WHERE TO HEAR MARITIME MUSIC
There’s a lot of maritime music around the Pacific Northwest, AND there are good places (besides this one) to find it.
Chantey Sings
- Northwest Seaport Chantey Sing (Seattle, WA) Usually on the second Friday of every month in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
- Tavern Shanty Sing (Georgetown, WA) Usually the 3rd Tuesday of the month at Jules Maes Saloon in Georgetown.
- Sea Shanties at Penn Cove (Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island). Usually 2nd or 3rd Fridays, 7-9pm. 780 SE Bayshore Drive, Oak Harbor. (Note, there are 2 other Penn Cove locations on Whidbey. Make sure you’re heading to the Oak Harbor location)
- Budd Bay Shanty Sing (Olympia, WASHINGTON) Held on the first Sunday of every month, 7-9pm. In Summer by the harbor, in Winter at Mercato’s restaurant on Market Street (more info)
- The Second Saturday Sea Song Singing Session (Richland, WASHINGTON) Note: This sing is not 100% chanties
- Port Townsend Sing Shanties Song Circle (Port Townsend, WASHINGTON) Note: This sing stopped in May 2017, but occasionally holds special events.
- Victoria Nautical Song Circle (Victoria, BC.) Note: Might not still be active
Other Lists & links for Community Sings (Maritime and Not Maritime)
- (In early 2023 we will re-start this) The Maritime Music Monthly Email List sends out a monthly listing of upcoming maritime music events and other community sings happening in the NORTHWEST. To join the list send a note to (…Coming in 2023)
- Vancouver Folk Song Society in Vancouver, BC.
- Seattle (WASHINGTON) Folklore Society has sings, jams, concerts, and news
- Portland (OREGON) FolkMusic Society has a song circle, concerts and more
- Sing Out keeps a list of community sings around the UNITED STATES
- Pacific Northwest Folklore Society paused for the pandemic and we hope it re-starts soon!
- Victory Music paused for the pandemic and we hope it re-starts soon!
- Sing Shanties keeps a (somewhat out of date) list of shantysings in western WASHINGTON
Performers and Festivals
- Port Gamble Maritime Music Festival Every August in Port Gamble, WASHINGTON.
- Fisher Poets Gathering A celebration of the commercial fishing industry in poetry, prose, and song, every February in Astoria, OREGON.
- The Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival Every year, this (WASHINGTON) festival offers free tours several types of boats, performances of maritime music, and concludes with a “Shanty Send-Off”. This is the best place to hear the Arthur Foss engine running (as heard in the last track on the Northwest Tugboat Tales CD).
- A list of Music Festivals in British Columbia, Canada
MUSEUMS and ORGANIZATIONS
- Northwest Seaport is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime heritage of Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, WA).
- Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society has thousands of historical photos and other documents concerning Northwest tugboats.
- Center for Wooden Boats view, tour, or learn to sail and repair some wonderful old boats (Seattle, WA).
- List of Maritime Museums kept by Robert H. Smith (link is to the Washington page)
- MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) also has an extensive photo collection.
- Northwest Schooner Society trains people in “old-fashioned seamanship”
- United Indians of All Tribes Canoe Project (Seattle, WA)
- Columbia River Maritime Museum (Astoria, OR).
- Foss Waterway Seaport (Tacoma, WA).
- Coast Guard Museum, Northwest (Seattle, WA).
- Seattle Harbor Cruises by Argosy Cruises (Seattle, WA).
- Sea Scouts is for young men and women aged 14-21.
- Northwest Maritime Center (Port Townsend, WA).
- Anacortes Maritime Heritage Center (Anacortes, WA)
TUGBOATS
Tour a Tugboat
- The Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival, every year on the Fourth of July weekend, offers free tours of all kinds of boats. This is the best place to hear the Arthur Foss engine running, as heard in the last track on the Northwest Tugboat Tales CD.
- Olympia Harbor Days Labor Day weekend in Olympia, Washington.
Take Children to See a Tugboat
- Tugboat Story Time on the Arthur Foss is a free, drop-in event on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month.
- The Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival, every year on the Fourth of July weekend, offers free tours of all kinds of boats.
- The Arthur Foss (below) offers tours several times a year
The Arthur Foss
The Arthur Foss is an 1889 tugboat, and a National Historic Landmark. This boat is currently owned by Northwest Seaport, and is tied up at Historic Ships Wharf at Lake Union Park in Seattle.
Online Information about Tugboats
- Tugboat Enthusiasts Society
- International Retired Tugboat Association
- Use the search terms “marine towing” + (the name of a port city). Note: Most of these websites are geared towards customers (do you want something towed?), but many of them have photo galleries and info on their company’s history.
Tugboat Companies in the Pacific Northwest
- Boyer Towing
- Brusco Tug & Barge
- Crowley Maritime
- Dunlap Towing Co.
- Foss
- Fremont Tugboat Co.
- Hodder Tugboat Co.
- Island Tug & Barge
- Northland Service
- Old Tacoma Marine (repair of heavy-duty diesel engines)
- Olympic Tug & Barge
- Tidewater
- Western Towboat Co.
Please email us at info@maritimefolknet.org with names of other marine towing companies to add to this list.
Photos and Books about Tugboats
- Western Isles
- Flickr: Log Booms
- Flickr: Workboats and Tugboats
- Flickr: Puget Sound Tugboats
- Flickr: Tugboats
OTHER BOATS (not tugs)
- Lightship Swiftsure (LV83) is a 1904 steam engine lightship and one of the oldest remaining lightships in the US. Currently owned & being restored by Northwest Seaport.
- M/V Lotus is a 1909 motor houseboat yacht built in Seattle for Maurice McMicken, and currently owned & operated by the M/V Lotus Foundation.
- Twilight is a 1933 Fishing Troller built in Seattle, and now owned & operated by Northwest Seaport.
- Schooner Adventuress is a 1913 gaff-rigged schooner and a National Historic Landmark, currently operated by Sound Experience, a non-profit organization based in Port Townsend, Washington.
- Steamship Virginia V is a 1922 steamship and the last operational example of a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet steamer.
- Lady Washington is a full-scale replica of the 1787 Tall Ship of the same name, built in 1989 owned and operated by Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority.
- Schooner Zodiac is a 1924 two-masted gaff topsail schooner based in Bellingham, WA.
- Duwamish is a 1909 fireboat and a National Historic Landmark, currently on Historic Ships Wharf, South Lake Union (Seattle, WA).
- Snagboat W.T. Preston is a 1929 sternwheel snagboat and a National Historic Landmark. Now an exhibit in Anacortes, WA