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Torger Birkeland
Torger Birkeland was born on July 29, 1893 on a farm near the little town of Sauda, at the head of the Ryfylke Fjord near Stavanger, Norway. He emigrated to the United States in 19...view moreTorger Birkeland was born on July 29, 1893 on a farm near the little town of Sauda, at the head of the Ryfylke Fjord near Stavanger, Norway. He emigrated to the United States in 1903 with his mother and siblings, where his father had built a modest home at Vinland, near Hood Canal, in preparation for his family’s arrival. At the age of eleven Torger was initiated into the rough-and-tumble life of a logger. Tom, as he was nicknamed, covered the Puget Sound country with his blanket bundle slung over his shoulder, working from logging camp to logging camp. He started as a whistle punk and learned the techniques of steam-donkey logging. Ambitious, and knowing there was little prospect for advancement as a logger, Tom felt the lure of salt water, and at the age of sixteen shipped a cook and deck hand on the cannery tender Nebraska. His seafaring career began in earnest in 1913 on the famous Sound steamer Hyak as cabin boy. He soon realised that he had found his calling and, after serving the required time on deck, he obtained his papers as male and second-class pilot, and later his unlimited master’s and pilot’s licenses for the waters. Cpt. Birkeland saw the Mosquito Fleet wane and the new fleets develop. During a career spanning almost fifty years, he slowly but steadily advanced from the bottom positions in the logging and the steamboat world to Senior Master of the M.S. Evergreen State, having been master of the state of Washington’s finest steam vessels and ferryboats. He died in Seattle, Washington on March 15, 1990, aged 96.
Joshua Green (1869-1975) was an American sternwheeler captain, businessman, and banker. He rose from being a seaman to being the dominant figure of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, before becoming a banker. Living to the age of 105 and active in business almost to the end of his life, he became an invaluable source of information about the history of Seattle and the Puget Sound region.view less