MICHAEL KENNETH HEMP
mkhemp@thehistorycompany.com




Historic Research * Heritage Marketing * Consulting * Lectures * Special Events

 CANNERY ROW   •   BOMBARDIER'S LOUNGE (Returning Soon)  •   END OF LIES, The Nadjik Pheromone
                                                                                                                   Biochemical Lie Detection (Returning Soon)



Updated on September 23, 2023



Plan to attend another FREE Mason County Historical Society and Museum benefit
speaking engagement by MSHS&M lifetime member, author and historian,
Michael Kenneth Hemp returning to his familiar historical research turf on 
Washington State's Hood Canal—on Wednesday, October 11th, 2023.

This return speaking engagement is again co-sponsored
by Union, Washington's renowned
Alderbrook Golf and Yacht Club
330 E. Country Club Drive E.
Union, WA 098592 • (360) 898-2560



In addition to more on-going original historical research results
about the Hood Canal of the 1930s and the emerging record of an intense
research presence of pioneering marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts,
the father of ecology, and his family during many spring and summers 
staying at the Gateway Inn (now Hoodsport's salmon hatchery)
there is more to exciting news connected to Ed Ricketts.

The 1937 Tacoma-built "Western Flyer" was made world-famous by
Ed Ricketts and his more famous friend John Steinbeck for their
1940 voyage of "science and leisure" to Mexico's Sea of Cortez to remove
Steinbeck from death threats by California's Associated Farmers
for his dust bowl exposé of their sins in "Grapes of Wrath".

After over 7 years of restoration at Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op
and nearly another year at Snow & Company in Ballard (Seattle) for
installation of her hybrid diesel-electric propulsion, controls, electronics,
and ship's gear—on November 4th, Monterey & Cannery Row will
celebrate the return of the "Western Flyer" to Home Port Monterey.

You don't want to miss the most recent chapter in the saga of the
"Western Flyer" presented by (yours truly) the Cannery Row-Monterey
historian who, in 1984, announced the prospect of the return to
Monterey of the "Western Flyer"—the result of research by
colleague Bob Enea, Monterey's sardine fleet and Sicilian heritage.
Not the least of which is that Croatian skipper Tony Berry and
Steinbeck-famous deck-hand "Sparky" Enea were his uncles!

Please join me, the general public, and the members of both the Mason County
Historical Society and the Alderbrook Golf and Yacht Club for this
incredible story at 4Pm on Wednesday, November 11th.
Followed by a "Meet the Author" and book signing.

It's in here:




Admission to this speaking engagement is free • Donations appreciated.







Countdown to Western Flyer
Departure from Seattle to
home port Monterey...

Sign-up for the Western Flyer Foundation Newsletter
for up to date information and photography of
the last stages of the Western Flyer's eight-year
restoration at Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op
and now at Snow & Company, Ballard (Seattle) for
hybrid-diesel propulsion and technical outfitting.

If you're around the Seattle area, look out for her on
sea trials begun in-and-around the Lake Washington area.
Be a Western Flyer Finder and e-mail us your photos
we can share on this website (with your photo credits)
for the Western Flyer world that this site has been
championing since the early 1980s!

We also want to share our recognition for a creative
new Western Flyer logo by  graphic designer Zina Oliver:




COME BACK SOON FOR MORE
HISTORY OF THE WESTERN FLYER






July 25, 2023

It's the 25th of July, 2023. It was on this date in 1930,
Ed Ricketts was photographed by his close friend
(and 1939 co-author of "Between Pacific Tides")
Jack Calvin. They had arrived at Port Townsend,
Washington, from British Columbia's Vancouver Island,
to be there specifically on this date—1000 miles from
Cannery Row—for the -3.42 low tide in this photo.
Carl Gray, Hood Canal tidal researcher, determined
this tide would not come again for 30 years!


Ed Ricketts, kneeling in winged kelp at Port Townsend, July 25, 1930.          Jack Calvin photo/Pat Hathaway Collection

Many of you reading this may know that this photo is at
Port Townsend, Washington, where the 1937 Tacoma-built
Western Flyer would spend 8 years in magnificent restoration
 by the Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op. At this time
she is in Ballard (Seattle) undergoing the installation of
electronics and her hybrid-diesel propulsion!

Be ready for her impending return to Monterey;
to her new Home Port, with a life and detailed history
you should know as much as possible about—from where
the Western Flyer is authoritative history — as you
may see some of it deeper in this website. But the
only way you'll have the most complete history
anywhere of the Western Flyer is this 5th Edition of



Please scroll below slightly to order.




April 23, 2023
Are you ready for the
Return of the Western Flyer?

The restored Western Flyer is heading south soon
from Seattle to home port Monterey!

Cannery Row and Monterey have been
waiting since this Herald headline in 1984:


 Monterey historian Bob Enea was responsible for the search and discovery
of the re-named Western Flyer (to Gemini in 1970). This news story did not
include him in its composition.


GET READY FOR THE WESTERN FLYER DEPARTURE
from the maritime Pacific Northwest to home port Monterey


FROM THIS: The Gemini (Western Flyer) raised after 2nd sinking at Anacortes, Washington  June 24, 2013


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Art Kendall photo



TO THIS: Restoration completed at Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op  June 29, 2022


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   MK Hemp photo



  Hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system installation under way at Snow & Company, Seattle  


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             MK Hemp photo




The organized chaos of nearing completion...for  her maritime Pacific Northwest departure to Monterey





Western Flyer departure from Ballard (Seattle) Washington in a matter of weeks

Be ready: Get the Book!

Click here to purchase



Stand-by for our announcement of the departure and its (Unannounced yet) destinations
If you are not already part of our e-mail program e-mail your address for notification)







(Past Event)


On March 14th, 2023, the Western Flyer Foundation will present another program
to bring you up to date on the saga of the Western Flyer, plans for her future,
and an estimated date of her return to Monterey.

A Bit of Background
       



Happy Steinbeck's Birthday
(February 2, 1902 - December 20, 1968)

John Steinbeck's Birthday gift to you
is the approaching date of the arrival
at Monterey of the Western Flyer upon
return to her new home port of  Monterey.

Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts "Ed Head" fans:
Detailed news of the return of the Western  Flyer to
Monterey can be found at the Western Flyer Foundation
site along with a load of info and photos of the progress
of the restoration of one of the world's most famous boats.

www.westernflyer.org




 

 



The now world-famous Tacoma-built Western Flyer was chartered
in Monterey by John Steinbeck in 1940 for a scientific expedition
to Mexico's "Sea of Cortez" with his closest friend and mentor,
pioneering ecologist marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts.
It was also an escape from the backlash from Steinbeck's expose
of California's agricultural industry in "Grapes of Wrath."
The co-authored book from that journey became a heralded
anthem of ecological consciousness and the new holistic view
that humanity is interconnected to nature and its protection.

None of it could have been accomplished without a stout
Croatian-build Tacoma purse-seine fishing boat which has
emerged from an 8-year restoration at Washington state's
Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op, and very soon from
the Seattle technical expertise of the Snow & Company
installation of a revolutionary hybrid propulsion system.

If you have not heard about any of this topic or have been
unaware of what a cultural, marine sciences, literary, and
historical accomplishment is about to happen at any time...

You need this authoritative one-of-a-kind book. Now:
 
by a historian-scribe and researcher connected to its identity,
historical, maritime, ecological, literary, and inter-cultural
 legacies since 1983. With credit to invaluable sources and
colleagues like Bob Enea of Salinas, California, on his uncles
 Croatian skipper Tony Berry and deckhand Sparky Enea; and
for his decades of dedication in locating the Western Flyer
...and assuring its survival.

ISBN: 978-0-941425-06-3   (5th Edition since 1986)

See special offer below!

 




The Western Flyer Foundation is preparing to return the
Western Flyer to its home port of Monterey this spring.
Click here to learn more and support the debut of one of
the most famous and certainly most celebrated boats
in the world.


November 9th, 2022 • Hopkins Marine Station •  Western Flyer update Reception and Program

	Western Flyer Foundation's John Gregg & Cannery Row Foundation's Michael Hemp                   photo by Anne-Marie Hemp

 { OFFER EXPIRED }


CLICK  HERE FOR






STEINBECK NOW REVIEW:









Weather Cancellation. To be Rescheduled.

"New Horizons: Steinbeck's Cannery Row in Pacific Northwest History"
An archival images PowerPoint by MICHAEL KENNETH HEMP presented by the
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
December 3rd, 2022, at the
Wagner Educational Center • Center for Wooden Boats
1010 Valley Street, Seattle WA 98109

Open Free to the public from 12:15


Information for luncheon prior the event at: www.pugetmaritime.org

or call: (206) 812-5464
 









The Western Flyer Foundation
at Hopkins Marine Station


Wednesday, November 9th, 2022
Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station

• Reception at Miller Library of Hopkins Marine Station
• Presentation of the status and planning for the 2023 Arrival
of the Western Flyer at Home Port of Monterey










Key Peninsula News
The Voice of the Key Peninsula
Vaughn, Washington
9/1/22
  Click here for the

NEWEST PRESS ON HISTORICAL RESEARCH BY MICHAEL KENNETH HEMP
ON ED RICKETTS & THE WESTERN FLYER



   




"New Horizons: Steinbeck's Cannery Row in Pacific Northwest History"
An archival images PowerPoint by MICHAEL KENNETH HEMP at the
68th Annual Pacific Northwest History Conference
September 29th to October1st, 2022, at Kennewick, Washington,
hosted by the Washington State Historical Society
in partnership with the Oregon Historical Society.

Presentation at 2:45 pm, Saturday, October 1, 2022
Columbia Center, Ballroom II/III
Kennewick, Washington

Click here for details.


2022 PACIFIC NORTHWEST HISTORY CONFERENCE SPONSORS



 








August 11, 2022

A Home-Style Monterey Podcast with everyone's Sicilian cousin
"Cousin Johnny Aliotti" about research bringing news
of the shared connections between Monterey
and the maritime Pacific Northwest.

"Buzzin' with Cousin"
Click Here








Re-naming and re-launching of the Western Flyer
(from Gemini back to Western Flyer)
June 29, 2022, Port Townsend, Washington.


                                                                                                                                     - Billy Wolf photo

Click here soon for more photos.
Michael Hemp photos of the re-naming and re-launching of the Western Flyer on
June 26th, 2022, at Port Townsend Shipwright's Co-op, Port Townsend, Washington.









The 5th Edition is here!





The new enlarged deluxe 5th Edition (since 1986) of
"CANNERY ROW, The History of John Steinbeck's
Old Ocean View Avenue and
Its Connections to the pacific Northwest"

This new enlarged edition provides additional original research about

•  Ed Ricketts and his maritime Pacific Northwest
marine biological research for his introduction of Ecology

•  The Pacific Northwest Croatian boat-building industry that enabled
Monterey's Sicilian sardine fleet to make it the Sardine Capital of the World"
•  John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts and the illustrated Saga of the Western Flyer

ISBN: 978-0-941425-06-3    $34.95

• Signed by the author • Shipped free by USPS Media Mail

• Your purchase includes an authentic 1940s Cannery Row sardine label (a $10 value)


(smaller than actual size • label may vary by cannery)