When the Annie Moggin sank at Point Roberts marina’s guest dock in February 2024, it marked the end of an 81-year maritime legacy. For former owners Chris and Candice Millison, news of the loss brought both happy memories and deep sadness.
The 30-foot troller was built in 1943 by Einar Michaelson in a small shop in South Bend, Washington. Powered by a 68-horsepower Detroit 3-71 diesel with a dry stack exhaust, she was built to last. And she did, for eight decades.
Hans Ekstrom became the boat’s defining owner, trolling her from California to Alaska for commercial fishing before using her for sport fishing in his later years. Ekstrom’s own story was one of maritime adventure: born on the Swedish island of Faro, he left home at 15 to work merchant ships and see the world. After a decade at sea, he returned to marry Majken Petersson in 1952. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1957 with their son Mikael, eventually settling in Anacortes in 1967 with two more children, Gunilla and Torkel, to fish full-time.
The Millisons purchased the Annie Moggin from Ekstrom in the 1990s and poured countless hours into her restoration. “We cruised her for some years and hardly used a drop of fuel with that big three-cylinder diesel,” Chris Millison recalled. “She brought out the cameras and was featured in local travel brochures.”
The boat held special meaning beyond her practical value. Millison had named her after his mother, Annie Modlin which she pronounced “moggin” as a child. Modlin is also Millson’s middle name. “My wife made the decision to buy it after smelling her through a porthole,” he remembered. “Ahh, that nice ol’ diesel stove in the cabin kept us warm all year.”
For the Millisons, the Annie Moggin represented something deeper than just a vessel. Both Chris and Candice had grown up boating on the Columbia River to the same beach – she on a converted Navy landing craft full of girls, he in a 9-foot Norwegian pram with a 3-horsepower Evinrude. “I wasn’t interested in girls then,” he joked. “You know how a young couple sets up housekeeping and gets a puppy? Well, we got a 1947 Chris-Craft Express Cruiser.” Millison remains philosophical about wooden boats despite the loss. “Most people run from wooden boats because of the maintenance over a composite, but for me, painting is less frequent than waxing unless you’re inundated with gorgeous varnish. An old fishboat is tough, warm, and quiet.”
The Annie Moggin had experienced engine trouble before being towed into Point Roberts harbor, where she ultimately sank at the guest dock. While others helped maintain her over the years, Millison credits Hans Ekstrom and his own family’s untold hours of cleaning, sanding, and painting for keeping her alive so long.
“My wife and I are heartbroken; we’d still have her if it wasn’t for moorage costs,” Millison said. “There might be enough there to restore, but at a ridiculous cost. It’s the spiritual connection one has with a wood boat that makes it feel like losing a family member.”
The Annie Moggin’s sinking at Point Roberts was temporary; she was raised and now sits on the hard with her future uncertain. Like many old wooden boats, she’s stuck between being historically significant and perhaps expensive to restore.
The 81-year-old troller holds decades of Pacific Northwest maritime history, from Swedish immigrant fishermen to devoted wooden boat owners, but her future is cloudy.
