Coast Guard pilot boat CGR-2469 came to the Olson & Winge Marine Works yard as the Columbia for conversion during World War II. She had been built in 1914 as the King & Winge, one of the most famous ships ever built in Seattle. Designed by Albert Winge, she was built by the King and Winge Shipbuilding Company, intended as the biggest and best halibut schooner on the coast. The construction was very strong, and she was covered with a layer of ironbark sheathing. The King & Winge was chartered before construction was completed by the Hibbard-Swenson Co. for a 1914 expedition to the Arctic for hunting, trading, and making a motion picture. Over the next 80 years the King & Winge aided in the rescue of the crew of the Karluk, was present at the wreck of the Princess Sophia, and was employed as a halibut schooner, a rum runner, a pilot boat, a yacht, and a crabber. She sank in high seas in the Bering Sea, without loss of life, in 1994.
This image of U. S. Coast Guard pilot boat CGR-2469 in the water at the Olson & Winge Marine Works yard was taken in 1944. U. S. Army P-215 and another U. S. Army vessel are also visible, and the Ballard Bridge can be seen at the left edge of the frame.
Photographer's number: 17139
Caption information source: https://navalmarinearchive.com/sbh/shipyards/emergencysmall/olson.html
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 7.5 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv50635.
Credit: MOHAI, Olson & Winge Marine Works Photographs, 1972.5503.141
