We lost a commercial fishing boat on Friday morning on the Grays Harbor Bar, and the captain of the boat remains missing and is presumed dead. Three of the four people on board were rescued by the US Coast Guard.

The incident reminds us again in stark terms how dangerous maritime work can be. The Coast Guard responded fast, and a good Samaritan boat near by was helping too, as the stricken vessel struggled taking on water.

in a matter of minutes she sank, and with it her captain. Life for his family will never be the same. Today we honor all those who make their living on the sea.

Image: Search and rescue patterns overlay a map near Westport, Wash., after Coast Guard watchstanders began search efforts for a missing man after the vessel he was on sank, May 9, 2025. Three others who were aboard the vessel were rescued from the water by a rescue boat crew from Station Grays Harbor. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

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Today we’ll see the Pride of America cruise ship arrive from Hawaii and head past Astoria (not stopping there) and head upriver to the shipyard in Portland for maintenance. Arriving from Hawaii, she has no passengers on board. An unusual thing about her is that she’s US flagged, because her cruise route takes her between the Hawaiian Islands, all part of the state of Hawaii. That makes her a Jones Act vessel, and as such she must be US flagged, US-built and crewed by US citizens or nationals.

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We have yet another huge, blue-water cruise ship in town, those behemoths that come in from out in the ocean to dock in Astoria for the day. Today we’ll take a look at what’s ahead for the Port of Astoria’s cruise ship season.

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A look at ship traffic, with some diversions into the “whats” and “whys” of particular ships traveling on the river today.

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I got a listener question from someone this weekend who asked me why there were ships anchored in the river off Astoria. It’s a telling question, in this season of public anxiety about tariffs. We’ll talk about why those ships are a normal part of life here, and how to learn more about what may happen next.

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Today we’ll talk about marine weather and ship schedules, but also about why there were so many cruise ships in Astoria this week. The answer lies in a cruise industry protocol that happens around this time of year: repositioning cruises, to take ships from their winter grounds to their summer grounds. Astoria is along the way for these West Coast maneuvers, and people like out city. So they stop here along the way to somewhere else.

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Astoria welcomes its second cruise ship of the week, and this one will not need to anchor in the river to wait for high tide at the dock.

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Lots of folks saw that big cruise ship sitting at anchor near Warrenton, instead of at the Port of Astoria where we all thought she should be.

Turns out Mother Nature had other plans for her… there was a extra-low low tide this morning, and that meant that the ship had to wait in deeper water for the tide to rise, so there would be enough deep water at the dock so she could tie up there.

It was a planned maneuver executed by the bar pilots. Once the tide rose enough, the ship was able by midday to head to the dock.

Part of the unseen expertise that keeps ships of all kinds safe on the river.

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Today, a perennial question that comes up now and again: where actually is the Columbia River Bar? It opens the door to an interesting and complex answer about how the river works and influences all our lives here.

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