RICH PASSAGE 1

YEAR BUILT: Built 2010, All American Marine, Bellingham, Washington

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1225365 CALL SIGN: WDF4649

L/B/D: 72 x 28 x 8 GROSS/NET TONS 76/52 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 118/12

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 3500 SPEED: 34 knots cruising, 37 max

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for Rich Passage, the narrow waterway separating Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula.  The passage was named for William Rich, the botanist of the Wilkes Expedition of 1838-42, by Charles Wilkes.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Seattle-Bremerton

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) The Rich Passage 1 (RP1) is Kitsap Transit’s first fast ferry. Featuring a patented hydrofoil-assisted hull design developed by Teknicraft in New Zealand, RP1 was a prototype ultra-low-wake ferry built to make the Bremerton/Seattle trip in about 30 minutes without generating wakes that could damage Rich Passage’s beaches.  The research project demonstrated that the RP1 could successfully transport passengers through Rich Passage at full speed without having a discernible impact on beaches.

The success of the Rich Passage Wake Research project paved the way for a ballot measure that voters approved in 2016, which allowed Kitsap Transit to fund our fast ferry program.

RELIANCE

YEAR BUILT: Built 2019, All American Marine, Bellingham, Washington

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1285140 CALL SIGN: WDK5665

L/B/D: 75 x 27 x 4 GROSS/NET TONS 85/48 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 118/12

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 3212 SPEED: 34 knots cruising, 37 max

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for a “Mosquito Fleet” steamer, the first Reliance sailed in the Port Orchard area for the Kitsap County Transportation Company starting in 1913.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Seattle-Bremerton

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) The RP1’s sister ships were built with the RP1’s same ultra-low wake design and were enhanced to reduce vessel noise. Kitsap Transit used the Reliance and Lady Swift to launch two-boat service on the Bremerton/Seattle route in February 2020.

LADY SWIFT

YEAR BUILT: Built 2019, All American Marine, Bellingham, Washington

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1285241 CALL SIGN: WDK5666

L/B/D: 75 x 27 x 4 GROSS/NET TONS 85/48 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 118/12

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 3212 SPEED: 34 knots cruising, 37 max

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for a “Mosquito Fleet” steamer, one of four owned by Vern Gorst. (The town of Gorst was named after him.)

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Seattle-Bremerton

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) The RP1’s sister ships were built with the RP1’s same ultra-low wake design and were enhanced to reduce vessel noise. Kitsap Transit used the Reliance and Lady Swift to launch two-boat service on the Bremerton/Seattle route in February 2020.

SOLANO

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 2004, Dakota Creek Shipyard, Anacortes, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 1155022 CALL SIGN: WDM4427

L/B/D: 126 x 38 x 13 GROSS/NET TONS 541/174 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 350/?

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 6622 hp SPEED: 30 knots cruising, 32 max

NAME TRANSLATION: From the ferry/county of the same name. From Wikipedia: The Solano was a large railroad ferry, built as a reinforced paddle steamer with independently powered sidewheels by the Central Pacific Railroad, that carried entire trains across the Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Port Costa in California daily for 51 years, from 1879 to 1930. When launched, the Solano was the largest ferry of its kind in the world, a record held for 35 years until 1914 when she was joined by her sister ship, the Contra Costa, which was 13 feet (4.0 m) longer.

FINAL DISPOSITION: backup vessel

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) Kitsap Transit bought the M/V Solano from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) in 2021. We plan to refurbish it for use as a spare vessel in our fast-ferry fleet.

ENETAI

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 2020, Nichols Bros. Freeland, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1298861 CALL SIGN: WDL6548

L/B/D: 128 x 37 x 12 GROSS/NET TONS 447/145 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 250/26

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 6866 hp SPEED: 35 knots cruising, 37 max

NAME TRANSLATION: Chinook jargon for, “across, on the other side.” Named after the Black Wall/Washington State ferry of the same name, now in San Francisco as the Santa Rosa.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Southworth-Seattle.

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) Kitsap Transit’s two newest ferries were designed and built to fit into the bow-loading slips at the Washington State Ferries dock in Southworth. The ferries also had to be designed to load from the side to board passengers at Pier 50 in Seattle. The vessels are physically identical.

COMMANDER

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 2021, Nichols Bros. Freeland, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1298862 CALL SIGN: WDM4430

L/B/D: 128 x 37 x 12 GROSS/NET TONS 447/145 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 250/26

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 6866 hp SPEED: 35 knots cruising, 37 max

NAME TRANSLATION: From Wikipedia: The steamship General Frisbie was a wooden two-deck passenger ship built in 1900, named after John B. Frisbie. She was designed for use as a ferry between Vallejo and San Francisco. The steamer was successful in that role and was the fastest ship on the route when she began service. Improved roads, bridges, and automobiles reduced demand for ferry service in the Bay Area, and newer ships were optimized for transporting cars, so General Frisbie was retired in the late 1920s.

In 1930 General Frisbie was sold and towed to Seattle. She was renamed Commander and operated as a ferry between Bremerton and Seattle beginning in 1931. Rather than the superior service with which she began her San Francisco service, in Seattle she was the cut-price competitor with limited capabilities, particularly for cars. She continued her runs until November 1935 when her owner was acquired in the midst of a strike by ferry workers. She was immediately retired from ferry service.

The ship was sold again and converted into a floating salmon cannery in 1936. In 1937 and 1938 she sailed to Moser Bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska in the spring, and returned with cases of canned salmon in the fall. In 1939 her engine and other fittings were removed at Seattle. She was towed back to Moser Bay and beached in 1940 to become part of the permanent land-based cannery facility. In 1950 she was dismantled completely.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service between Southworth and Seattle.

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) Kitsap Transit’s two newest ferries were designed and built to fit into the bow-loading slips at the Washington State Ferries dock in Southworth. The ferries also had to be designed to load from the side to board passengers at Pier 50 in Seattle. The vessels are physically identical.

FINEST

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 1996/2018, Derecktor Shipyards, NY/Nichols Bros. Freeland, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER:1044082 CALL SIGN: WDC2284

L/B/D: 114 x 33 x 14 GROSS/NET TONS 408/147 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 349/10

PROPULSION: diesel water jet, 5400 hp SPEED: 30 knots cruising, 32 max

NAME TRANSLATION: The Finest is named for the New York City Police Department.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Kingston-Seattle

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) After Kitsap Transit bought Finest from New York Waterway in 2018, the ferry was shipped through the Panama Canal and underwent a $7.5 million refurbishment before starting on the Kingston route in late 2018. The Finest was one of hundreds of vessels that assisted in the Great Boatlift on 9/11, in which half a million people were evacuated from Lower Manhattan after the Twin Towers fell following terrorist attacks.

CARLISLE II

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 1917 by the Lummi Island Navigation Co.

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 214872 CALL SIGN: WDB7545

L/B/D: 65 x 20 x 6 GROSS/NET TONS 95/86 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 140/5

PROPULSION: diesel 450hp SPEED: 10 knots cruising

NAME TRANSLATION: The Carlisle II is named after the Carlisle Packing Company, a Bellingham-based salmon cannery that operated in the early 20th Century. 

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Port Orchard-Bremerton.

HISTORY: (from Wikipedia) Carlisle II is the oldest of only two operational examples of a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet vessel. (The other is the 1922 Steamship Virginia V.) They were once part of a large fleet of small passenger and freight carrying ships that linked the islands and ports of Puget Sound in Washington state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Carlisle II was built in Bellingham in 1917 by Lummi Island Navigation Company, and first carried freight and passengers between Bellingham and the Carlisle Packing Company’s salmon cannery on Lummi Island. Original power was from a Fairbanks-Morse Type “C-O” Heavy Duty Marine Oil Engine. It was a three-cylinder hot bulb (or “semi-diesel”) engine rated 75 horsepower at 340 RPM.

In 1923 she was rebuilt as a car ferry and ran from Gooseberry Point to Lummi and Orcas islands.

Horluck Transportation Co., under Captain Willis Nearhoff, purchased Carlisle II in 1936 and converted her back to passenger vessel use for the short run between Bremerton and Port Orchard across Sinclair Inlet. The service was heavily used during the war years by personnel commuting to and from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. Eventually Mr. Nearhoff’s daughter, Mary Lieske, became manager and then owner of the company. She was also reportedly the first woman ferry captain.

Seattle businessman Hilton Smith bought out Horluck in 1995 and invested almost $300,000 in repairs and upgrades to Carlisle II. In 2008, Kitsap Transit purchased Carlisle II from Smith and continues to use her as needed on the Bremerton-Port Orchard run.  The vessel underwent a major, two-year renovation that cost $1.3 million and was completed in 2021. The renovation included replacing the engine, generator, ventilation, and propeller, along with repainting of the exterior and seating areas.

Current status

Carlisle II remains in operation, acting as a backup vessel for service between Bremerton and Port Orchard, Washington. The MV Waterman, a hybrid diesel-electric ferry, is the primary vessel for the service.

Carlisle II has been designated a “Floating Museum” by the Washington Commission for the Humanities, and her interior is decorated with numerous photos and information about her and other Mosquito Fleet vessels.

ADMIRAL PETE

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 1994/2012, Applied Technical Systems/Devlin Designing Boat Builders

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 1021190 CALL SIGN: WDG2741

L/B/D: 47 x 18 x 5 GROSS/NET TONS 37/29 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 120/5

PROPULSION: diesel 810 hp SPEED: 12 knots cruising, 22 max

NAME TRANSLATION: Admiral Pete is named after Rear Admiral William F. Petrovic, a naval engineer and former Puget Sound Naval Shipyard commander. Petrovic was informally known as “Admiral Pete.”

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Port Orchard-Bremerton and Annapolis-Bremerton

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) The Admiral Pete has a long history in the Puget Sound, serving both King County Water Taxi and Kitsap Transit’s local ferry routes.

WATERMAN

YEAR BUILT/REBUILT: 2019, All American Marine, Bellingham, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 1282918 CALL SIGN: WDK6206

L/B/D: 70 x 26 x 8 GROSS/NET TONS 97/78 PASSENGERS/BICYCLES: 150/5

PROPULSION: hybrid electric, 820 hp SPEED: 10 knots cruising, 15 max

NAME TRANSLATION: The Waterman is named after a small unincorporated community in South Kitsap.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, Port Orchard-Bremerton.

HISTORY: (from Kitsap Transit website) The Waterman is the first hybrid-electric ferry to operate commercial passenger service in the Puget Sound. It operates on battery power while idling and loading passengers, reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and increasing the efficiency of its diesel engine.