Welcome to Maritime Voices
Interviews with people from Port Townsend, WA and the Olympic Peninsula who have unique and interesting maritime related stories. We interview shipwrights, voyagers, sailmakers, fishers, designers, and more. If you are not familiar with the Pacific Northwest of the United States, the Olympic Peninsula is at the very northwest corner of the lower 48 states. Port Townsend has been a sailing hub since the 1850’s and is currently the home to a vibrant community of marine trades people and sailors.
All interviews and transcripts will be shared with the Jefferson County Historical Society for them to keep forever.
Latest interviews
Including transcripts
Dick McCurdy
Dick McCurdy always just wanted to be on the water. He grew up in Port Townsend, WA, sailing and racing with friends. At the University of Washington he was captain of the sailing team. After finishing graduate school he bought the bare hull of a Cape George 36 sailboat, finished the boat himself with help from friends and sailed it around the world. He then had a ten-year stint
Bill Nance
Bill Nance is only the 4th known person to ever sail alone around the world via the three great capes (1962-1965). The book “The Circumavigators” says he was “…one of the boldest and most competent, but least-known circumnavigators, on the tiny 25-foot Cardinal Virtue…”. In this conversation we mostly talk about that voyage, the adventures he had, and the people he met, but we also cover how he ended
Diana Talley
Diana believes that she may hold the world’s record for throwing up at sea after getting pregnant on a 106- day engineless non-stop voyage from Panama to Port Townsend, in a boat without standing headroom. She's been a shipwright, an offshore fisher, a racing sailboat captain, and is now a writer. Diana grew up in Vancouver, Canada, and on Lake Washington in Seattle. She also spent time in Sausalito,
