_{Looking like a toy ferry, the Fox Island departs the dock at Keystone. Photo courtesy of Capt. Raymond W Hughes collection.}

BUILT: 1925, Skansie Brothers, Gig Harbor, WA.

FORMER/LATER NAMES: a. Wollochet, b. Fox Island, c. George S. Pearson, d. Western Service

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 224559 

L/B/D:  90 x 33 x 10 GROSS/NET TONS: 148/98 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 134/18 cars

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for Fox Island, which was named in 1841, by Commander Charles Wilkes for Dr. J. L. Fox, the assistant surgeon of the Wilkes Expedition.

FINAL DISPOSITION: Sold to Canadian interests after the Defiance replaced the vessel on the Port Townsend-Keystone run.  She sailed as the George S. Pearson until retired and sold in 1966.  As the Western Service,upper works wrecked in a storm in 1968, scrapped thereafter.

HISTORY

The Wollochet (which in Chinook means “squirting clams”) was diesel ferry built in 1925 by the Skansie Brothers for their Washington Navigation Company.   She was a small ferry at a mere 89.5 feet in length with a beam of 32.5 feet.   Built at Gig Harbor, the ferry was put into service to Day and Fox Islands near Tacoma.

She was later renamed Fox Island while still with the Washington Navigation Company.  WNCo. sold the vessel in 1942 to the Horluck Transportation Co., which was in desperate need of additional ferries to meet the passenger demands of its ferry service between Port Orchard and Bremerton.   During World War II the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was working around the clock and traffic to and from the yard was non-stop.

After traffic returned to normal levels when the war ended, so Horluck sold the ferry in 1947 to Captain Oscar Lee.  Lee, H.J. Carroll and A.C. Grady formed Olympic Ferries Inc. and purchased the Port Townsend-Keystone route from the Puget Sound Navigation Company (Black Ball Line) after the company had abandoned the route in 1943.  The old dock at Keystone was rebuilt for use in 1947 while the new harbor was under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The 18-car Fox Island moved to the new dock in the man-made harbor at Keystone in 1948 and sailed on the run until being displaced by the ferry Defiance in 1952. The Fox Island was sold in 1955 to the Gulf Island Ferry Company in British Columbia between Crofton and Vesuvius. Gulf Island Ferry Company renamed the ferry George S. Pearson and started operations in the Gulf Islands, but the ferry was charted for use by Black Ball Ferries for use between Horseshoe Bay and Langdale.

In 1961 she was transferred to B.C. Ferries when the Crown Corporation took over the Gulf Island Ferry Company.  She continued to sail until 1966 when she was sold to Nelson Brothers Fisheries, Ltd., to be used as supply vessel.

The ferry was destroyed by a storm in 1968…see the details below.

Thanks to Lorne Campbell, who provided me with the following information: According to the 23 Sept 1968 issue of the Prince Rupert Daily News, George S. Pearson, then named Western Service and owned by Nelson Bros. Fishery, was caught in a storm in Hecate Strait between what is now Haida Gwaii (then Queen Charlotte Islands) and the mainland on 8 September 1968. She was loaded with supplies including washers and dryers to serve the fishing fleet. As name implies, she was attached to the fishing fleet and was a supply ship. The house was destroyed in the storm and it says the owners had not determined what to do with the hull. I assume it was scrapped as I can find no reference anywhere of the hull’s fate.