Union Bay is the setting for the University of Washington rowing shellhouse and the point of land where Joe Rantz and Roger Morris arrive to begin their freshman crew careers. The bay’s connection to the Montlake Cut places the boathouse at a threshold between campus and water, making the location both a physical destination and the entry point to the team’s world.

Setting and Position

The shellhouse stood on a point where the Montlake Cut entered Union Bay on the west side of Lake Washington. To reach it, Rantz and Morris crossed campus, passed the football stadium excavation, and followed a dirt road through open woods into marshland fringing the lake. The route left the built campus behind before bringing the freshmen to the water’s edge.

The Shellhouse on the Bay

At the point stood a former Navy airplane hangar, built in 1918 for seaplanes but never used for that purpose because the war ended before it could be put into service. The building passed to the University of Washington in the fall of 1919 and became the school’s rowing shellhouse. A broad wooden ramp ran from its enormous sliding doors to a long dock floating parallel to the Cut’s shore; the ramp and a narrow strip of land east of the building were crowded with 175 prospective rowers and a handful of older team members.

Narrative Significance

Union Bay is presented through the freshmen’s approach to the shellhouse: the journey culminates at the water, among the waiting boys and the racing shells stacked inside. The bay’s edge is therefore more than scenery. It is the place where Rantz and Morris sign the freshman crew registration book, turning their shared ambition into a first concrete step toward joining the team.