Oscar E. Olson and Carl B. Winge first met in 1910, at the King & Winge shipyard in West Seattle near Luna
Park. Opened in 1899 and owned by Carl's uncle Albert Winge with partner Thomas J. King, the King & Winge yard
constructed fishing vessels and operated a codfish and, later, halibut fishing fleet. Carl Winge worked as Secretary
Treasurer and purchasing agent for King & Winge, and Oscar Olson was the machinist foreman. When the yard built the
famous schooner the
Carl Winge came from a family of shipbuilders in Norway, where Albert Winge's father was known for his carvings of figureheads for early sailing vessels. Carl worked at King & Winge until around 1917, when he left to work for the Elliott Bay Shipbuilding Company as a purchasing agent; later, he worked at Elliott Bay Yacht & Engine Company and Olson & Sunde Marine Works. In 1925 Winge, whose father was a musician, left the shipbuilding trade for California, to try his hand in the songwriting and publishing profession in Los Angeles, San Francisco and later, New York. After about fifteen years, Winge returned to Seattle, and to shipbuilding.
Oscar Olson learned the trade of machinist working for Vulcan Iron Works in Seattle beginning in 1903, and later (1907) at Seattle Iron Works, before becoming the foreman of the workshop at King & Winge in 1910. Later, Olson partnered with Norman C. Sunde in the shipbuilding firm Olson & Sunde until Sunde's retirement, afterwards forming a new partnership with Carl Winge in 1941.
Olson & Winge Marine Works was located on the Lake Washington Ship Canal at the foot of 8th Avenue Northwest, at 4125 Burns Avenue Northwest. From around 1941 to 1944, the Olson & Winge yard devoted its production facilities completely to the war effort, primarily converting, adapting and repairing ships for military use, but also producing new vessels, such as several wooden lighters. The first shipyard in the Northwest to begin a full program of Army-Navy repair and adaption work, Olson & Winge was one of many Pacific Coast yards doing repair, adaption and new construction of government ships as part of the war effort. Adaptions included added accommodations, different use of stowage space, and placing of armament. In 1941, Olson & Winge converted 15 halibut and purse seiners for Navy use as supply ships, forerunners of the YP ("Yippee") boats. Subsequently, the yard converted eight assorted private craft to supply or "Q" boats. New wartime construction by Olson & Winge included four 50 foot patrol boats for the Coast Guard, and fifteen cargo lighters and four degaussing barges for the Navy. The yard also performed extensive outfitting of uncompleted high-powered aircraft rescue boats and repaired other rescue boats.
After the war, Olson & Winge returned to commercial boatbuilding. City directory listings for Olson & Winge Marine Works end in the late 1940s.
The collection includes photographs of the Olson & Winge Marine Works yard, including yard buildings,
ways, and marine railway; and photographs of ships built, repaired or converted by the shipyard. The latter include
some fishing boats but largely consist of images of boats adapted, repaired or built for use by the government during
World War II. One series of photographs depicts the fishing schooner
View selections from the collection in
Arranged in series:
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Olson & Winge Marine Works photographs and scrapbook, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of Carl D. Winge (Carl B. Winge's son), September 22, 1972
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Early images of the Olson & Winge yard depict the drydock, sheds and other buildings, boats under construction, views from the canal, and a view of boats at dock with the Ballard district in the background.
Photographs depict the marine railway under construction and completed, depicting a pile driver in the water, partially completed railway on land and in water, and an image of divers and a diving boat.
Possibly built by Olson & Sunde Marine Works
Navy YP (or "Yippee") boats of World War II were wooden fishing vessels--usually purse seiners or cannery tenders--converted for use as patrol craft, as well as armed vessels. With ironbark sheathing on their hulls, the YPs ranged up and down the Pacific Coast, from the Panama Canal to the Aleutians and into the Bering Sea.
The YP-72 was converted from the refrigerated fish carrier and purse seiner
Converted from the purse seiner
Converted from fishing vessel
Converted from
Converted from fishing vessel
Photographs depict the degaussing scow under construction in shed, on the marine railway, and in the water.
Photographs of the Q-43, Q-45, Q-46, Q-47 and Q-49.
These boats were former utility and pleasure craft purchased and converted by the Army. The Q-46 was
formerly the state fisheries vessel
This barge may be the Army BCL vessel that was converted by Olson & Winge into a floating marine repair shop.
The YC-842 was a 250-ton capacity, 110' x 30' open lighter.
The YF-834 was a wooden, non-self-propelled, covered lighter, 110' x 30'
Includes patrol rescue boats P-510, P-511, P-512 and P-518
Includes patrol rescue boats P-510, P-511, P-512 and P-518
2 copies
Includes patrol rescue boats P-510, P-511, P-512 and P-518. These images are different versions from the same negative or negatives. The panorama prints may have been created from two negatives. Number 109b consists of two prints taped together to create a panorama.
Two images depict the P-512 and one depicts the P-518
Designed by firm partner Albert Winge, the
The
The
In 1958, Clyde Parlova of Astoria, Oregon bought the schooner from the Columbia Bar Pilots' Association,
intending to restore it as a sailing ship. In 1962, the ship was purchased by Jack Elsbree, a retired airline pilot who
intended to restore it as his home.
The
This image shows the
Craig was captain of the pilot boat
Oscar Olson designed and built the winch shown in the photograph.
Also depicted: Olson & Winge machinists Frank Smith, Homer Pricket and Axel Olson, and first mate Leback.
Smith, Pricket and Olson were working at the King & Winge shipyard when the
Equipment probably produced for U.S. Army use
Five 2" x 3" photographs mounted on black scrapbook page.
Carl B. Winge worked for the Elliott Bay Shipbuilding Company as purchasing agent for a brief period beginning around 1917.
This promotional album describes the capabilities of the shipyard and illustrates the type of work
done. The first three pages of the album consist of a typewritten description of the Elliott Bay Shipbuilding Company,
a 15-acre plant on the Duwamish waterway in Seattle. The narrative describes the plant shops, the administrative
personnel and the company's contract terms. The album includes 17 photographs: 6 photographs of the plant and ships
under construction, taken by
Pages have been removed from scrapbook and foldered, probably during previous processing. Loose clippings and a folder of correspondence are included with the scrapbook materials, though it is not known whether or not these were originally included in the scrapbook
The album and clippings include stories about the
The 3 items in the correspondence folder comprise holiday greetings from Navy personnel and the National Bank of Commerce Ballard Branch.