Tag Archives: Ed Ricketts
Western Flyer from Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez returns to Gulf of California after 85 years
A fishing vessel that was built during the Monterey Bay’s sardine boom and made famous by a Nobel Prize-winning author will return to the site of its former glory after 85 years. The Western Flyer, a state-of-the-art purse seiner when it was built in 1937, was chartered by John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed “Doc” Ricketts, for a six-week expedition that would be immortalized in the “Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research.” Fully renovated to its original specifications and updated with cutting-edge technology, including a hybrid diesel-electric engine and science lab, the Western Flyer will return to the Gulf of California and retrace Steinbeck’s and Ricketts’ groundbreaking journey of discovery. 18 photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:45
Western Flyer relics go to auction this week
The sharp bang of an auctioneer’s gavel, due to sound Thursday, Feb. 13, in Berkeley, California, could echo locally. A Wauna man seems a bit anxious. He’s nursing a years-long emotional tie to the formerly junk-piled maritime items for sale, not to mention a financial stake in the auction outcome. “I’m on pins and needles,” Michael Hemp told Gig Harbor Now last week. A Northern California man, the original salvager and owner of the items for the last 49 years, has a lesser emotional tie to the relics. But he maintains hopeful anticipation for a far bigger slice of a potential cash pie. Because the objects Fry, then a teenager, rescued from a scrap heap in Alaska are original parts of the “Western Flyer,” perhaps the most famous fishing boat in the world. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:41
Western Flyer scheduled to make historic expedition 85 years after Steinbeck and Ricketts
The historic Western Flyer will return to the Gulf of California this spring, marking 85 years since the famous expedition with John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts and their crew. Local scientists, educators and conservationists will team up to study the Gulf of California’s ecosystems, exchange knowledge and brainstorm new ideas to protect the marine world. The expedition starts at 3 p.m. March 16, departing from Old Fisherman’s Wharf. The send-off celebration will mark nearly 85 year to the day since the now-famous journey that inspired the book ‘Sea of Cortez. ’more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:04
Local man helping auction relics from Western Flyer, a boat famously connected to Steinbeck
How much would you pay to own one-of-a-kind pieces of fishing, environmental, scientific and literary history? Could you be an “angel?” Those are questions inspired by a Wauna man’s quest. Michael Hemp, a vibrant, engaging and consistently curious 81-year-old whose business card lists him as “Historian, Heritage Marketing & Communications Consultant, Researcher, 
Archivist, Lecturer, Novelist,” seeks a buyer for a brass steering wheel, a hefty engine shift lever and two gimballed compasses. The items are original pieces from a 76-foot-long purse seiner fishing boat built in Tacoma 87 years ago. It is similar in design and purpose to hundreds launched there, in Gig Harbor, and in other Northwest boatyards during the 20th century. One big distinction: All four artifacts once were crucial and original parts of arguably the world’s most famous purse seiner, a title earned because a couple of friends chartered it in Monterey, California, in 1940 for a six-week cruise of research and exploration in Mexico. Video, Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:39
Steinbeck’s famous Western Flyer sails back to Monterey after years of restoration: Photos, inside and out!
The original captain’s desk sits in the wheelhouse, where legendary author John Steinbeck may have jotted notes for his Log from the Sea of Cortez. A guy wire like the one he wrote would “sing under the wind,” stabilizes the mast. Nearby is the galley ventilator where “the odor of boiling coffee” soothed his senses. Neglected, twice sunk and now painstakingly restored, the Western Flyer – dubbed the world’s most famous fishing boat for bearing Steinbeck and his biologist friend Ed Ricketts down the California coast on an ecological adventure — returns Saturday to Monterey for the first time in 75 years to begin a new life in science education. Now docked at the 
Moss Landing harbor, the Western Flyer will be escorted to Monterey by a decorated boat parade, honoring an end-of-the-season fishing community celebration held the day before Steinbeck and Ricketts headed out on their six-week journey. The event will include tours of the boat, activities and live music. Photos, >>click to read<< 10:15
Steinbeck boat being restored – A crew is bringing her back to life, plank by plank, spike by spike, nail by nail.
Somewhere in the Western Flyer there is a spirit, said Chris Chase, project director for the Western Flyer Foundation, the nonprofit group restoring the fishing boat that carried Ed Ricketts and John Steinbeck to The Sea of Cortez in 1940. “I don’t know who it is,” said the 51-year-old shipwright. “It could be Ed (Ricketts). It could be John Steinbeck. It could be Carol Steinbeck (John Steinbeck’s first wife).” Whoever it is, something has saved the 80-year-old, 77-foot purse seiner from destruction. >click here to read< 14:31
