On Hugo's Deck
Ship Strikes
Waterfront Sea Wall
Waterfront Sea Wall
50,000 ships
20,000 whales
On any given day, approximately 50,000 commercial maritime vessels navigate the world’s seas and waterways providing food and supplies to global communities.
Every year, cargo, cruise, and fishing vessels kill an estimated 20,000 whales. These ship strikes are a result of the overlap between whale feeding grounds and maritime shipping lanes, and an increase in vessels on the ocean.
Waterfront Sea Wall
Waterfront Sea Wall
Waterfront Sea Wall
"(to build a seawall) — the sense of interwoven city and nature would be destroyed, no matter how many “access points” were carved out along the way. But that’s the sort of option that City Hall and the Port will juggle as San Francisco and the Army Corps try to settle on long-term plans for the City's bay shoreline during the next two years - " - John King, SF Chronicle
Sinking Docks
Waterfront Sea Wall
Sinking Docks
The 900-foot Dry Dock No. 2 at the Port of San Francisco’s Piers 68-70, built in 1970, was retired only a decade ago. The severe storms in November 2025 ripped into Dry Dock No. 2 causing it to list to the east - in other words, it’s sinking. If the dock sinks to the bottom of the bay it will trigger a release of fuel and other toxins into the water.
Historical Footnotes
San Francisco Reclamation
San Francisco Reclamation
San Francisco Reclamation
Filling in Yerba Buena Cove
“So much of San Francisco is its relationship to the water."
- Archeologist James Delgado
The bones of the Gold Rush ships (over 40 known) lie beneath the streets of the Embarcadero and Financial District.
Launched in 1818, the three-masted sailing vessel, that the Candace, was buried in mud and sand 168 years at Spear and Folsom Streets. Hugo sees the Candace - cut in two pieces and currently stored on Pier 50 - could be part of a rebirth of the Central Waterfront -
not unlike Fort Bragg and the blue whale
Barrier Island Resilience
San Francisco Reclamation
San Francisco Reclamation
Adapting
Florida’s powerful Calusa natives, whose civilization thrived in the region for over 2,000 years, faced constant sea level fluctuations and storms. Evidence of their fishing and building adaptations can teach us about dealing with coastal change.
Hugo becomes intrigued by the history of Blind Key when he 'discovers' the Calusa watercourt buried in the mangroves.
The fictional barrier island of Blind Key is only a few miles south of Cayo Costa where the historical Hurricane Ian made its Florida landfall in September of 2022
OSN - December 2024
Otis Street News – December 2024
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
The big news is Hugo is seeking a new publisher to embrace his stories. I want to thank Sibylline Press for launching THE ROTTING WHALE in September of 2023 but now it’s time for the 2nd episode in the Hugo series to fly.
THE BLIND KEY is ready for publication and a rigorous distribution of Hugo’s adventures.
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
Four years after the combination of a blue whale and a blue bottle turned his world around in the first episode Hugo is up against corruption in his own department while sea level rise threatens his beloved shoreline. What’s a building inspector to do?
Off balance with his wife Carmen in London and his pal Harrison (T. Ray) missing in act
Four years after the combination of a blue whale and a blue bottle turned his world around in the first episode Hugo is up against corruption in his own department while sea level rise threatens his beloved shoreline. What’s a building inspector to do?
Off balance with his wife Carmen in London and his pal Harrison (T. Ray) missing in action, Hugo is left to grapple with two events from the past which fly at him. Inside the DBI his long-buried file known as the ‘mud report’ is found by a hapless janitor. An accident? Hugo doesn’t think so and must figure out who wants the file public and who wants to keep its contents quiet.
That’s a plateful all its own with a side of corruption but it is when an investigative reporter uncovers new evidence in his father’s 50-year-old cold case that points to murder we find our hero pushed to a new limit.
26.5883° N, 82.2162° W
THE BLIND KEY catches up to Hugo in 2015
26.5883° N, 82.2162° W
At the first opportunity to get out of town, Hugo forsakes San Francisco for Florida’s Gulf Coast where he joins Harrison on the barrier island of Blind Key.
As he faces his cultural roots and stares down his own Moriarity, sea level rise, he realizes he is not alone. The whole gang has his back as fish out of water building inspector dig
At the first opportunity to get out of town, Hugo forsakes San Francisco for Florida’s Gulf Coast where he joins Harrison on the barrier island of Blind Key.
As he faces his cultural roots and stares down his own Moriarity, sea level rise, he realizes he is not alone. The whole gang has his back as fish out of water building inspector digs through the secrets buried in the mangroves and the history ensnared by the artificial reef all the while being chased by pirates.
“That went as well as could be expected,” T. Ray was heard to say.
OSN - December 2023
Levees + Ponds
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
Restoration of the tidal marsh in the South Bay begins with opening of a 300 acre pond - the Ravenswood R4 Pond - to the San Francisco Bay for the first time in one hundred years.
This project began 20 years ago when Senator Diane Feinstein proposed the purchase of the 15,000 acres from the salt-making giant, Cargill.
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
New Year's Eve 2022 storm ushered in a parade of storms over the next three weeks in California.
Relentless.
Join in the video (link on photo) for groundwater strategies to deal with sea level rise.
photo by Adam Pardee for the Chronicle
Who owns the coastline?
Bomb Cyclones, Atmospheric Rivers,
Who owns the coastline?
“California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline”. Rosanna Xia presents the environmental challenges and goals for a sustainable future along California’s coastlines.
I keep it on my desk - Hugo.
OSN - October 2023
Ships
Strikes
Strikes
I can only imagine this feeling. How many whales did this worker see entering the Strait of San Francisco in 1933? Today there is a lively mix of Humpbacks and Gray Whales, Bottlenose Dolphins and Harbor Porpoises entering the Bay at their own peril, I might add with the increase of ship traffic to this major port.
Strikes
Strikes
Strikes
This ship begins the story of a blue whale stranded on the Mendocino coast in 2009; a true story of a research vessel colliding with a whale. While stuck in the rugged cove, the whale's final journey takes on fiction as Hugo, the displaced San Francisco building inspector is called to the coast by his cetologist daughter to sort out the mysteries trapped with her whale in Chicken Cove.