The Mystery of The Equator
Editor’s Note: Originally published April 19, 2018. Updated October 21, 2021.
The Equator.
I see the giant boat every time I go to Scuttlebutt on the waterfront. The beached vessel fills a shed on the corner of 10th Street & Craftsman Way.
This pygmy schooner has an incredible history.
It has been a coconut trading ship, an Arctic whaler, and a Puget Sound tug. It has powered across oceans using sails, steam, gasoline, and diesel.
It's said to be haunted by the ghost of Robert Louis Stevenson and a dead Hawaiian king.
And the only reason it's still here is because of a well-intentioned dentist.
Dry-docked in Everett, circa 1967. Photo: Northwest History Room
The Equator was built in San Fransisco in 1888.
In 1889 Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) chartered the boat from Honolulu to the Gilbert Islands. Stevenson's voyages became the basis of his travelogue In the South Seas.
The vessel traded hands many times. It was repurposed as a whaler and a tug.
“Reportedly, dancing lights appear on top of the hull in the night. ”
It was abandoned on the coast of Jetty Island in 1956 as part of a breakwater that protected the manmade spit of land from erosion.
In 1967 a local dentist named Eldon Schalka salvaged the abandoned craft. He had it hauled ashore and dry-docked at the 14th Street Fisherman's Boat Shop in Everett. Schalka started a preservation group called the Equator Foundation. In 1972 the organization successfully lobbied to get the old schooner on the National Register of Historic Places.
And that's where our story somewhat abruptly leaves off...
The Equator Foundation has since disbanded, having not restored the craft.
Today it sits in the shed on the Everett waterfront next to a plaque noting its historic significance, even as it falls into disrepair. It's the last known surviving hull of its time period.
In November 2017 the back end of the vintage boat collapsed and hasn't yet been fixed. The schooner once capable of sailing across the Pacific, once able to brave the frigid waters of the Arctic, now slowly splinters into dust, stripped of its engine and masts.
The Equator is said to be haunted. Reportedly, dancing lights appear on top of the hull in the night. Psychics have reported that the dancing lights are in fact the ghosts of Robert Louis Stevenson and Hawaiian King Kalakaua (Stevenson and Kalakaua were friends in regular living, non-ghost life).
Ghost ship of Everett, Washington. Tell your friends.
Is this where the story truly ends?
Maybe the next chapter of the Equator has yet to be written... perhaps she will sail once more.
SEE THE EQUATOR
10th Street and Craftsman Way
Everett, WA 98201
READ BOOKS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON FOR FREE thanks to the beautiful Everett Public Library.
Richard Porter writes for Live in Everett.
