By Rex Lee Carlaw
Ferry Advisory Committee

This summer, due to four large vessels being out of service at the same time, the Edmonds-Kingston ferry route was treated to visits from the Evergreen State and Tillikum for three days, July 20, 21 and 22.

Some history: The Evergreen State was the first vessel ordered by Washington State Ferries to augment the fleet purchased from Puget Sound Navigation Co. (Black Ball Line). She came out from the old Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co. and became the No. 1 vessel on the Seattle-Winslow run. Her car-deck clearance was only 13 feet, which soon became a problem as the height of commercial traffic rose.

In 1959, the Tillikum replaced her. The Tillikum had clearance of 14 feet and a slightly larger passenger cabin. Evergreen State then became the principal vessel on the San Juan Islands-Sidney run.

For the winter of 1961-62, the regular Kingston vessel Nisqually and the Evergreen State swapped assignments. The reasoning was that there was very light traffic in the San Juans and on the international leg in the off-season. Running a larger vessel at Kingston would avoid having to provide a second vessel on busy weekends. The State carried 105 cars and the Nisqually, 85. This arrangement only lasted the one season, but on my first trip on the State, I saw how proud her crew was at having such a modern vessel (seven years old vs. 34 years old) assigned to Edmonds-Kingston.

The lower clearance problem was solved by loading overheight traffic only into the open-air area, between the pickle forks at the stern, and then backing into the opposite port and having the trucks back off. That may have been why she didn’t often come back to Kingston.

Eventually, the clearance was raised and the Evergreen State had a long run in the islands. In latter years, it lost the cross-border part of the service to newer vessels. And finally, it ended as the inter-island ferry.

It was retired last year, but quickly put back in service because of multiple breakdowns in the system, running mostly on the Triangle Route, Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth.

When Tillikum was replaced at Seattle-Winslow by the super ferries in 1968, she, in turn, relieved the Nisqually as the main Edmonds-Kingston boat. But just as the Puyallup is the relief vessel for Bainbridge Island and is pulled off Kingston for any and every reason, Tillikum spent a good share of her time back on her original route.

When the jumbos were built in 1973, Tillikum joined her sister ship Klahowya on the Triangle Run, and has only come back to Kingston occasionally. While the Evergreen State is showing her age, Tillikum has been proposed as a relief vessel to replace the tiny Hiyu.

Capacity ratings have changed with Coast Guard striping on the car deck to ensure access to equipment and with larger vehicle sizes so that these vessels are now listed at 87 cars. Actual loads are closer to 80, but with both Tillikum and Evergreen State doing very well keeping the temporary schedule, the total capacity of the route was not far off normal.

Many commuters enjoyed having the third vessel because of the extra departures, and others were nostalgic, remembering decades back when this class of vessel seemed enormous and ultramodern. The experience underscored the feasibility of adding a third vessel to the run on summer weekends as the Ferry Advisory Committee has been requesting for many years.

Kudos to Washington State Ferries for managing the breakdowns so well this summer. Last year, we were down to one boat, and then the Sidney run had to be canceled to get a second vessel for Kingston. This year, though many runs had small decreases in capacity, schedules were maintained and service was excellent despite the difficulties of having so many vessels in the yard at the same time.

— Rex Lee Carlaw is a member of the Kingston Ferry Advisory Committee, and has been a rider of WSF since 1958.