More from Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Thron Riggs, about why ships use the port anchor when they anchor here on the river.

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More ways to help Coast Guard families affected by the shutdown

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Today on the Ship Report, a real treat: Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Thron Riggs answers a listener question about anchoring ships. Captain Riggs was instrumental in helping the Ship Report get off the ground as a radio show 16 years ago.

Many thanks to him for all the information over the years, and for all his help answering this complex question today: What anchor does a ship use when she comes into the Astoria Anchorage – port or starboard?

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Today we’re talking about a recent Coast Guard request asking boatowners and other mariners to take care to secure their watercraft from going adrift in bad weather. Many accidental search and rescue missions have been launched because someone’s kayak, for example, went for a ride without them, blown by wind and rain.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Photo credit: By Banes, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2052946

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The USCG icebreaker Polar Star accomplished her annual mission to Antarctica this week, breaking a channel through 21 ft thick sea ice to allow a supply ship to reach McMurdo Station at the bottom of the world.

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Lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation immediately to allow the USCG to get paychecks despite the government shutdown.

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As USCG personnel face the absence of their paychecks as part of the government shutdown, we share ways that you can help by contributing food and money to area groups that will get resources to Coast Guard families who need them.

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Soon after the tragic wreck of the crab boat Mary B II on the Yaquina Bay Bar in Newport, Oregon, earlier this month, many people in the fishing community shared their grief at the loss of three lives.

One of the most eloquent tributes came from Fisher Poet Tele Aadsen, who fishes Alaska waters with her partner Joel Brady Power, on their salmon troller Nerka. Today’s Ship Report features Tele’s blog post, a testimony to lives lost under harrowing conditions, in a difficult profession.

Photo credit: Tele Aadsen from her post on Facebook about the Mary B II. Thank you, Tele, for your great writing and the eloquent window you give us into life at sea.

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The tragic loss of the Dungenness crab boat Mary B II on the Yaquina Bay Bar this week has thrown the PNW fishing community into bitter mourning, as crabbing season finally gets underway after more than a month of delay. Three men died attempting to cross the bar, coming home with a full crab boat after a long round of work at sea.

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In the final installment of our interview series about the Coast Guard’s unseen role in supporting safe cargo transit on US waters, we talk with Captain Jeremy Smith, Captain of the Port, Sector Columbia River, and commander of Air Station Astoria, Oregon.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, USGC.

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