On Thursday morning, 19 sailboats set out from Ilwaco, Wash., out to sea across the Columbia River Bar. At an appointed time, they crossed the starting line and began a four-day race northward, 193 miles to Victoria, BC. The annual PNW Offshore Race is underway.

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Today, another repositioning cruise visits Astoria, as blue water cruise ships make their annual spring migration up the West Coast, to their northern summer vacation grounds in BC and Alaska.

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Today we honor a local business owner, North Coast Blues musician, and well loved community member who was instrumental in organizing iconic music festivals on the Long Beach Peninsula. Farewell, Clint Carter. We miss you already. Clint passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.

He was also a person whose voice was heard every year on the Ship Report around the holidays.

Today I’ll share a Ship Report annual tradition (a little earlier than usual) – a song Clint wrote, and sang with the Ilwaco Merchants Association: the Crabpot Tree Carol. It’s been a staple for years at Christmastime on the Peninsula, at the annual lighting of the Crabpot Christmas Tree.

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Today we’ll see two unusual vessels on the river, the cable ship Global Sentinel and the Offshore Support Vessel HOS Black Watch. Neither one is a cargo ship. Instead, both are specialized work vessels that do specific tasks in the maritime industry.

Photo: HOS Black Watch anchored off Astoria May 12, 2025. Photo Credit: Joanne Rideout

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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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Today we’ll talk a little about a somewhat mindboggling topic: what happens when a ship goes by… it’s connected to transit time, how long it takes a ship to get from one place to another. Massive ships move lots of water when they travel, and ships here are up against heavy current and tidal influences. We’ll talk about what defines transit time of the river.

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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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