Liberty Bay is a narrow inlet extending about 4 miles in a northerly direction from the northwest part of

Port Orchard Port Orchard, part of Washington state's Puget Sound, is the strait that separates Bainbridge Island on the east from the Kitsap Peninsula on the west. It extends from Liberty Bay and Agate Pass in the north to Sinclair Inlet and Rich Passage in ...

, adjacent to the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kits ...

Western Washington Western Washington is a region of the United States defined as the area of Washington state west of the Cascade Mountains. This region is home to the state's largest city, Seattle, the state capital, Olympia, and most of the state's residents. The ...

Background

The southeastern half of Liberty Bay is very narrow. The shores are low and wooded, and the shoreline is sand and gravel. There are

mud flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

at the head of the bay and in the small

bight The word is derived from Old English ''byht'' (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”). In modern English, bight may refer to: * Bight (geography), recess of a coast, bay, or other curved feature * Bight (knot), a curved section, slack part, or loo ...

on the south side of the bay. Mud is the predominant bottom characteristic.

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

velocities exceed 1 knot at times. The city of

Poulsbo, Washington Poulsbo ( ) is a city on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest of the four cities in Kitsap County. The population was 9,200 at the 2010 census and an estimated 10,927 in 2018. The area was historically in ...

lies at the north end of the bay. Variously named ''Dogfish Bay'', ''Liberty Bay'' and ''Poulsbo Bay''. According to the Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau's Web site: "Despite pleas of Poulsbo residents, the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

, in 1893 and 1899, refused to change the official title of ''Dogfish Bay'' to Liberty Bay. The present name was adopted through general usage. The original name was a location tie-in to the bayshore plant Harry Drescott operated in the 1860s. It used dogfish oil to grease the logs that made up

lumber camp A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...

skid roads." The

tanker ship A tanker (or tank ship or tankship) is a ship designed to transport or store liquids or gases in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Tankers also carry commodities such as vegetable oils, ...

''Liberty Bay'' is the most expensive Jones Act ship as of 2014.

References

Bays of Washington (state) Bays of Kitsap County, Washington {{KitsapCountyWA-geo-stub