Bob Bitchin
Don’t Ask Every hour or so a cannon shot would rock the harbor. This was to welcome new arrivals or just to let folks know there were cannons aboard. There was even a 13 cannon salute to Capt. Jim Ray, a recently departed skipper who had been a part of this event since the beginning. As Port Townsend is located just a few miles from the Canadian border and just across the bay from a U.S. munitions storage facility, there were quite a few Coast Guard cruisers in the area. As boats started arriving with their Jolly Rogers flying high, the Coast Guard went into action boarding the vessels for a “safety inspection.” In the “old days” when I was younger and full of piss and vinegar, I would have taken offense at this. “Why are they hassling us?” would’ve been my fervent plea. But in the current state 139
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