From ferry to building…

Not looking too different, at least not yet, the Elwha at the Everett Shipyard undergoing conversion to offices and floating warehouse.

The long-lived Ballard…

Whether she was the Golden Anchors of the Four Winds, the old ferry Ballard was a popular venue in Seattle, right up until the time she sank. Unfortunately, this seems to be the fate of most floating restaurants, the Princess Louise in Los Angeles being a notable example.

The old Ballard started out as the steamer City of Everett before being converted to the ferry Liberty for the Kitsap County Transportation Company. She was further expanded to become the Ballard and sailed up until the arrival of the last of the ferries from San Francisco and was retired in 1944.

Speaking of floating restaurants…

The matchbooks from the River Queen, ex-Shasta had a small history of the vessel on the inside flap that is…mostly correct. The Shasta did sail between Seattle and most of the central sound docks, she never sailed to Victoria.

The River Queen never sank, but after losing her moorage on the Portland waterfront in the 1990’s, the vessel never secured another spot and fell into decay before finally being scrapped.

The restaurant had quite the menu, too.

Canadian Pacific had several of their vessels converted to floating restaurants, with varying degrees of success. The Princess Elaine started her career as a restaurant moored in Blaine, where she did pretty well. Moving her to Seattle proved less than successful, and after being moored of Alki, the venture eventually failed and she moved to be stored on Lake Union for several years before being scrapped in the mid 1970’s.

Never as glamorous as her sisters, merely being a “day boat” between Vancouver and Nanamio, she was a fast steamer with comfortable accommodations, and has always been a personal favorite.

Longest lived…

…of CP’s floating restaurants was the Princess Mary, which, after retiring, was cut in half in 1952 with the hull becoming the Bulk Carrier #2 barge (which sank in 1954) and the superstructure being the “Princess Mary Restaurant.” In this capacity, and with several additions, the old steamer operated continuously until 2006/7 when the place finally closed. Despite the historic nature of the establishment, the superstructure of the old ship was demolished in 2011.

And this was never a ferry!

The “Top of the Ocean” restaurant and club house, while looking like a former ferry, was a purpose-built structure on top a dock in Tacoma. It lasted until the 1970’s, when it was burned down in one of the most inept arsons I’ve ever read about. (If you’re interested, I’ll post her history.)

Update on a retiree…

Someone recently asked me recently what was happening with the Evergreen State (well, actually, what was asked was, “What’s going on with that old ferry in Bellingham?”) The answer is absolutely nothing. She’s just sitting there, rusting away.

Until next time, happy sailing!