I've been asked to appear as a speaker at our local Boats Afloat Show
in September. It's always challenging to come up with an interesting
talk with a catchy title, but my idea for this year's effort seems
promising:

"How a Confederate Warship sank the British Empire in Haro Strait"

(Haro Strait separates the San Juan Islands from Canada here in the
Pacific NW)

It's part of a larger story, and one of history's lesser known
international incidents.
It is noteworthy that the same marauding warship almost precipitated a
full scale conflict between the US and Britain- with some influential
senators and congressmen at one time demanding that Britain cede all of
its Canadian territories to the US.

The historic San Juan Island sites of the 15-year long " Pig War" are
popular destinations for summer cruisers- particularly English Camp on
Garrison Bay.