Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
G49.1-004
Date(s)
- 1939-11-06 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
A rain-soaked crowd of approximately 5,000 awaits the launching of Paul Satko's homemade vessel, the Ark, on Monday, November 6, 1939. Mr. Satko planned to transport his wife and seven children to Alaska on the Ark in the spring once all preparations were complete. It is believed that most boat experts were amazed that the 40 footer, equipped with a 1926 diesel automobile engine and several tons of cement in its keel for ballast, was able to be successfully launched. Mr. Satko was commended by Tacoma Mayor J.J. Kaufman for the "American Spirit" that Mr. Satko had demonstrated during the Depression in not allowing himself to sit idle but instead struggling to rise above dire circumstances. The Ark left for Alaska in April, 1940, from the Point Defiance Dock, ran aground in Seattle and ran afoul of Seattle authorities who jailed Mr. Satko and put his children in juvenile detention. It would take irate Tacoma citizens to bail him out and release his children. Seattle fire and sanitary officials had testified that the boat was unsafe for the Satko family. The Ark would make it to Ketchikan, Alaska, in mid-June, 1940. TPL-3141
Satko, Paul--Associated objects; Boats--Tacoma--1930-1940; Launchings--Tacoma--1930-1940;