Seattle–Bainbridge ferry

Seattle–Bainbridge Island ferry
Ferry Wenatchee en route to Bainbridge Island.
Waterway	Puget Sound
Transit type	Jumbo Mark-II-class ferry
Route	Seattle–Bainbridge Island
Authority	Washington State Ferries (1951–present).
System length	8.6 miles
Travel time	30 - 35 minutes (2015)
Yearly ridership	6,320,820 passengers (2015)
Connections at Winslow
	SR 305
Connections at Seattle

The Seattle–Bainbridge ferry is a ferry route across Puget Sound between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington. The route was called the Seattle–Winslow ferry before the city of Winslow annexed the rest of the island and changed its name. Since 1951 the only ferries employed on the route have belonged to the Washington state ferry system, currently the largest ferry system in the United States.

Description

This ferry route is 8.6 miles long, with terminals at Colman Dock in Seattle and, on Bainbridge Island, at Winslow. Near the Winslow terminal is the main shipyard for the Washington State Ferry system.^[1]

History

Before ferries were dominant on Puget Sound, the route was served by passenger and freight-carrying steamboats. The wooden steamship Florence K served the route for the Eagle Harbor Transportation Co., until 1915 when the company put the new steamer Bainbridge on the route, and shifted Florence K to the Seattle–Port Washington route.^[2]

In 1949, the Chippewa served on the route, except during summers, when Chippewa was transferred to the Anacortes-Sidney route.^[3] From 1951 to 1968, the main ferry on the route was the Illahee which ran along with the Quinault(1951-1953), Evergreen State(1954-1959), and Tillikum(1959-1968), with the steam ferry San Mateo occasionally running as an extra boat.^[1]

In 1968, with increasing demand exceeding vehicle capacity, Tillikum and Illahee were reassigned to the Edmonds-Kingston route, and replaced by the Superferry class boats Kaleetan and Elwha, both with capacities of 2,500 passengers and 160 (originally) automobiles.^[1] In 1972-1973 the Super Class vessels were displaced by the Jumbo class Spokane and Walla Walla, which remained in Bainbridge Island service until they were displaced in turn by the Jumbo Mark II Class vessels Tacoma and Wenatchee in 1997-1998.

Current status

Assigned to the route as of July 2016 were the Jumbo Mark II class ferries Tacoma and Wenatchee,^[4] each with a capacity of 2,500 passengers and a maximum of 202 vehicles.^[5]

Seattle's waterfront from the Bainbridge Island ferry as it approaches the Seattle ferry terminal at Colman Dock

Notes

1 2 3 Demoro, Harre, The Evergreen Fleet, pp. 45–47
↑ Newell, ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History, at 90, 254, 326, 351, 372, 425, and 593.
↑ Kline and Bayless, Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound, p. 53.
↑ Washington State Ferries, “Summer 2016 Sailing Schedule”.
↑ "Wenatchee". Retrieved 2016-07-23.

References

Demoro, Harre, The Evergreen Fleet – A Pictoral History of Washington State Ferries, Golden West Books, San Marino CA (1971) ISBN 0-87095-037-1
Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, G.A., Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound, Bayless Books, Seattle, WA (1983) ISBN 0-914515-00-4
Newell, Gordon R. ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA (1966)

External links

Media related to Washington State Ferries at Wikimedia Commons

Washington State Ferries

Routes

Anacortes–San Juan Islands Edmonds–Kingston Fauntleroy–Vashon–Southworth Mukilteo–Clinton Point Defiance–Tahlequah Port Townsend–Coupeville Seattle–Bainbridge Seattle–Bremerton

Terminals

Colman Dock (Seattle)

Current fleet

Jumbo Mark-II-class	MV Tacoma MV Wenatchee MV Puyallup

Jumbo-class	MV Spokane MV Walla Walla

Super-class	MV Hyak MV Kaleetan MV Yakima MV Elwha

Olympic-class	MV Tokitae MV Samish MV Chimacum (under construction) MV Suquamish (under construction)

Issaquah 130-class	MV Cathlamet MV Chelan MV Issaquah MV Kitsap MV Kittitas

Issaquah-class	MV Sealth

Evergreen State-class	MV Klahowya MV Tillikum

Kwa-di Tabil-class	MV Chetzemoka MV Salish MV Kennewick

Retired fleet

Steel Electric-class	MV Enetai MV Illahee MV Klickitat MV Nisqually MV Quinault MV Willapa

Wood Electric-class	MV Chetzemoka (1927) MV Kehloken MV Klahanie

Evergreen State-class	MV Evergreen State

Skagit Kalama-class	MV Kalama MV Skagit

Passenger-Only Fast Ferry-class	MV Chinook MV Snohomish

No Class	MV Chippewa MV Crosline MV Hiyu MV Kalakala MV Kitsap (1925) MV Kulshan MV Leschi MV Olympic MV Rhododendron MV Rosario MV Saksnonia MV Tyee MV Vashon SS San Mateo SS Shasta

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.