(Photos by Jerry Simmons)

ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY REPORT: Thanks to everyone who sent photos of this vessel seen from Alki today, removing floating logs/trees from Elliott Bay, after the king tide – and rain-swollen rivers – swept so many out to sea. It’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ M/V Puget, explained here as the USACE’s “debris recovery vessel,” with authority to “remove trees, brush and other debris that may be determined to be obstructions to navigation or that may promote flooding.”

M/V Puget is 78 years old and 104 feet long, based in Ballard. We tried contacting the Corps today to ask for specifics on this operation but haven’t heard back yet.

ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: USACE Seattle spokesperson Scott Lawrence confirms that’s what the Puget was doing and that its crew members “are continuing work in the greater central Puget Sound, clearing logs from the recent king tides and high winds the area experienced.” As for what happens to the logs pulled from the water: “The logs and debris are taken to our debris barges at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks in Ballard, Washington, where a contractor comes in and recycles the material.”