Ferry M/V Klickitat

 

Story and photos by Barney Burke


Built in San Francisco as the Stockton in 1927, M/V Klickitat is one of Washington’s four Steel Electric ferries, all of which were pulled from service due to rusty hulls just two days before Thanksgiving in 2007.


The other three are Illahee (Lake Tahoe), Nisqually (Mendocino), and Quinault (Redwood Empire). The Klick and the Q-Boat, as they’re sometimes called, served on the Port Townsend-Keystone run. The other two served in the San Juan Islands.


These photos of Klickitat were taken at the Washington State Ferries dock in Kingston in May 2008 – thanks to WSF staff for their help in creating these images.


These four ferries were listed on Washington’s surplus property site, http://www.ga.wa.gov/surplus, but no  government or nonprofit organization was interested in buying them. Subsequently, they were listed on eBay, but no one bid on them. In September 2008, they were sold for scrap and will soon be towed to Mexico.


After sitting idle for so long, the Steel Electric ferries are showing their age a lot more. Surface rust is noticeable on the stairway handrails of Klickitat and seagull poop is accumulating on the exterior.


Supplies such as toiletries have been removed for use on other ferries. WSF plans to re-use lifeboat davits, navigation equipment and other items as well. And their diesel engines are being eyed as source of spare parts for the 1947 ferry Rhododendron, soon to be the oldest ferry in the fleet.


On Klickitat, the crew sleeping rooms have been emptied, their lockers left ajar. But when these photos were taken in May, the media racks were still offering November 2007 editions of Seattle Weekly and other publications. You can almost hear David Michael rounding up people to hear him play the harp.


In the pilothouse, Klickitat’s log book was left open to a blank page, never to be filled in with another sailing.

Klickitat’s car-deck originally had square, double-hung windows which were replaced with round, open-air portholes many years ago.

Seagulls are enjoying Klickitat’s pilot house deck, and they’ve apparently pecked away at this life preserver. That’s the back side of a name plate at left.

Here’s a couple of views of one of the pilot houses, which look quite different from the originals.

Vents have been covered to reduce the amount of damp air entering Klickitat.

The pilot houses seem rather spacious. At lower right is the ship’s log, waiting for that next entry.

Unlike the other Steel Electrics, Klickitat has this enclosed bow seating area that prevented people from walking all the way around on the exterior of the passenger deck.

If you look closely, you can see what appear to be original rivets holding the upper hull plates into place (left). The Steel Electrics have been overhauled and “sponsoned out” over the years, so much of their hulls are not original. Still, rust was the reason that they were retired in 2007.

Klickitat has some interesting old equipment, including this binnacle atop a pilot house (left) and these engine telegraphs inside the pilot houses. This one is set to “finished with engine.”

Klickitat’s interior doesn’t have the fancy glass seen in other Steel Electrics.

Compared to the temporary replacement ferry Steilacoom II, Klickitat’s car deck, because of its longer passenger deck above, seems huge. And imagine this: when the Steel Electrics were built in 1927, Ford was still building Model T’s. Klickitat holds 64 cars, but the other Steel Electrics hold just 59 and Steilacoom II, 50. You’ll sometimes see different, inaccurate numbers quoted, but these are the official numbers according to Washington State Ferries.

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