We’ll talk a little today about ships on the river and their cargoes, which are primarily agricultural products and dry minerals.

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Now that the Rose Festival enthusiasm is well spent, it’s time to get back to the fun business of talking about our ships. And a little more about the Eagle, which is by now partway down the Oregon coast, bucking a south wind. Oh, and rain enters the forecast today…

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Monday we bid farewell to the USCG barque Eagle, the Coast Guard’s training ship. She leaves Astoria headed south for San Francisco with a new cadre of cadets aboard, ready to learn the ropes about sailing a tall ship.

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Friday morning, the beautiful tall ship Eagle, the US Coast Guard’s training ship, comes in from out at sea to the Port of Astoria, where she’ll be available for tours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here are the details:

Arrive at the  Port of Astoria’s Pier 1: around 11 am (this is a change from previous info)

Friday Tours: 3:30-7:00 pm

Saturday Tours: 10 am to 7pm

Sunday Tours: 10 am to 7 pm.

Monday: the Eagle heads out to sea (Departure Time TBA)

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Today we’ll take another look at the info about when and where you can tour the Eagle in Astoria. The original schedule, which was still out their earlier this week, was causing some confusion.

On Friday, the Eagle will begin tours at 3:30 pm. On Saturday and Sunday at 10 am. And a reminder that you do not have to use Real ID to get aboard, Regular government issued ID, such as your driver’s license will suffice.

Latest info about USCG Barque Eagle Tours this weekend in Astoria:

Eagle Tours

Friday, June 13 (Friday info is different from previously released schedules, updated per the CG this week)

Arrive at Port of Astoria Pier 1 around 12:30 pm

Open for tours: 3:30 – 7:00 pm

Saturday, June 14

Open for tours: 10 am – 7 pm

Sunday, June 15

Open for tours: 10 am – 7 pm

Monday: Underway, heading out to sea (will share time when I learn details)

And just to verify: You can use regular government-issued ID (like a driver’s license) to get aboard. You do NOT need Real ID for this tour.

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Today we’ll talk about why the Eagle never put up her sails on the Columbia when she was here for the Rose Festival. Several listeners asked about it.

Here also is the latest info, which I received Monday night, directly from the Coast Guard, regarding tours of the USCG Barque Eagle, which will be in Astoria beginning Friday:

Eagle Tours

Friday, June 13

Arrive at Port of Astoria Pier 1 around 12:30 pm

Open for tours: 3:30 – 7:00 pm

Saturday, June 14

Open for tours: 10 am – 7 pm

Sunday, June 15

Open for tours: 10 am – 7 pm

Monday: Underway, heading out to sea (will share time when I learn details)

And just to verify: You can use regular government-issued ID (like a driver’s license) to get aboard. You do NOT need Real ID for this tour.

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The Rose Festival Fleet ships passed Astoria yesterday and headed out to sea.

One of them will return to us at the end of the week for tours in Astoria and that’s the USCG Barque Eagle, America’s Tall Ship. She will be at the Port of Astoria for tours beginning on Friday.

And before I talk about that more, some really good news that I have been getting a lot of questions about.

OK, good news. I just verified with the Port of Astoria that when the Eagle is at the Port this coming weekend, you can board her for a tour with government issued ID, like your driver’s license. It does NOT have to be Real ID.

Sincere apologies for any confusion about this issue. Sources I consulted earlier said we did need Real ID, but that turned out to be incorrect.

But the good news is you can (according to the Port) just show up with your regular ID to board the ship. Whew. I’ve been stressing over this one. I want everyone to be able to get on board. She’s a beautiful ship.

Current info about tours (from the Eagle’s Facebook page):

Come see us at Pier 1 in Astoria where we’ll be offering free public tours during the following dates and times:

• Friday, June 13: TBD

• Saturday, June 14: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

• Sunday, June 15: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

No tickets are required, and tours are free of charge. See you then!

—————————————–

I’ll share any updates about Friday tour hours when/if I learn more.

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Rose Festival Fleet Summary:

Today (Monday) we will see the visiting ships from the Rose Festival Fleet head downriver and out to sea.

There was a change of plans for the USS Mustin over the weekend. She was slated to leave on Sunday morning from the Seawall in Portland where the ships were tied up in Tom McCall Park for tours.

Turns out she is leaving Monday with the rest of the visiting fleet. Apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by that, which I originally announced as happening Sunday morning. I was using the best information I had at the time. But plans change often with ships – they are not like mass transit – operating on set schedules. Their plans change according to their priorities and we have to roll with that as shipwatchers on land.

But I’m pretty confident that we’ll see her pass by on Monday with the rest of the departing fleet.

So here is the rundown as I know it at the moment:

Monday morning around 8 am, the US Navy missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas will depart from the seawall and head downriver.

Around 9, the USS Mustin is scheduled to depart. She is also a US Navy missile destroyer. Both of these ships were previously docked at the Port of Astoria on their inbound trip to the Rose Festival.

Around 10 am, the USCG Barque Eagle will depart Portland from that same area.

And also around 10 am the Canadian Navy Coastal Defence Vessel HMCS Nanaimo departs Portland.

We should be able to track these ships on AIS sites like vesselfinder and marine traffic. And while the Eagle I believe has her name in her AIS label, the other ships may use the words Govt vessel in their names on AIS. Or they could turn off their AIS entirely because they are active duty vessels.

Estimates for times are about 1.5 hours to Longview/Rainier, and 6 hours to Portland. But this varies with conditions on the river, so transit times vary.

More about the Eagle since I know that’s really high interest:

The Eagle looks as though she is heading out to sea Monday, according to the available info I have – since she has a week before she needs to be back in Astoria for tours, so they may be working with the cadets at sea during that time.  But I’m not entirely sure, so let’s watch what she does as she passes Astoria.

According to the Eagle’s Facebook page they’ll be back on Friday, June 13 in Astoria!

Come see us at Pier 1 where we’ll be offering free public tours during the following dates and times:

• Friday, June 13: TBD

• Saturday, June 14: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

• Sunday, June 15: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

No tickets are required and tours are free of charge. See you then! But a reminder that you need to have a Real ID or a passport to get on board, according to current federal regulations.

You can follow the Eagle on Facebook by going to “United States Coast Guard Barque EAGLE.”

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The Rose Festival Fleet will beginning their return trip downriver and out to sea over the weekend. We’ll see the first visiting ship leave Portland on Sunday, and the rest on Monday. He USCG Barque Eagle will head out to sea Monday but will return at the end of next week for tours in Astoria.

Photo Credit: Joanne Rideout. The USCG Barque Eagle, anchored off Astoria June 3, 2025.

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There’s a car ship ablaze off the coast of the Aleutians, after a fire started on board. The crew has been safely evacuated but the ship remains on fire. We’ll talk about the dangers of shipboard fires, made worse in the modern era of electric vehicles (EVs).

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