Class: Steel Electric Class Length: 256' Beam: 73' 10'' Draft: 12' 9'' Speed in Knots: 12 Max Passengers: 616 Propulsion: Diesel-Electric
Max Vehicles: 59 City Built: Oakland Auto Deck Clearance: 13' 3'' Year Built/Re-built: 1927 /1958/1985 Official Number: D226738 Call Sign: WA9820
Meaning of Quinault: From the Quinault language: "river with a lake in the middle." It refers to both the river and lake on the Olympic Peninsula.
The Quinault seen here filling in the Kingston run with the Walla Walla in one of the last years she was in service. Photo courtesy of Matt Masuoka.
Later absorbed by Southern Pacific Railways, the ferries joined the Southern Pacific-Golden Gate ferry fleet and worked steadily until 1938 when the bridges shut down nearly all auto ferry operation on San Francisco Bay.
In 1940 Captain Alexander Peabody's Puget Sound Navigation Company (Black Ball Line) bought all six Steel Electric ferries for $300,001.00--less than half the cost it had taken to build just one vessel 13 years earlier. The vessels were all towed north to start their careers on Puget Sound.
Redwood Empire was renamed Quinault and went to work on the Bremerton-Seattle run while the Santa Rosa and Fresno went under an extensive conversion to single-ended vessels. The Steel Electrics were considered too slow for the route, which is why Peabody had the other two converted to single-enders with bigger engines. (As the Willapa and Enetai they could sail about 15-16 knots, four or so knots over their diesel-electric sisters.)
After being relieved on the Bremerton run, the Quinault went over to the Seattle-Manchester and Seattle-Bainbridge runs, then over to the Harper (later Southworth)-Vashon-Fauntleroy runs.
The State of Washington took over ferry operations in 1951, and but for a brief stint on the Seattle-Winslow run in 1951-53, kept the Quinault working at Vashon where she remained mainly until she was secheduled to be refurbished in 1985.
Vashon Island residents actually formed a committee to prevent the state from changing the wooden cabin of the Quinault, feeling it would ruin the vessel's historic status. In the end, the cabin was replaced--but kept to a much more original cabin foot print than the Klickitat had ended up with. The forward observation rooms, while modified, were left intact and the crews quarters we placed aft of the wheelhouses as they had originally been.
After being refurbished, the Quinault went back to work at her old route, but as time wore on she became too small for the route and was placed in reserve status. By the late 1990's and into the 21st century would find her filling in where needed for maintenance schedules at Vashon, Port Townsend, and the inter-island vessel in the San Juans. Occasionally she would work in as a third boat if one of the larger vessels was not available at Edmonds-Kingston or even at Mukilteo.
When issues with the Klickitat's hull were revealed in the spring of 2007 and when it was discovered that the Illahee's stern tubes were in poor condition, the Quinault was pulled from service. Her stern tubes were replaced, but a more thorough inspection of the hull revealed more corrosion than first expected. With all the layers of paint inside and out removed, it was revealed that fully 60% of the hull would need to be replated--and that was still with 30% of the paint left to be removed.
WSF and the state were faced with a huge problem. Continue dumping money into the 80 year old vessels, which had already reached $7 million per vessel, or stop the work and scrap the vessels. It was decided to retire the vessels. While still at Todd Shipyard on 13 December 2007 it was announced by the governor that the Steel Electrics would never carry another car or passenger again.
Work on the Quinault was stopped. She was given a quick coat of bottom paint and sealed up to make her suitable for mothballing. She was towed to Eagle Harbor, while the state made attempts to sell all four vessels.
In September of 2008 all four Steel Electrics were to be sold to Environmental Recycling Systems. The boats were be towed to Mexico for scrapping, but the deal fell through. A local buyer came forward and wanted to purchase the boats to reuse them in some capacity, but was unable to find moorage.
On June 19th, 2009, the sale of the four ferries for $200,000.00 was completed to Eco Planet Recycling, Inc. of Chula Vista, California. In August 2009 the ferry was towed out of Eagle Harbor for the last time. The Quinault made the trip to Mexico uneventfully and was scrapped as planned.
1. The Redwood Empire building. Author's collection. 2. Rebuilding in 1958. Williamson/MOHAI. 3. Circa 1979. 4. & 5. Interior photos, circa 2005. 6. Fighting through stormy weather outside of Keystone. Khris Laplante photo. 7. Scrapped in Ensenada, Mexico.
Illahee
The Retired Fleet
While somewhat out of scale, the ferry receives some nice coverage, and is likely the last footage of her shot. . Photos courtesy of Dreamworks.
