PACIFIC COD FISHERIES 413 



In 1896 Tracy H. Robertson organized the Oceanic Packing Co., 

 with headquarters in Seattle, and outfitted and sent to Bering Sea 

 the schooner Emma F. Hari"hn<a<n. She returned with a full cargo, 

 but as the demand in the Northwest for cod was quite slack, the ves- 

 sel was sent direct to San Francisco and the cargo sold there. 



In 1897 the company sent to Bering Sea the brigantine Blakeley 

 and the schooner Swan. The vessels returned with full cargoes, and 

 these were prepared for market at a plant the company had built in 

 West Seattle. 



The Klondike rush had begun in 1897, and in 1898 the company 

 became interested in the transportation business and diverted its ves- 

 sels into this industry, in the course of which the schooner Swan was 

 wrecked. In 1899 and 1900 the brigantine Blakeley was sent to the 

 Bering Sea banks by the company, and returned each season with 

 full cargoes. The business had not proved very profitable, however, 

 and the company ceased operations in the latter year. 



In 1898 Mr. Fay, a Seattle lawyer, sent the schooner Lizzie S. Sor- 

 renson (89 tons) to Bering Sea. She returned with a full cargo and 

 the fish were worked up at a plant built at Richmond Beach. The 

 venture could not have been very profitable, as only the one trip was 

 made. The Lizzie S. Sorrenson was a comparatively small schooner 

 and her chief title to fame rests upon the unusual fate she eventually 

 met. In 1909 the Tyee Co., which then operated a shore whaling 

 station at Tyee, southeast Alaska, purchased the schooner, which was 

 thereupon fitted with a gasoline engine and turned into a whaler. 

 On May 10, 1910, a whale was sighted in the ocean about 8 miles 

 southwest of Cape Addington. The vessel was cautiously worked 

 to within gunshot and a harpoon driven into the animal. The 

 weapon failed to reach a vital spot, and after an effort to escape the 

 gigantic mammal turned suddenly and, charging the vessel, struck 

 her full in the stern. The impact knocked out a portion of. the ves- 

 sel's bottom and she sank in a few minutes. 



The Seattle-Alaska Fish Co. began business in Seattle in 1902, 

 using for its home station the old West Seattle plant of the Oceanic- 

 Packing Co. The first year the schooner Carrier Dove was the only 

 vessel outfitted, but in 1903 the schooner Nellie Colman was added. 

 In 1906 the latter vessel was sold, her place being taken by the 

 schooner Maid of Orleans. Only the Carrier Dove was outfitted in 

 1907, but in 1908 she was sold and the Maid of Orleans outfitted. In 

 1910 the company was absorbed by the King & Winge Codfish Co., of 

 Seattle. 



In 1904 the late W. F. Robinson, who had been connected with 

 the New England fisheries for a number of years, and others bought 

 the schooner Alice and, under the name of the Schooner Alice Co. 

 (Inc.), sent her north. In 1905 the corporate name was changed to 

 the Robinson Codfish Co., the schooner Joseph Russ purchased, and 

 a large plant constructed at Anacortes, Wash. In 1911 the original 

 plant was sold and another erected at once on the company's prop- 

 erty in connection with a by-products plant that they owned. In 

 1912 the name of the company was changed to the Robinson Fisheries 

 Co. On April 20, 1912, the schooner Joseph Russ was lost on Chir- 

 ikoff Island, Alaska. In 1914 the schooner Wawona was purchased, 

 and the same year she brought home the largest trip of cod — 240,000 

 fish weighing about 1,100,000 pounds — ever caught and landed from 



