CLASS: Issaquah

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 1981/93, Marine Power and Equipment, Seattle, WA  

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 636551 CALL SIGN:  WYR7641

L/B/D: 328 x 79 x 17 GROSS/NET TONS: 2477/1910 PASSENGERS/AUTOS:  1200/124

PROPULSION: 2 GE FDM-12 Diesels SPEED: 16 knots

NAME TRANSLATION: From the Kathlamet tribe, the Chinook word calamet meaning “stone.” It was given to the tribe as its members lived along a rocky stretch of the Columbia River. A city also bears its name.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, 2024

HISTORY

For a time, the M/V Cathlamet was likely the most notorious of the Issaquah Class—and certainly the boat that seemed to illustrate every mechanical malady to ever plague the class of ferries that soon to became known as the “Citrus Class.”

Upon entering service, the computerized propulsion system failed and resulted in the ferry demolishing docks at both Clinton and Mukilteo within weeks of one another. The ferry earned the nicknamed “Can’t Land It” and one local radio station made up a song called “The Wreck of the Ferry Cathlamet” set to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

At WSF and in the Department of Transportation, no one was laughing. The ferry had caused millions in damages and was endangering the lives of ferry riders—something had to be done, and quickly. Pulled in and out of service, the ferry became the test boat for a number of different propulsion systems, providing invaluable information that allowed the state to iron out all the bugs. Rid of her twitchy computer system, the Cathlamet settled down and behaved like it should have.

Paired with her sister Kittitas on the Clinton-Mukilteo run, the two sisters were inseparable for close to two decades.  The Kit and Cat were considered “Mukilteo Boats” as they seldom ran anywhere else.

In 2003 the ferry had a much-needed passenger cabin refurbishment.  The “rainbow” scheme put in place by MP& E is on the Cathlamet’s had been a muddy brown—not what one immediately thinks of when the word “rainbow” is mentioned. Her refurbished cabin is more in line with rainbow colors—blue and a very striking ruby red.  This color had been used a bit on the Puyallup, but the extensive use on the Cathlamet sets her apart from the rest of the vessels in the fleet.

After nearly 20 years calling Mukilteo-Clinton home, the Cathlamet was displaced by the addition of the Olympic Class ferry Tokitae in the summer of 2014.

The Cathlamet moved to Vashon Island run to replace the Klahowya, pairing her with sisters Issaquah and the Kittitas.

On 22n July 2022, the Cathlamet collided with one of the dolphins at the Fautleroy dock, causing perhaps the most damage to a ferry involved in a hard landing in WSF history–certainly equal to the Kalakala‘s legendary hard landings with Colman Dock. The investigation from the NTSB concluded fatigue and “microsleep” was a factor in the crash. As of August 2024 the Coast Guard has still not finished with its report on the accident.

The Cathlamet returned to service in March of 2023, eight months after the accident. The ferry is back on the Vashon Island route.