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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2016
98-year-old boat steals owner’s heart — and life savings
Three years later, Patrol
No. 1’s crew used hooks to
ish for 40 cases of whiskey
dumped into the water after a
boat chase near Alki.
The archives tell of the boat
saving the life of the harbor
master in 1929 when he had to
jump into Elliott Bay during a
devastating dock ire in what
now is Terminal 46.
Or when the boat did such
rescues as that of three teen
boys who in 1931 were drift-
ing “aimlessly” for four hours
in Elliott Bay in “a rickety
raft” with “paddles fashioned
out of boxwood.”
Relics can ‘stir
your soul’
By ERIK LACTIS
The Seattle Times
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash.
— There is something about
old, historic wooden boats that,
for some, turns them almost
into living beings.
Says Mike Luis, former
executive director at the Cen-
ter for Wooden Boats, “They
stir your soul. Boats are inher-
ently emotional. They are beau-
tiful things. They have interest-
ing stories, they did interesting
things. They’re not a neutral
object.”
This is the story of Patrol
No. 1, a little-known but signif-
icant Seattle tugboat that a cen-
tury ago guarded and watched
our waters for more than four
decades.
It’s not an overstatement to
say Patrol No. 1 ended up tak-
ing over the life of its last owner.
Marc Landry, 58, has used
up his savings trying to restore
it over the past eight years. He’s
now homeless, staying with
various friends in town, going
to the food bank.
Since the boat left service,
he’s been among three own-
ers of the boat who have spent
some $300,000 in total restor-
ing it. But only Landry has had
this much emotional invest-
ment. The other two knew
when enough was enough.
Now, Patrol No. 1 is headed
for demolition; the Port of Port
Townsend took possession of
the boat after Landry didn’t
move it when given an eviction
notice in January. It’s been at
the port for ive years.
Port oficials say they have
had numerous problems with
Landry, from late rent pay-
ments, to living aboard the
boat in a “cocoon” of boards
and plastic without proper
permission.
People with the kind of pas-
sion shown by Landry don’t
do very well with bureaucra-
cies. They don’t — or for-
get to — conform to the rules.
Their work areas are messy and
cluttered.
“It’s very unfortunate. I
don’t believe any parties wished
it would come to this moment,”
says Sam Gibboney, executive
director of the Port.
Says Landry, “I have a
beautiful boat that deserves a
rebirth.”
About his arrival in Port
Townsend in 2011 from the
boat’s previous location on Van-
couver Island, he says: “I had
heard this was the Wooden Boat
Capital of the West Coast. I
came here with dark brown hair.
Now it’s completely white.”
Documents pile up
Patrol No. 1 sits uninished
behind a locked gate at the
Port’s longterm storage yard.
Landry is not permitted to board
it.
Since January, a massive
amount of court documents
have accumulated in the battle
between the Port and Landry.
He has iled a $10 million
defamation and “emotional dis-
tress” case in Jefferson County
Superior Court against the Port
and Jim Pivarnik, its then-dep-
uty director. Landry asked the
court to vacate the eviction.
A money hole
Sy Bean/The Seattle Times
Marc Landry, who purchased the Seattle Harbor Patrol Boat No. 1 in June of 2008, spent over $185,000 and between
7,500-9,000 man hours restoring the wooden ship, which now sits at a shipyard at the Port of Port Townsend. The Port
of Port Townsend deemed the boat derelict and will either sell it or demolish it. Landry estimates he only needs one
more month of work to make the boat float.
The proceedings dragged on
with Landry iling paperwork
“two, three and four times,”
said Seth Goodstein, attorney
for the Port, asking the court
“to rule on the same issues
he has already unsuccessfully
brought.”
The court has awarded the
Port $5,475 in sanctions against
Landry.
The Port iled a motion ask-
ing that Landry be declared “a
vexatious litigant” and barred
from further ilings, but a judge
did not agree. Landry responded
to the request by reiling his suit.
The Port says Landry was
late on his rent 46 times. Landry
says that on average he paid by
the 20th due date each month,
and that, like all other tenants,
he had up to 90 days to pay.
“They’re making me the
exception,” he says.
The Port can evict any-
one from its 200-boat shipyard
without cause with 20 days’
notice. Oficials say they sel-
dom do that.
The Port says it “is also
frankly concerned that Mr.
Landry fails to grasp the hole
into which he continues to dig
himself.”
It says his repetitive litiga-
tion “with expectation of dif-
fering results indicate irrational
behavior.”
Landry responds, “They’re
talking through their ass.”
He does have his supporters
in this town of 9,200.
Says James Fritz, 76, a
retired general contractor: “This
is supposed to be a Victorian
seaport. You need a few old
boats being worked on to add
character to the port.”
Sure, says Fritz about
Landry, “he’s a little bit messy.
It’s conined to a small area.”
Russ Guilford, a retired bus
driver, met Landry while walk-
ing around the port taking pic-
tures. Guilford and his wife,
Lorie, recently let Landry camp
out in their backyard.
“He’s a quirky guy with a
different personality than most
people,” says Guilford. “He
wasn’t a troublemaker. It’s
beyond me why this is happen-
ing to him. It’s beyond sad.”’
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Hunting for pirates
Patrol No. 1’s working days
were such that she should have
been the star of her own TV
show: “Stories from the Harbor
Patrol.”
She was the irst vessel
built speciically to protect our
waterfront terminals, including
“pirates” that “roamed the bay
all night,” said a May 10, 1918,
Seattle Daily Times story about
its launching.
Waterfront pirates. Just 100
years ago in Seattle.
The 55-foot boat’s equip-
ment included riles, a machine
gun and pumps for ighting ires.
The city was so proud of the
boat that it also was to be used
by the mayor and other ofi-
cials to meet incoming ships
of importance “in a way that
will relect credit to the port.”
In christening her, “genuine
Champagne” was used.
She worked irst for the
city’s old Harbor Department
and then for the Seattle Police
Department until her retirement
in 1961.
A Seattle Daily Times story
from May 31, 1920, the year
Prohibition went into effect,
told of Patrol No. 1 using “sev-
eral rile shots” to bring to a
halt a speeding boat on Lake
Washington just off Laurel-
hurst that was suspected of run-
ning whiskey. Three men on the
boat were seen dumping over-
board three heavy gunnysacks.
The captain said he believed
he heard “a noise like clinking
glassware” in the sacks.
If you want to preserve his-
toric boats, better open up your
wallet.
The
legendary
ferry
Kalakala (made of iron, steel
and copper) was demolished
in 2015. One guess for resto-
ration costs was $15 million.
The schooner Wawona,
built from Douglas ir, was
sawed into pieces in 2009.
Restoration costs also were
estimated at $15 million.
Wood boats aren’t meant to
last.
Says Mike Luis, “Even-
tually you end up replacing
everything. They burn. They
get shipworms. All kinds of
things. There’s very little of
the original left.”
Landry tallies up $78,000
in materials.
Landry is a Canadian who
says his background includes
working in data collection,
concrete construction and as
a geoduck diver. (Part of his
money problems, he says, is
that as a Canadian he can’t
legally work here.)
Landry dreams about in-
ishing work on the boat. He
says he needs less than a
month and he can get out on
the water.
Then: “Go ishing. Crab-
bing. Shrimping. Take people
out on day cruises.”
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