George Shaw jr.

George told me that some people need to go to Alaska. George drove me down to the docks near his house in Sequim Washington and told me how to get a fishing job. It was too early in the year for getting a job in the lower 48. People were barely getting back to the boats after winter. It didn't matter, he encouraged me and I left a suitcase of books at his house, before grabbing the ferry to Victoria BC to continue hitchiking to Alaska. I had taken the ferry over to the Olympic Penninsula to find George so I could ask him about a million questions about how to become a fisherman. George was a landmark in my life. He was smart and educated but he chose to be a logger and fisherman because that was where he wanted to be, outside in the woods and on the water. He was just plain cool. George wasn't sidetracked by magical beliefs and prideful pursuits. He was practical, likable, funny and fun to be around. I really wish he had put on a life jacket last week.

The weather was really bad when the boat he was fishing on attempted to cross the Tillamook Bay Bar. http://www.katu.com/news/35514194.html?video=YHI&t=a This is a video link of the wreck. George wasn't found. Since then the weather cleared up and the sea came down. I decided to go to the jetty on the low tide and look. There was wreckage, the light tower is there, twisted in half and ripped up. The gen set, bulkhead panels, pots, lines, lots of stuff. A small raft of pot floats are anchored to the biggest pile of pots submerged just off the tip of the jetty, probably where the Network rolled the first time. While I was combing the jetty, George's body washed up on Rockaway beach a few miles north. This is what the lady at Karla's Krabs told me when I stopped by on the way home. George Sr bought a house on the beach from Karla, Karla reportedly sobbed uncontrollably when she heard about George Jr. I am sure George stopped by Karla's when he was in town to fish.

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