AIRLINE

BUILT: 1921

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES: a. Elk b. Airline

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 221669

L/B/D: 104 x 23 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 140/113 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 24 cars

HISTORY: The ferry Elk was built with a 150-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine by Skansie Bros. for service on the Steilacoom-Longbranch route under contract to Pierce County. Sold to Crosby Direct Line Ferries in 1925 and renamed Airline, it was used on the Alki-Manchester route.  Crosby sold out to Black Ball in 1926, and the Airline was moved to Hood Canal to work the Seabeck-Brinnon route. Sold by Black Ball to O.H. “Doc” Freeman in 1939, it was used as a floating shop, office and family home.

NAME TRANSLATION: First of the Crosby ferries ABC theme; Airline was the A.

FINAL DISPOSITION: Sold by Black Ball in 1939 to O.H. Freeman, where it became the Fremont Boat Market and reclassified as a barge. Scrapped in 1949.