Lady Olga
by Randy Biddle
On a recent visit to
Ventura Harbor, Randy and Rita Biddle spied an interesting workboat.
Her name is Lady Olga, and her home port is Santa Barbara.
Randy – unprepared as always, dashed off to the local convenience
store to buy a Kodak disposable camera and snapped 26 pictures of
the vessel before the Sun went down.
Tapping our network of nautical friends, Randy got a quick response
from Bob Schwemmer with a link to the USGC vessel database, and
discovered that Lady Olga was built in Seattle in 1948. Further work
on the Web brought an image of her taken earlier in her career as a
halibut fisherman out of Alaska.
The old girl has seen better days, but still earns a living. Randy
may write to the owner (listed in the USCG database, and probably
accessible through the Santa Barbara Harbormaster or Wharfinger) and
ask more about the nature of her gear, and what she fishes for these
days.
Lady Olga is a rarity – particularly here in Southern California,
and a worthy subject for the modelmaker who desires a truly unique
subject, with a lot of challenging gear to fashion. Randy is happy
to share his data thus far with anyone interested in taking her on.
The photos are not yet scanned, but that could be arranged for the
serious inquirer.
windships@earthlink.net