I worked at Anderson and Christofani for about two years. It was steady but the work was all repair and no new building.  There was no Boatbuilder Apprenticeship classes either so to fulfill my apprenticship obligations I had to go to Carpenter Apprenticeship classes. This was 'uptown' stuff and whilst I enjoyed the hands on lessons, I missed the boatbuilding.
The Business Agent of the San Francisco Shipwrights Union knew I was anxious to learn the trade and not content to be a repair shipwright. So I played a bit of politics and went to most of the Union meetings along with several others of the crew from A&C. My master, Alec Davidson was usually there too.
Alec and I were getting on well together, when you spend workdays in a dark smelly fishboat bilge it is difficult not to talk about 'things'. Alec had concerns for his family in northern Ireland. The 'Troubles' were rearing their ugly head and showing yet again the ugly side of human behavour. I had ties in the south. We both felt that nothing good could come from the violence practiced by both sides. This shared belief brought us closer together rather than pushing us apart. We had spoke at length about my desire to learn the craft and I don't doubt he let the Business Agent know my feelings.
One day the Business Agent was in the yard and came over to me and mentioned that he had heard that there was some new building starting in Seattle,WA.. He asked if that interested me and of course I replied that it did very much. I went home that night with all sorts of dreams buzzing in my head.
After supper my wife and I had a 'kitchen table conference' about this possibility. She noted that the next weekend was Memorial Day weekend and a 3 day holiday.  Following day I made arrangements in the yard so that if I was a day or so longer over the Memorial weekend the yard would know that I was out of town. I did not mention that we were going to be driving 1800 miles round trip to see about work.  I did of course tell Alec and his comment was, "Aye laddy, that would be an opportunity ye could not miss".
Early, very early, Friday we were on the road to Seattle!
At that time our family vehicle was a VW bus and I had set it up to sleep the wife, our 3 year old son and myself. It was a blitz drive, 2 hours on and 2 off, for 14 hours. The Interstate was not finished so we crept through downtown Portland, OR., in the midst of a Flower Festival.
Arrangements had been made to meet with the Seattle BA at his office on Saturday morning. I realize thta this sounds a bit odd but somehow both Business Agents worked it out. The Seattle Business Agent gave me several leads and some directions and we were on our own. Saturday, midmorning, is not the best time to find a boatyard open. With my wife as able copilot we found our way around Seattle and found the first yard.

It was tucked underneath a very busy drawbridge that connected West Seattle with the rest of the city.

We parked in the yard complete with the ever present weed of the Pacific NoWest, blackberry bushes.

I got out of the VW and started looky-looing and as I turned the corner of a large open building I bumped into a fellow about 4'9" and wearing a crumpled red fedora a 'eureka tuxedo' and lumberjack type boots. 'Eureka tuxedo' is the de facto uniform of a shipwright on the pacific coast from San Francisco thru British Columbia. It is denim overalls and a gray herringbone tweed wool shirt.

He, naturally, asked me what I wanted. I told him about the Business Agent giving me this address and my interest in learning the craft of boatbuilding. At this point he introduced himself as Les Nelson and one of the owners of the yard.  We stood there chatting for a few moments as he felt me out about what I had been doing in San Francisco. He noticed my wife and son still sitting in the VW and invited them to step out and stretch their legs. They did so with our son at 3 years old dashing about releasing that pent up energy typical of that age. Les, we were Les and Dave by now, took my wife and I into the big open building to see what work had been started on the new build. The building was enormous, almost as long as 2 basketball courts end to end. Les mentioned that during WWII a number of wooden tugs of the Miki-Miki class along with wooden barges had been built in it.

At the moment all that was there was stacks of timbers and planks and a line of wooden blocks down the center length. I went to corral our son while Les chatted with my wife. I took the opportunity ot peek about the place. Frankly is was nothing to impress a person. just a large expanse of dirt floor and along one wall a plank platform with some machinery that I recognized as a planer, jointer, tablesaw and a couple of bandsaws including a big ships bandsaw. To tell the truth I was somewhat let down. I had imagined a spiffy building with gleaming machines and an air of smartness about the place.
Not this less than spiffy building with less than spiffy machinery in it.
I thought to myself, could this place keep going or will it collapse the moment we move the 900 miles?  Are the other leads the Business Agent gave me any better?

Les took us into the office to look at the plans. And it too was a letdown. No Koa and Ash all varnished with brass spitoons and a shining nickel plated pot belly stove. No, on a homebuilt drafting table, Les showed us the plans for a 58' schooner designed by William Garden. I had been reading all the publications on boatbuilding I could get my hands on and the name of William Garden was well represented in them. These included the Maine Coast Fisherman soon to be The National Fisherman. The fact that William Garden of right here in Seattle was having one of his designs built in this yard impressed me. Perhaps there was something I was not seeing?

Les suggested we drive around Seattle and come back about 4:PM and talk some more. I agreed but decided to use the time to check out the other leads.
Seattle at that time was more of a big town than a big city as say, New York or Chicago. We really had no trouble finding our way about. The other yards were not very different from the layout at Les'.

We found a place to park right by the Ballard Locks. The Ballard Locks allow ships and boats to travel from Lake Washington to Puget Sound and they are very busy at all hours.

Now I am blessed with a Wife of infinite patience,unrelenting support and a keen eye for the 'BUDGET'.

So with yellow legal pad in hand she proceeded to calculate the financial side of this proposed move. I kept our son busy chasing ducks and looking at the boats and Sea Lions that hang around the locks. When he finally ran out of steam and wanted something to eat we returned to the VW and my wife had the finances ready for review.  It came out that it was possible 'if' Les could keep me working for a reasonable time. This was good news.

We went back to Les's to see what he had to say. We pulled into the yard just as he was getting out of his car. Les's car was a Willys Jeep station wagon, what today would be called a Wagoneer but with a spartan interior. The Willys had been well nauticised. Ironbark replaced the steel bumpers, Teak framed the back window and tailgate, all varnished till it shone. It was,sharp and the woodies of surfer fame couldn't have been any better. Les invited us down to his boat, actually his home. It was a William Atkin design, a motorsailer and perfect for the waters of Puget Sound. Once below in the cozy saloon it turned out that Les had gone shopping and was prepared to have us eat dinner with him!

I looked at my dear wife and she at me, I nodded, she winked and 8 days later I was working at Nelson-Hanson Marineways, Seattle, WA..