The (near) Wreck of the Trawler Persistence

The legend lives on from the Swinomish on down,

of the passage they call Lushootseed;

Deception, it’s said, delivers fear and pure dread,

when the morning fog travels with light speed.

The boat, well cared for, weighing 17,000 pounds more

than the trawler Persistence weighed empty;

Our good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed

when the thick fog of Whidbey comes early.

The ship was the pride of Chuck, Kent and his bride,

Coming up from the locks in Seattle;

As trawlers will go, it’s a bit older we know,

with a good captain and a crew easily rattled.

Concluding some plans with a forecast in hand

when we left fully loaded for Roche Harbor;

But early that morn, when the ship was seaborne,

Could it be the fog feared on the doppler?

When lunch prep came, Kent came on deck sayin’

“Bob, will you please check on the lasagne”;

At 11 a.m., as the 5-foot swells came in, he said,

“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya.”

The captain exclaimed we had water comin’ in,

yelling “Bob, Rick, get back in the cabin;”

Fog so thick we could not see, our knees were wobbly,

Could it be the boat wreck we’d be fearin’?

Does anyone know, why we had to just go,

and test Deception Pass’ superpowers;

We look back and say we’d have made Bowman’s Bay,

in the p.m. well under an hour.

We might have cracked up, we might have capsized

We might have been thrown in the water;

But all we can say, we’re still alive today

We went home to our wives, sons and daughters.