Diesel-electric powered, propeller drives, steel hull. Built in 1931 by Moore Drydock Co. At Oakland, CA Length:191.4 Width: 43.6 Draft: 14.1 Gross Tons-556 3 engines, 350 Horse Power each
The San Diego arrives at the Quincy Street Dock in Port Townsend in 1972. Photo by Harre Demorro, author's collection.
Built for the San Diego-Coronado Ferry Company in 1931 by the Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, California, the ferry was essentially a larger version of her near sister Coronado.
For decades the San Diego performed her work, shuttling cars to and from the mainland to the island, becoming the subject of countless postcards and snap shots.
When the bridge put her out of work in 1969, the ferry was purchased by the Olympic Navigation Company of Port Townsend, Washington for service between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend.
From 1970 until 1974 the San Diego worked the run, but the last independent auto ferry company was losing money fast. By 1974, unable to keep operating, Olympic Ferries Inc shut down after some thirty years of service.
The governor of Washington State ordered Washington State Ferries to take over the route. They acquired the docking facilities, but passed up the San Diego and the old wooden ferry Defiance that had also been working the route.
The San Diego ended up in Vancouver, British Columbia for many years, hanging around the waterfront, waiting to be rebuilt as a paddlewheel excursion boat named "Klondike Queen."
In desperate need for ferries after the Hood Canal bridge sank in a storm in 1979, Washington State Ferries went up to Vancouver to inspect the old San Diego for possible use on the Canal. By that time though, having been neglected for years the State determined it would have been too costly to refurbish the boat.
In 1994 the San Diego made her way back to California and was towed up the Sacramento River. She was to be converted into a restaurant at Antioch called "Huckleberries" but somewhere along the line in the conversion process ended up catching on fire in the late 1990's.
After hanging around Antioch for a number of years, the ferry was towed up river and moored just off of Decker Island. Abandoned the ferry lfell into decay and was gutted by fire. By the end of 2011 the state stepped in. In a continuing effort to clean up the Delta, the San Diego was towed to Mare Island for asbestos removal. She is scheduled to be scrapped in Alameda sometime in either February or March of 2012.
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This odd spot on the Sacramento River seems to attact various vessels in stages of decay. The San Diego has spent a number of years there, but often has company that will arrive and disappear. At last check, the old ferry is moored there alone, with dire warnings about being shot of trespassing.
Michael Ellard captured this view of the ferry in 2009.
