Daily Astorian Benjamin Romano Siberian winds blow across the 4,500-mile fetch of the North Pacific, producing huge waves that collide with the mouth of the second largest river in North America just as they reach shallow water. Shifting weather fronts add wind waves of different sizes and directions to the fray. “It creates a maelstrom…

Daily Astorian Last November, as winds roared at speeds up to 50 mph and ocean swells climbed to 35 feet, a decommissioned oil tanker enroute from Portland to China snapped its tugboat tow line. Still loaded with about 20,000 gallons of fuel oil, the 906-foot tanker drifted backward toward Willapa Bay, Wash. and the bay’s…

Daily Astorian Shane Powell A thin rope ladder dangles over the edge of the mighty Hanjin Marseilles. When Robert Johnson grabs on to its lowest rung, he appears poised to scale a giant steel building. But one glance at the frothy swirling water below, and there’s no question where this long-time shipping veteran is headed.…