Archie Binns-Northwest Author

Here is my latest reading project. As some of you know, I was searching for books lately. After scouring book stores, Ebay, Amazon and Powells, I eneded up with a good selection of books by a northwest author named Archie Binns (1899-1971). He was born in Port Ludlow. Sailed the waters of Puget Sound, went to sea, served on a lightship and graduated from Stanford. His books are stories of the northwest in both fiction and non-fiction. His books tell stories of the sea, wagon trains, Columbia River, logging and the mountains. I previously read two of his books and thought I would like to read more.

When I attended CK Junior High in the mid 60's, I read "The Enchanted Islands" and "Lightship". The school library had them on the shelves.

Of the two, "The Enchanted Islands" has had an impact on me to this day.

I was in 8th grade and was becoming interested in sailing. This book told a story of six teenagers from two families on a voyage around the San Juan Islands in a thirty two foot ketch. Even though the plot is a bit corny, the description of the islands, harbors and passages were very accurate. When the author "invented" a couple of islands, he let the reader know that he did that. While reading the book the first time, I would pull out my father's charts to see where these places were. Reading that book probably was the one event that sparked my interest in cruising in the San Juan Islands and sailing to distant places. I started planning my own voyages to the San Juan Islands.


I made my first trip to the San Juans in the summer of 1975 in a 22ft boat that I had just purchased. I crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca both ways in the fog, visited Friday Harbor, Stuart Island, Sucia Islands, Roche Harbor and Jones Island. It was a great voyage. The boat was small, but seemed like luxury to me after all the small boats I had owned. For navigation, I only had a compass, a pitot tube type knotmeter that was held in the water over the side and a lead line to measure the depth. Pretty simple compared to all the conveniances we have now! It did have bunks, a stove and an ice box. The headroom was only 4 ft, but who cared, I was living my dream!

Even though "The Enchanted Islands" is considered a juvenile book, I reread it last week, but now, I can visually the descriptions of the places in the San Juans that the characters in the book visit and sail around. And his descriptions still seem accurate.