A shrimp story

Just off of Highway 101 where it runs along Hood Canal there was a small restaurant with a home in back and attached store in front.   They were owned and operated by Floyd and Elsie Chapman and the sign in front read “ELSIE’S PLEASANT HARBOR.”  Hood Canal is a narrow shimmering fjord about 50 miles long and averaging 177 feet in depth.  The clear, blue, water is filled with abundant life and on its shores are plentiful clams and oysters.  Pleasant Harbor is a quiet natural cove on the canal and that is where Floyd moored his shrimp boat.

On a sleepy day in 1963 Floyd was outside in his blue overhauls and captain’s hat, working the fire under a large kettle where the day’s catch of shrimp was to be cooked. He’d been up since early that morning when he had gone to drop the traps in the canal.