The Needle Reaches For Her Martingale Boom Today's Coolphoto 01/04/2024
Wawona in 1899 under full sail. —NWSeaport photo
The Historic Schooner Wawona was moored on Lake Union in Seattle when we drove to visit her in August twenty three years ago. The ship in its day had carried millions of boardfeet of lumber to San Francisco from the Pacific Northwest in the early years of the last century, and then fished for cod in Alaska until the forties. In the early sixties Ivar Hagland and a bunch of his friends organized to save it. The ship, in 1970, was the first vessel to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. —Seattle Times
Now it is no more, having finally rotted away at the docks. She was dismantled, yielding precious bits to the museum and spare rigging parts to her sister ship, the restored historic schooner C.A. Thayer in California.
The rigging along the bowsprit of schooners included a spar that stiffened the sprit against the pull of sails rigged to it. This is called the Martingale Boom, or the Dolphin Striker, and is pulled in tension between the martingale stay at the end of the bow sprit and the bobstay attached to the bow. You can see it in the picture of the Wawona under full sail. I saw that this bit of ironwork lined up with the mast on the Space Needle and so it seemed that the needle was stretched taught in his try to reach the old ship’s martingale.
Visit the NWSeaport
Historic Ships Wharf at Lake Union Park
860 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
The Needle Reaches For Her Martingale Boom Today's Coolphoto 01/04/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich
Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.
I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.
For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL
Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.
Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.
Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.
For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.
