sank completely but was raised and restored.

The ship is being repaired for educational purposes and often is toured by school children. Northwest Seaport is a non-profit organization to preserve Pacific Northwest maritime heritage.