African Queen and Barge Dave Isakson – class mate of Gerry Terry March (FB)

Driving across the Judd Creek Bridge in the 1980s the African Queen and
bunkhouse barge were fixtures of the Judd Creek estuary. The African Queen is
long gone, sold and refurbished and but still cruising Puget Sound as the Arrow
No.1. The bunkhouse barge still graces the estuary, sunk and sitting on the
bottom and inundated to the second floor at high tides.

The story of the African Queen and the barge on Vashon go back to the Dave
Isakson family and their dream of rebuilding the old tug Arrow No.1, which had
been renamed African Queen. They planned to use the tug to tow the old logging
bunkhouse barge to Alaska. They equipped they barge with typewriters and
sewing machines, and planned to use it as a floating, mobile, classroom to
teaching young Native Alaskan women to type and sew. “The stuff that dreams
are made of.”

The Arrow No.1 began life as a tug, built along the Columbia River in Astoria,
Oregon in 1924 for the Arrow Company. Her sister-ship Arrow No.2 was still
working as a pilot boat out of Astoria into the 1980s. She served for years as a
working tug, and then, renamed African Queen, she served as a charter fishing
boat out of Westport, Washington captained by Howard Redding, whose family
Redding Beach was named. Another Vashon connection.

The history of the bunkhouse barge is less well documented and we do not know
when it was built, or where it was moored as the logging camps moved around
the Sound to where the latest logging operation was taking place. As a
bunkhouse it had a larger common room and kitchen on the lower level and
bunkrooms on the upper level. This was an ideal arrangement for the planned
floating classroom.

When Isakson’s dream began to unravel, Dan Cadman purchased the vessel in
1982 and worked to get it re-caulked, painted, and into working condition. This
included rebuilding the original enormous Atlas engine which measured thirteen
feet long and over 6 feet tall. Cadman then sold it to the current owners who still
cruise it on the Sound and often take it to classic boat shows.

The Judd Creek estuary is a quite place, with a few homes dotting the shore, the
historic landmarked bridge crossing above, and the Vashon Land Trust working
to purchase the stream bank and re-establish Judd Creek as a natural habitat.
The barge sits forlornly in the Judd Creek mud, providing habitat and evoking
wonder from those who catch sight of her as they paddle up the estuary.

1981 Photograph – Jim Burke for The Beachcomber

2016 Photograph – Terry Donnelly