_{Builder’s model of the Chinook, circa 1946, by William Francis Gibbs. The end product was close, but not quite the same. Author’s collection.}

BUILT: 1947, Todd Shipyard, Seattle WA.

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES: a. Chinook, b. Chinook II, c. Sechelt Queen, d. Muskegon Clipper

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 252908 CALL SIGN: WA3646

L/B/D: 318 x 65 x 17 GROSS/NET TONS: 4106/2792

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 1000-day passengers, 208 in state rooms/100

PROPULSION: 4 General Electric 278-A engines, diesel electric SPEED: 18.5 knots

NAME TRANSLATION: name of the jargon from which the ferries derive their names; a warm wind

FINAL DISPOSITION: Scrapped about 1997.

HISTORY

The Puget Sound Navigation Company, or the Black Ball Line as it was known, had long had an established “night route” between Seattle, Port Angeles and Victoria. Passengers would embark for a midnight departure time on suites aboard the stately Iroquois, or, in the early part of the century, the handsome steamer Sol Duc.

By the 1940’s, the Iroquois, despite having been modernized to carry autos and overnight passengers, was still steam-powered and was becoming unprofitable to keep on the route.  Although a finely appointed vessel, she was showing her age—at that time, already approaching nearly 50 years old.

Captain Alexander Peabody, president of the company, looked to build a vessel from the ground up for the route. The new vessel would be the most modern to sail Puget Sound waters since the debut of the Kalakala over ten years before.

Peabody had the vessel designed by William Francis Gibbs, the prominent naval architect responsible for rebuilding the former German liner Vaterland into the United States Lines Leviathan.  Gibbs would later build the greatest American liners ever, the America and perhaps his greatest achievement, the wondrous S.S. United States.  The “Big U” as she was dubbed broke all speed records on the Atlantic. At over 40 knots, the liner would take the Hale’s Trophy by crossing the Atlantic in just over three days.

Gibbs’ commission for Black Ball was constructed at Todd Shipyard in Seattle. She was christened as the Chinook and was the most modern vessel to grace Puget Sound waters.  The new vessel was dubbed by Gibbs himself as “The Queen Elizabeth of the Inland Seas.”  With her finely raked profile, the ferry certainly looked more like an Atlantic Ocean liner than a ferry boat.  Her arrow-like profile gave the sensation that she was moving even when standing still.

With room for 100 cars and staterooms for over 200 people, the Chinook proved to be an immediate success, solidly booked for weeks. Black Ball was eager to publicize the vessel.  Promotional photos were produced, and a number of postcards were printed.  Not since the Kalakala had a new vessel been built for the company, and they wanted to the boat to be profitable.  They were not disappointed. Her accommodations earned her reputation quickly.

Unfortunately, by the time the vessel made her debut, storm clouds were churning on the horizon for Black Ball. Strikes, fare issues and pressures from commuters and politicians forced Peabody into a tight corner. By 1950 it was over. The state had pushed the sale of the Puget Sound Navigation Company.  Peabody retained the Chinook, Bainbridge, Malahat, Quillayute and the fine old express ferry-steamer, City of Sacramento. When the State of Washington took over operations in 1951, the Chinook could still be seen departing Colman Dock for trips to Port Angeles and Victoria.

Time was running out for the Seattle portion of the route. Profits had dropped on the run, and with Peabody’s new venture in Canada, the Chinook was pulled from the Seattle part of the route. She continued between Port Angeles and Victoria, but by 1954, Peabody had a need for her elsewhere.

On 1 May 1955, the Chinook entered the Esquimalt Graving Dock for what PSN reported was an annual refit.  However, the work included many structural modifications including the removal of state rooms on the Cabin Deck and most telling, the removal of the Chinook’s bow to allow bow loading. Rumors began to spread that the ferry would not be returning to the Port Angeles-Victoria run. On May 24th, 1955, the company removed all doubt when it announced the transfer of the vessel to Canadian registry and the Chinook would be moved to the Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo run opposite the Kahloke.

The outcry was swift and loud. Both Victoria and Port Angeles predicted economic ruin without the link between the two cities.  With Captain Peabody having already transferred the vessel to Canadian registry, there was no going back.  The Iroquois by this time had already been sold and

converted into a freighter and couldn’t be used on the route for passengers any longer.

Port Angeles and Victoria appealed to Washington State Ferries to provide service on the run until

a private company could take over. WSF came to the rescue and sent the Kalakala to work the route during the summer months between 1955 and 1959. They were able to abandon the run when the Coho took over the route in the fall of 1959.

The City of Nanaimo, however, was absolutely delighted by the addition of the Chinook.  The new service proved to be very popular, and Captain Peabody, knowing where the greater profits were to be had, never looked back from his decision to move the Chinook.

Only one thing seems to have gone against Peabody’s wishes: the name of the vessel. There was already a Chinook on the Canadian registry. Black Ball contacted the owner of the vessel and tried to appeal to him to change the name, but he would not be moved. Begrudgingly, the Roman numeral II was added to the end of the Chinook‘s name, but the company never referred to the boat

by that name on schedules or promotional materials. It is always printed simply as “Chinook.”

For the next five years the ferry sailed alongside the Kahloke, but the end of the decade was marred by labor strife. When the Canadian government approached Captain Peabody with a buyout proposal, Peabody was agreeable to the sale. Having single-handedly brought modern ferry operations to Canada, Peabody was ready to retire. Black Ball Line became a memory in 1961 when Peabody handed over the entire operation, vessels and terminals, to the newly formed British Columbia Ferries Corporation.

The first change made to the Chinook was to be painted in the pastel blue and white of the new ferry corporation. She stayed on the same route, however, until May 1963 when she was transferred to the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen run. September of that year saw her back on the Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo route, but only briefly before joining the Kahloke on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale run. 1963 also saw her official renaming to Sechelt Queen.

The purchase of the Sunshine Coast Queen allowed the Sechelt Queen to be removed from service for an extensive overhaul. Late 1968 saw her remaining staterooms on the boat and promenade decks to be torn out and converted into passenger lounges. The ferry was also carpeted at this time, and her funnel was removed and replaced with a larger and more unattractive one.  When the work was completed, she was assigned the Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands route, but still acted as a relief vessel on many of the other routes.

By 1976 her time with B.C. Ferries was through, but she proved to be useful elsewhere within the province.

On 20 May 1976 the Sechelt Queen would receive her last assignment: working for the Ministry of Transportation and Highways between Comox and Powell River. She received her third change of livery—an all-white house with black guards and a yellow funnel. For the next six years she would call this route home, until she proved to be too small for the route. (Her capacity was down to around 75-80 cars by this time.)

As coincidence would have it, the Sechelt Queen made her last revenue trip on 26 June 1982—35 years to the day that she first went in service.  She was put up for sale and sold for $90,000.00 to Seaworld Processors, Inc. For the next decade she would linger in Burrard Inlet and on the Fraser River.

In the early 1990’s it looked as if her future might be changing.

By the early 1980’s she’d been sold and moved back to American registry. The Milwaukee Sentinel reported in December of 1985 that the ferry, renamed Muskegon Clipper, would serve between Muskegon and Milwaukee—a four-and-a-half-hour trip.  The idea was to renovate the ferry completely and turn it into a “a poor man’s Love Boat on the Great Lakes” an official was quoted as saying. Service was supposed to start in May of 1986, but the venture fell through.

In the early 1990’s, the ferry was moved to Eagle Harbor, Washington at the Washington State Ferries shipyard for inspection for possible use on the international run to Sidney B.C. The idea was not without merit; she was still seaworthy and with the enclosed bow would have been ideal for crossing Haro Strait, which can have very rough seas.

The Chinook, however, was already close to 50 years old.  Her engines were obsolete, and there was the pesky problem of asbestos. Washington State Ferries ultimately decided against it, unwilling to take on such an expensive project boat with an aging fleet of their own.

In 1994 Monarch Casinos purchased the ferry with the idea of turning her into a gambling riverboat moored outside of Gary, Indiana.  In preparation for this, the ferry was towed from Seattle to San Diego.  After a brief stay there, she set out under tow to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.

While en route to Alabama, her captain ordered a unique method of asbestos abatement: load it up into plastic bags and chuck it overboard.  Needless to say, the crew balked at it, but some carried out the order.  No one is sure how many tons of asbestos were dumped into the ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Her captain was sentenced to two years in a federal prison for violating international pollution laws.

Monarch Casinos renamed the boat Monarch (this doesn’t appear to have happened officially; her final records are all under the name Muskegon Clipper) and began work on converting the former Sechelt Queen into a riverboat, which called for completely rebuilding the ferry. A set of plans was developed, and the ferry was stripped down to the hull.

Monarch Resorts and Casinos failed—twice—to secure a gambling license in the State of Indiana.  In the meantime, the boat had sucked up a great deal of money and became a financial drain to the company. The board of directors decided to auction off the vessel in 1996 and their financial report of 1997 listed the vessel as “disposed of.”

The Miramar Ship Index lists her as “disposed of” in 2001—indicating that the hull was broken up at that time, ending the career of William Gibbs’ forgotten “Queen Elizabeth of the Inland Seas.”