Peninsular Thinking

Observant bunch, those folks in Manchester.

I got an email earlier in the week from Manchester resident Dave Pabst inquiring about a large — make that humongous — cargo ship anchored off Blake Island. Pabst, armed with binoculars and the magic of the Internet, already knew the ship was the Fortune Daisy, 738-foot bulk cargo ship based in Hong Kong.

You may have noticed the ship in photos from today’s Manchester dock replacement story. It’s hard to miss it there in the right of the photo.

Pabst wondered, “With charter rates in excess of $27,000 per day, someone is spending/losing a lot of money keeping this relatively new (built 2011), 738 foot long ship out of service.”

I poked into the ship’s story, using a handy site that Pabst already discovered called vesseltracker.com, a public site that shows the location of major ships around the world, with links to their specifications. The only thing I have to add to Pabst’s description is that the ship’s most recent port of call was Lianyungang, a major port in China.

I called Lt. Cmdr. Heather St. Pierre of the U.S. Coast Guard, who said the ship was more or less assigned anchorage in Yukon Harbor, as it arrive in the Seattle area earlier in the week, right after a weather pattern that caused large swells in South Puget Sound. St. Pierre did not know if the ship’s miscellaneous cargo was eventually bound for Seattle or Tacoma. She said having ships moored in protected pockets like Yukon Harbor, which is sheltered by Blake Island, is a common practice.

Not only is the surface water off Manchester relatively well protected from wind and waves, but the sea floor composition is such that it offers better “holding ground” or bite for anchors than in other areas, St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre had no other information on the ship, which according to vesseltracker.com was still there Saturday morning, but she said there’s no cause for alarm.

“There’s definitely nothing nefarious going on with this vessel,” St. Pierre said. “It’s just looking for a safe place to be.”

Well, aren’t we all?

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Friday Afternoon Club: A heads up on fun stuff to do this weekend.

Belfair
Salmon Festival
11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 600 NE Roessel Rd, Belfair

Bremerton
9/11 Remembrance
11 a.m. Evergreen Park

East Bremerton
Kitsap Humane Society Pet Adoptathon
10 a.m. Kitsap County Fairgrounds

Manchester
Fall Plant and Book Sale
9 a.m. Manchester Library, 8067 E Main St.

Manette
Manette Fest
10 a.m. Beautiful downtown Manette (don’t get lost)

Port Orchard
Poetry Slam
What: Art Reception, Music, Poetry Slam
When: Noon to 3:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: Manchester Gallery, 724 Bay St., downtown Port Orchard.
Details: Noon to 2 p.m., Music (Matt and Jeff, guitars) and refreshments;
2 to 3:30 p.m. Poetry Reading/Slam, including Penney, Connie, and Dean

Murder Mystery Event
What: Port Orchard is invaded by pirates.
When: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: downtown area
Details: Murder Mystery Event, Dinghy Derby Race, Market Faire; kids’ activities, entertainment, costume contest, VFW 911 Remembrance at 6:30 p.m. on the Waterfront; Pirate Ball, 6:30 p.m. (kids welcome until 8 p.m.); for a full schedule visit the Port Orchard Chamber of Commerce website

Poulsbo
Sea Kayaking Tour
10 a.m. 18809 Front Street, Poulsbo

Art Walk
5 to 8 p.m. in downtown Poulsbo

Way Out West Community Horse Show
7:30 a.m. Sandemar Farm, Poulsbo

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