36 PACIFIC COD FISHERIES. 
Co. On April 20, 1912, the schooner Joseph Russ was lost on Chiri- 
koff 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 
an American vessel. In 1915 she broke her 1914 record with a catch 
of 258,323 fish weighing approximately 1,150,000 pounds. 
In 1904 the late Andrew Webber, of Seattle, made a venture in the 
industry by sending to Bering Sea the little schooner /da May, and 
repeated it the next season, after which he withdrew. 
In 1905 the King & Winge Codfish Co., composed principally of 
King & Winge, the well-known shipbuilders of Seattle, sent the 
schooner Harold Blekum (185 tons) to the Bering Sea banks, and 
continued doing so, adding the schooner Vega later, until 1910, when 
the company joined the consolidation known as the Western Codfish 
Co. The company had its home-curing station located in West 
Seattle. - : 
The Blom Codfish Co. was organized in Tacoma in 1905 and sent 
the schooner Falcon (195 tons) north, in the meantime building its 
home-curing station at Quartermaster Harbor. The company had 
a very checkered career, finally ceasing business in 1914, when its 
assets, including the schooner Fortuna, passed into the hands of 
Seattle parties, who organized the Northern Codfish Co. for the 
purpose of carrying on the business. The latter company sent the 
vessel north in 1915, but dropped out of the business early in 1916, 
the schooner being chartered to the Pacific Coast Codfish Co. 
The Pacific Coast Codfish Co. was formed in 1911 by former stock- — 
holders of the Seattle-Alaska Fish Co., which had been sold to the 
King & Winge Codfish Co. The company constructed a home- 
curing station at Poulsbo the same year, and sent north the schooner 
John A. In 1913 the schooner Chas. R. Wilson was added, and in 
1914 the schooner Maid of Orleans, while in 1915 the schooner For- 
tuna was chartered and added to the fleet. 
In 1910 T. Tilmann, jr., of the firm of Tilmann & Bendel, and 
other San Francisco parties, none of whom had heretofore been 
engaged in the business, attempted to form a consolidation of the 
Puget Sound companies. A controlling interest was secured in 
the King & Winge Codfish Co., and this company then purchased 
the Seattle-Alaska Fish Co. The two properties were then merged 
under the name of the Western Codfish Co. The property of Capt. 
J. A. Matheson was purchased and it was incorporated under the 
name of the Matheson Fisheries Co., with Capt. Matheson in 
charge of operations. In the meantime the Union Fish Co., of San 
Francisco purchased the cargoes of the schooners Joseph Russ, Alice, 
and Fortuna, the two former belonging to the Robinson Fisheries 
Co. and the latter to the Blom Codfish Co. The Western Codfish Co. 
