The Most Recent Ship Report Podcast:

Polar Star returns from Antarctica

I always like talking about this ship, because of her unique job and the role she plays in keeping people safe in a challenging part of the world. The USCG icebreaker Polar Star is a ship specially designed to handle difficult conditions that would sink most vessels. She's an older ship, but well maintained, and she just returned from a special annual mission in Antarctica.

Archive Podcasts:

Fisher Poet Mark Alan Lovewell

Feb 28, 2020

Fisher poet, songwriter and musician Mark Alan Lovewell was today’s guest on the Ship Reporrt. He’s from Martha’s Vineyard, and is visiting Astoria for the 23rd Annual Fisher Poets Gathering. I was fortunate to have him as my guest live on the air today He’s a passionate advocate of fishermen and the fishing life. Hear him sing part of his iconic song, “Fishing Boat Sarah,” about what a boat means in the lives of a fishing family.

Fisher Poets Gathering: Clem Starck

Feb 27, 2020

Award winning poet Clem Starck is another regular at the FPG every year. His imagery grabs listeners and takes them along. This riveting poem, the “Pan Oceanic Faith,” is named for a ship that went down while Starck was a merchant seaman. It’s a haunting tale of survivor guilt and the sense of random fate that can overtake sailors at sea.

Fisher Poets Gathering: Johanna Reichold

Feb 25, 2020

This weekend is the 23rd Annual Fisher Poets Gathering. In honor of Fisher Poets past and present, today we’ll hear a song from the 2008 Gathering, recorded by KMUN radio at the Wet Dog Cafe in Astoria, as part of a CD project where artists agreed to allow their work to appear on an anthology of performances from that year. Johanna Reichold was a standout that year: a passionate woman poet and songwriter who here shares here song about a hellish captain: “The Whole Town Told Me Not to Work for You.”

Carships, Part 3

Feb 18, 2020

Well, I started listening to more of this great archive interview from 2006 with Capt. Robert Johnson, Columbia River Bar Pilot, all about car ships, and there was such good info in it that I decided that last week’s two part series should be extended a bit more. Today we hear more about these giant ships that carry vehicles, and especially about the difficulties handling them on the bar and on the river in bad weather.

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