Later Names: Jervis Queen, BCP #30. Official Numer: 194368 Built: Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, 1928. Retired: 1966.
Length: 186' 3" Beam: 55' 2" Draft: 14' 7" Autos: 90 (1928 ) 45 (1950's)
Passengers: 600 Propulsion: 850 Horsepower Washington Estep Diesel. Speed : 10 knots
Named for Bainbridge Island.
Working at Mukilteo in the 1940's, the Bainbridge and the Crosline pass one another.
Originally she served her namesake Island, sailing between Port Blakely and Seattle, but after KCTC folded and PSN took over operations, the vessel shifted her route, often working alongside the Kitsap at Columbia Beach or with the Vashon at Vashon Island.
Captain Peabody retained the Bainbridge and a few other vessels after the sale of the rest of the fleet to the State of Washington for service in his new operations in British Columbia, at which time the Bainbridge was sent to the Yarrows Shipyard to be rebuilt and modernized for Canadian regulations. He emerged looking pretty much the same, but her square windows on the car deck had been replaced with a neat row of portholes, improving her looks somewhat. Once out of the yard, she was placed in service at Horseshoe Bay, sailing to Gibson's and Earl's Cove.
The Bainbridge was included with the sale of the terminals and all other assets of Black Ball to B.C. Ferries in 1961. She kept her same route, but was repainted in the pastel blue and white of B.C. Ferries. In 1963 she was renamed the Jervis Queen and was placed on the Earl Cove-Saltry Bay run. In 1964 she went back to the United States--just for routine maintenance at Lake Union Drydock. She returned to service, and toward the end of her career was working the Horseshoe Bay- Bowen Island run. By this time, the small all-wood vessel was becoming a liability. B.C. Ferries soon found out what a headache wooden construction could be: her hull required expensive caulking, and her timbers were subject to dryrot and needed frequent replacing.
At the time, with the lack of vessels the old Puget Sounder was still needed. She was patched up as best as possible. Mechanically, her Washington Estep Diesels were very sound, something that could not be said about the much younger but steam-powered Smokwa. Still, by 1966 B.C. Ferries had enough new ferries on the water that the Jevis Queen could be surplused. She was sold that same year to B.C. Packers, Ltd. and renamed BCP #30.
B.C. Packers used her as a floating bunkhouse for the company's oyster seed operation. She was towed up to Pendrell Sound in the spring and south the Fraser River each autumn for a number of years. At somepoint she became abandoned, and for years she was moored on the river, rotting away.
In 1986 her sodden hull could no longer keep water out. She sank on the spot. After efforts were made to pump her out failed, a floating barge was brought in to remove the hulk, sawingit up and loading the half-rotten timbers onto a barge. The remains of the once-faithful little Bainbridge were towed away and disposed of by burning.
Forgotten Fleet
Home
At right, a rare photo as the Jervis Queen, formerly the Bainbridge returns to home waters in 1964 to undergo maintenance at the Lake Union Drydock Company. It was the first time the former Black Ball ferry had been in Puget Sound since 1951.
