The Ship Report

A look at the ship schedule, the weather and the origin of the term "ides" on this, the Ides of October

In the ancient Roman calendar, the Ides of March marked the 15th of that month, and a fateful day in history for Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. In Shakespeare's play, named for him, the story recounts a historical fact: that Caesar was assassinated on March 15 (the Ides of March) in the year 44 BC.

Thanks to Shakespeare, that term "ides" persists in our culture, but it's not just March. October has one too. And today is the Ides of October, a day that marks the middle of the month.

We'll also take a look at our seesawing fall weather, and see who's on the river today moving cargo.

Interesting ships on the river Tuesday

While all ships are inherently interesting, we have a few unusual ones passing by on Tuesday. One will visit the Port of Astoria.

We'll see a new Military Sealift Command replenishment oiler headed to the Portland shipyard, a containership (we don't see them as often as we used to) headed to the Port of Portland, and a blue water cruise ship stopping for the day at the Port of Astoria.

A look at transit times - how long takes to get from one place to another by ship

Today we'll look at transit times, how long it takes a ship to go from one place to another at sea, and here on the river.

The pilot boat Peacock, now a museum exhibit, was a real game changer for Columbia River commerce

This week marks 15 years since the pilot boat Peacock was lifted out of the Columbia River and placed on land, on the campus of the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, where she welcomes people traveling past the museum on Marine Drive.

She's now a retired icon of Columbia River shipping, but when she first arrived here in the late 1960s, the Peacock opened a new era in river commerce. That was thsnks to her unprecedented ability to handle channeling weather conditions that previous pilot boats here could not.

Today we'll honor the Peacock and talk about her work with the Columbia River Bar Pilots.

A look at who's on the river today

We've got an abundant ship schedule today, so let's see who's on the river today, moving cargo or waiting their turn.

Listener question about marine pilots and how they board ships

I got an interesting listener question, about the way that marine pilot's board a ship using a pilot ladder. The answer illustrates how dangerous the job is, and how much pilots must rely on their own expertise and judgement, moment to moment, to safely do their jobs.

A blue water cruise ship heads downriver after a stint in Portland

Today we'll talk about an interesting and unusual sight that happened on Sunday on the river: a big bluewater cruise ship was heading downriver and out to sea from Portland.

We'll talk about why she was all the way upriver in Portland, since such ships generally stop in Astoria and go no further upriver except perhaps to anchor off the downtown waterfront while they are in town for the day.

A look at our eccentric regional weather

Today we'll take a look at this week's storm, which brought stormy conditions some places around the region, but missed others.

Update on the weather

Well, in typical Mother Nature fashion, she's doing what she likes, and our predicted storm is a bit late.

But arrive it will, and will likely make things messy for vessels out in it, and delay departures for ships that are in port here. We'll talk today about what to expect, with the usual caveat, "subject to change."

Weather comin' in, as we bid farewell to September

We have some of our usual, messy fall weather coming in today, and I thought it would be a good time to review some of the weather jargon we start to see in our forecasts at this time of year, and what those words and numbers mean.

We'll talk about ships on the bar in bad weather, and also what's happening with other river bars along our PNW coast, where vessels may also be seeking refuge from the storm.