CITY of SACRAMENTO

BUILT: 1903, Philadelphia, PA.

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES:  a. Asbury Park, b. City of Sacramento, c.  Kahloke, d.  Langdale Queen, e. Lady Grace

OFFICIAL NUMBER:  107848

L/B/D: 307 x 50 x 15 GROSS/NET TONS: 3016/1829 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 2000 (as Kahloke, 1000)/100

NAME TRANSLATIONS:

Asbury Park: for the city of the same name; named for Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States

City of Sacramento: For the California state capitol city. Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River in either 1799 or 1808; accounts vary. Moraga wrote, “Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like champagne, and (the Spaniards) drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. ‘Escomo el sagrado sacramento!’” (It’s like the Holy Sacrament.)

Kahloke: Chinook for “white swan”

Langdale Queen: for the community of Langdale, British Columbia; the settlement is named after Robinson Henry Langdale (1835-1908) who preempted land on Langdale Creek in 1892.

FINAL DISPOSITION: Hull sank in 2008; raised and scrapped later that year.

HISTORY

Few vessels have had such a long life, gone through as many changes, or as many name changes or ended up as far from the place of her birth as the Asbury Park.

Built at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in 1903, the express steamer Asbury Park was fitted out with two four-cylinder, triple expansion engines and two nine-foot, six-inch propellers. The vessel easily reached 20 knots, but this great speed and hull design proved to be a problem. The Asbury Park cast a tremendous wake that damaged boats and shoreside businesses. Captains reported the big steamer was difficult to steer and had many near misses in New York Harbor.

The beautifully appointed vessel was not to work long for her builders. Even at a reduced speed her wake was still damaging, and when the New Jersey shore declined in popularity as a summer home destination, traffic on the vessel dropped. Finally, the Asbury Park was removed from service in 1916 and sat out the duration of World War I.

After the war the Monticello Steamship Corporation of San Francisco began scouring the east coast for a new vessel. They found the Asbury Park in good condition and purchased the vessel. She left the east coast for good on 16 September 1918 and sailed to San Francisco via the Panama Canal, arriving on October 9th, 1919. The second chapter of her long career was about to start.

Monticello sent the Asbury Park into the Barnes and Tibbitts Shipyard in Alameda in July of 1919. The vessel was converted to oil from coal, and one funnel was removed.  After the conversion work was completed, the ferry was moved to Monticello’s yard where the staterooms were removed and replaced by an open deck for automobiles.

Loaded through side ports, the Asbury Park could carry sixty cars and 2,375 passengers–a remarkably versatile vessel for the time. The ferry began work sailing between Vallejo and San Francisco on November 1st, 1919.

In 1925 the company decided the name “Asbury Park” was no longer appropriate.  Banking on the impact of publicity and tourism, they settled on City of Sacramento. On 10 October 1925 a bottle of California champagne was smashed against the hull and the ferry officially became the City of Sacramento.

The following year saw a number of changes made to the vessel.  Rebuilt for end loading, the bow and stern were removed. The main deck was widened to 67 feet. A new wheelhouse and bridge were built above the original one.  This last change dropped her passenger capacity to 2,027, but raised her auto carrying capacity to 100.

1927 saw the Monticello Steamship Company absorbed into the Golden Gate Ferry Company.  Two short years later that company was absorbed by Southern Pacific, becoming the Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries Ltd. Company. The City of Sacramento’s assignment didn’t change, but in 1931 the big ferry was withdrawn and replaced by the Napa Valley, which was less expensive to run.

For the next several years the big steamer was only used when necessary.  Once the ferry was even used as an excursion vessel, traveling up the Sacramento River all the way to Stockton. By 1936, when the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge opened, traffic on the ferries dropped to near nothing. The City of Sacramento, along with fellow steamers Shasta, San Mateo, Yosemite, Calistoga, and Napa Valley were all offered for sale.  The Puget Sound Navigation Company (Black Ball Line) purchased all but the Calistoga and Yosemite. The sale was completed by August of 1941, but it wouldn’t be until June of 1944 that the City of Sacramento would reach Puget Sound. The US Maritime Commission requisitioned the ferry at the outbreak of World War II for transport duties. In December of 1942 the ferry began running between San Francisco and the Permanente Metals Corporation Shipyard at Richmond.

On 18 May 1944 the ferry was finally released to Black Ball. A week later the Sacramento began the trip up the coast, where the ferry met a fierce storm that caused significant damage.  After stops for repairs in Crescent City, California, and Astoria, Oregon, the ferry finally arrived on Puget Sound on 15 June 1944—and promptly went in for repairs at Todd Shipyards after encountering yet another storm on the way from Oregon to Washington.

The only major change that the City of Sacramento underwent at Todd was the removal of her smoking room on the texas deck. Her total capacity was now listed at 1,527 people and 100 cars.  On 5 July 1944 she went into service on the Seattle-Bremerton run–slowing to 15 knots to cut her wake in Rich Passage in an effort to curtail complaints from property owners.

There were now a total of six vessels on the Bremerton run—the most it would ever see.  Along with the City of Sacramento there were the two remodeled Steel Electrics, Enetai and Willapa, the Chippewa, Kalakala and the City of Sacramento’s former running mate, the Napa Valley which had been renamed Malahat. 

For the next three years the big steamer would sail the route. Her mostly routine crossings on the run were not without incident; the old steamer was involved in what is perhaps the most infamous race in Puget Sound history.

Leaving Seattle at the close the same time as the Black Ball Line flagship Kalakala. Immediately an impromptu race ensued, with the City of Sacramento, by most accounts, giving the Kalakala a run for the money. The Kalakala‘s well-advertised 18 knots was actually closer to 15.  Despite having some of her boilers removed, the City of Sacramento, with her two big propellers could still do close to 20.  As the two vessels approached narrow Rich Passage, Captain Ole Rindal cut inside the Orchard Rocks and the City of Sacramento pulled ahead of the Kalakala. The “antique” steamer of 1903 pulled into the dock well ahead of the shiny streamlined flagship.

It is not known if aficionados of steam power were secretly pleased that the big steamer had beaten the vessel with the largest direct drive diesel engine ever put in a vessel at the time or not.  What is known is that Captain Peabody was not at all pleased and gave Rindal a dressing down for embarrassing the company flagship!

The City of Sacramento was withdrawn from service on September of 1947.  Traffic had dropped on the Bremerton run enough that she was no longer needed.  Along with the Malahat and Quillayute, the City of Sacramento was laid up in West Seattle, where allegedly an official from Black Ball said another national emergency would be required to put the vessel back in service.

Meanwhile, PSN was involved in a bitter dispute with the state over ferry operations, finally being forced out of business in 1951. The City of Sacramento, along with the Bainbridge, Quillayute, Malahat and Chinook were not part of the sale to Washington State.  Captain Peabody already had in mind starting up a new company in British Columbia, and the Quillayute and Bainbridge were almost immediately pressed into service at the new terminal in Horseshoe Bay.

The City of Sacramento was transferred to Canadian registry and in the spring of 1952 the steamer was towed to Yarrows Ltd of Esquimalt for a complete transformation.

Every last vestige of the City of Sacramento was to disappear–save for her uniquely curved hull, which had been modified to load cars back when she had been first converted to carry autos.

The house was completely stripped away, leaving the bare hull. Her steam engines and boilers were removed.  All the wiring, steering gear and all minor bulkheads were removed.  Water-tight bulkheads were strengthened and extensively repaired.  She was repowered with four 16-cylinder General Motors diesels, each developing 1700 HP, giving the vessel a service speed of 18 knots.  She could carry 100 cars and had a deck clearance of 13′-6″.

A new streamlined steel superstructure was built onto the hull. Five spacious lounges were provided for passengers along with a coffee shop and a cocktail lounge.  The upper boat deck was left open for passengers to stroll. Crews quarters were below the car deck. 

Renamed Kahloke, (Kah-low-KEY) which translates to “white swan” the vessel was painted white with a bright red stripe down her flank. The funnel was painted red and capped with black band, and a black ball was located in the center of the stack.

Kahloke started service between Departure Bay (Nanaimo) and Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver) on 27 June 1953.  Black Ball predicted the vessel would be an immediate success and a popular vessel—a prediction that turned out to be absolutely correct.

The Kahloke managed five round trips a day on the 1 hour, 50-minute crossing. So popular did the vessel prove that soon the ferry could not handle the traffic alone. The Chinook was removed from the Port Angeles-Victoria route and became her running mate on the run.

Her service was not without some teething issues. Within the first few weeks of service she was withdrawn twice for adjustments. In addition, her gleaming new superstructure did nothing to alleviate the problems of the wake cast from her hull. Complains from both ends of the route emerged over her damaging wake.

A few noted accidents occurred during her years with Black Ball. On 15 September 1958 she crashed into the Horseshoe Bay terminal in thick fog, causing serious damage.  Sent to a shipyard

in Vancouver for repairs, she managed to collide with the CPR ship Princess of Nanaimo in the same fog!

By the end of the 1950’s Black Ball and Canadian Pacific Railways had both gone numerous strikes and labor issues.  After several strikes that resulted in suspension of service, the B.C. government stepped in a formed its own ferry corporation.

On 30 November 1961 the British Columbia Ferry Corporation completed the sale with Black Ball Ferries, Ltd.  The Kahloke, along with the Chinook II, Bainbridge, Smokwa and Quillayute and althe Black Ball terminals were now part of the new company.

The old Asbury Park, now Kahloke, had undergone yet another change of ownership, and more changes were on the horizon.

B.C. Ferries didn’t make any changes to the Kahloke, save for her livery. Painted white and pastel blue, the ferry looked particularly handsome.  She remained with the Chinook II on the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay route.

When the City of Vancouver and City of Victoria (later Queen of Vancouver and Queen of Victoria) were added to the fleet, the Kahloke and Chinook II were moved to the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen run in order to provide hourly sailings.  This arrangement stood until September of 1963 when the Kahloke was assigned to the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route.  She was then homeported at Langdale.

1963 also saw the ferry renamed for the fourth time.  In keeping with the B.C. Ferries naming police with a “Queen” prefix or suffix, the Kahloke became the Langdale Queen.

Still working the Langdale route, the Langdale Queen was supplanted by the Sunshine Coast Queen in 1968. After 1968 she worked as the number 2 vessel, providing back up and relief service on the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay run and occasionally on the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay route when traffic demanded her service.

On 23 July 1976 she left Horseshoe Bay for the last time, with flags flying and rust streaking her sides. 23 years of dependable service on B.C. waters came to an end. She was moved to Deas Dock, where her engine parts were taken for the Sechelt Queen, which shared a nearly identical engine arrangement.

B.C. Ferries, aware of her beloved status and historic significance, offered her for sale at a discounted price in the hope that someone would find use for the ferry and that she would not be scrapped.

Coal Harbor Marine Leasing purchased the ferry for $50,000.00. The final chapter of the ferry was about to be written.

Plans for the Langdale Queen were to turn her into multi-purpose building, with offices, a conference room and a restaurant.  She was given her fifth name—Lady Grace—and her B.C. livery was painted over with a darker blue.

On 7 January 1978 the Vancouver Sun reported that the owner was having financial troubles and would soon declare bankruptcy. A few months later, on 14 May, the Lady Grace sank at her moorings. Person or persons unknown had flooded her by opening her shoreside fresh water valves.

She was salvaged later that year by Can-Diver Services Inc and refloated.  On 16 December 1978 she was towed to the Lynn Creek Boat Basin on the north side of Burrard Inlet, not far from the Second Narrows Bridge. Around this time she was proposed being turned into a floating fitness center, but it never transpired.

The next four years passed and the old ferry was sold again, this time to Alaskan Equipment Corporation and was then offered for resale for $80,000.00. At that time she was moved to Britannia Beach.  Plans were made to turn her into a mining museum, at least on the car deck space.

A violent storm on 16 December ended those plans. The Lady Grace was slammed against the pier, causing extensive damage to her superstructure and smashing some of the dock pilings. She was moved then to the Burnaby shore, again near the Second Narrows Bridge.

Algoma Resources and Industries purchased the ferry in 1984. There was talk of converting her into a plush casino for the predicted crowds for the upcoming Expo ’86.  Those plans were dropped due to Canada’s gambling restrictions.  The next plan was to turn her into a floating school ship for the Navy League of Canada, but repairs were deemed too expensive.

After years of neglect, the ferry was stripped to the hull in 1988. The superstructure, damaged from the storm six years before and the damage wrought for being submerged in salt water for months proved to be too great.

The last years of the Lady Grace, ex-Langdale Queen, ex-Kahloke, ex-City of Sacramento, ex-Asbury Park were spent as a pontoon at the Goodwin Johnson log loading site near Berry Head on Burrard Inlet.

In 2004 the hull was offered for sale by Halter Marine.  In 2008 after apparently being abandoned, the hull sank in the Fraser under the weight of heavy snow.  It was raised in 2009 but the status of said hull was not addressed in the article in Western Marine beyond the salvage operation, but it was likely that the troublesome and over 100-year-old barge was scrapped at that time.