The brig Lady Washington, the official ship of the state of Washington, and the topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain have scheduled a five-day visit to Vancouver in May as part of a 61/2-week Columbia River tour.
The ships will be here from May 23-27, midway through a voyage that will take them to 11 ports in Washington and Oregon.
It will mark the 225th anniversary of the first landfall by a United States-flagged vessel on the shores of what became Oregon.
On Aug. 14, 1788, the original Lady Washington, sailing from Boston around Cape Horn, made its first landing at what’s now called Tillamook Bay. The fur-trading expedition was led by Captain Robert Gray, who discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and gave his name to Grays Harbor, home port of the modern Lady Washington.
