M.R. CHESSMAN

BUILT: 1948, Albina Engine and Machine Works, Portland, Or

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 254923 CALL SIGN: WB5923

L/B/D:172 x 43 x 14 GROSS/NET TONS:507/309 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 416/40

PROPULSION: 800 HP Union diesel SPEED: 12 knots

NAME TRANSLATION: The M.R. Chessman was named after Merle R. Chessman, member of the Highway Commission from April 8, 1943 to October 1, 1946.

HISTORY: The Albina Engine and Machine Works, Portland, Or., built the boat, for the state of Oregon, in 1947, and went into service April 1948. The largest ferry on the route from Astoria to Megler, Washington, she ran from 1948 until August 1966, when the Columbia River Bridge opened.

FINAL DISPOSAL: This ferry was sold in 1966 and sent to Vietnam to serve as the HQ9602, stationed at Cat Lai, about 7 miles E. of Saigon. The American military handed over Cat Lai to the South Vietnamese in 1971, selling off the HQ9602. It was then turned into a machine shop. What became of the ferry after that is unknown.

North Vietnam overran Saigon in 1975 and reunified the country, taking over the Cat Lai facility undamaged. The Vietnamese navy had little use for the facility, basically using it as a storage area. Use of the facility continued to lessen, and finally the entire site was bulldozed in the early 2000’s to make way for a shipping container yard. Today, nothing of the Cat Lai seaplane bases exist, and it’s very unlikely that there is anything left of the old M.R. Chessman, either.

NORTH BEACH

Built: 1927, Portland, OR

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 226495 CALL SIGN:

L/B/D: 103 x 38 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 225/151 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: ?/25

PROPULSION: 275 HP Washington Estep Diesel SPEED: ?

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for the ferry landing on the Washington side of the Columbia, North Beach.

HISTORY: Built by Union Pacific Railroad in 1927 to compete directly with Captain Fritz Elving’s Astoria McGowan Ferry Company crossing the Columbia River, the North Beach began service in May of 1927.

For the next few years Union Pacific struggled along, losing boatloads of cash on the venture. By September 1930 Union Pacific had enough, shutting down ferry operations and selling to one of its employees, Capt. Calvin E. Stewart.

Stewart didn’t last long either, selling out to Elving in 1932.The North Beach for reasons lost to time, hadn’t been used as a ferry since the North Beach Ferry Company shut down in 1932. She was used during World War II as a freight carrier on the Columbia but was in poor condition by the end of the war.

FINAL DISPOSITION: The ferry was listed as scrapped in 1948.

OREGON

BUILT: 1923 at St. Helens, Oregon, for use on the Columbia River

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 223092 CALL SIGN: None

L/B/D:  120 x 36 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 95/64

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: /30 PROPULSION: diesel, 140 hp SPEED:

NAME TRANSLATION: The origin of the name Oregon is not certain. One theory has it that the name comes from the French Canadian word “ouragan” meaning “storm” or “hurricane.” It’s thought that the Columbia River was at one time called “the river of storms” by Canadian fur traders plying their trade in the area.

HISTORY: Built in 1923 along with sister Washington for the Longview Ferry Company for the crossing at Longview.  Sold in 1930 to the state of Oregon, moved to Coos Bay.

FINAL DISPOSITION:  Abandoned/scrapped 1937.

SADIE B

BUILT: 1924 from the Altree shipyard in Toledo, Oregon

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 223868

L/B/D:  65 x 28 x 5 GROSS/NET TONS: 50/39

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: / PROPULSION: diesel, 65 hp SPEED:

NAME TRANSLATION: Unknown who “Sadie B” was.  However, Sadie is a nickname for Sarah (meaning “princess”), made famous by the biblical wife of Abraham, mother of Isaac. Sadie has become a popular name of its own.

HISTORY: Built in 1924 for use on Yaquina Bay by the Roosevelt Highway Ferry Company. Put out of work after the bridge opened.

FINAL DISPOSITION:  Abandoned/scrapped 1937.

TOURIST

BUILT: 1921

NAME(S): Sometimes referred to as the Tourist No. 1

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 221323 CALL SIGN:

L/B/D: 60 x 27 x 6 GROSS/NET TONS: 15/7 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 30/15

PROPULSION: 90 HP Diesel SPEED:

NAME TRANSLATION: Tourist–a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure.

HISTORY: Ferry service from Astoria, Oregon to Point Ellice, Washington across the Columbia River began in the summer of 1920. Capt. Fritz S. Elving using a scow, improvised ferry service and transported over 700 vehicles during that summer.

In April 1921, Elving incorporated as the Astoria-McGowan Ferry Company. The success of the service with the scow convinced Pacific County to kick down with a $400.00 per year subsidy and the City of Astoria to construct a ferry dock.

Realizing the scow was not going to meet his needs, Elving contracted with an Astoria shipbuilding company to build a small diesel ferry. Christened Tourist, the ferry was launched on 21 May, 1921 and was in service mere days later. The service originally connected Astoria with Point Ellice on the Washington side, but the landing was moved a short distance upstream to Megler, where it would remain until 1966 when ferry service shut down with the completion of the Columbia River Bridge at Astoria. Captain Elving’s service was so successful that he built another ferry, aptly named the Tourist No. 2 in 1924.

By 1926, his operation across the Columbia was profitable enough that the Union Pacific Railroad their own ferry–the North Beach–to compete directly with Elving. It began service in 1927, but was never able to give Elving much competition. This was in large part to J.W. McGowan, who owned stock in Elving’s ferry company. McGown was no fool–Captain Elving’s service was booming, which meant money for him–and Union Pacific would lessen those profits. McGowan also happened to own land that Union Pacific wanted to build a road over to connect competing ferry dock in Megler.

By September 1930 Union Pacific had enough, shutting down ferry operations to Megler in September and selling the North Beach to one of its employees, Capt. Calvin E. Stewart.

Union Pacific later claimed they’d lost $40,000 per year attempting to compete with Captain Elving with the North Beach. Captain Stewart was not as easy to give up as Union Pacific. In the spring of 1931, he incorporated as the Columbia Transportation Company. He then devised a plan to drive Captain Elving out of business, in a move that has become an Oregon legend.

Captain Stewart quietly began buying up underwater parcels of real estate all around the Elving ferry dock. He hired a marine pile driver and one night used it to drive in pilings around the dock so that Captain Elvings ferry could not get through.

Captain Stewart may have thought he’d outsmarted Elving, but it did not stop him from landing his ferry. Elving backed up the ferry then plowed ahead at full speed, smashing down the piles.

Allegedly fighting broke out between the two crews on the dock until the Astoria police arrived. The dispute between the rival companies dragged on until 1932 when Elving bought out Stewart, who by that time was having financial difficulties due to the Depression. The two companies’ combined, thus creating the Astoria-North Beach Ferry Company.

FINAL DISPOSITION: The Tourist was sold in the early 1940’s and worked the Puget Island-Westport route until replaced by the Almar  in 1948  The Tourist was grounded on the beach and slowly decayed, where it became the subject of the postcard below. (Officially listed as “abandoned” in 1950.)

TOURIST No. 2

BUILT: 1924

NAME(S): a. Tourist No. 2 b. Octopus c. Tourist No. 2 d. Islander e. Kirkland f. Tourist No. 2

OFFICAL NUMBER: 223916 CALL SIGN: WB3893

L/B/D: 110 x 36 x 8 GROSS/NET TONS: 95/65 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 155/20

PROPULSION: 320 HP Atlas-Imperial diesel engine.  SPEED:

NAME TRANSLATION: Tourist No. 2—as a follow up to the Tourist. Octopus—for the sea going creature. Islander—in relation to the multiple islands the ferry worked, Ketron and Anderson. Kirkland—for the City of Kirkland It originated from a habitational name with variant spellings Kirtland and Kirtlan, from the English word Kirk meaning church, plus land, and was originally given either as a topographical name to someone resident on land belonging to the church, or as a locational name from any of the several places named Kirkland.

HISTORY: Built in 1924, the Tourist No. 2 was a larger improvement on the Tourist No. 1 and worked the Astoria-Megler run quiet uneventfully until 1941. That year, after the attack at Pearl Harbor, the little ferry was taken over by the U.S. Army.  Painted gray, she commenced laying mines in the lower Columbia River as the USAMP Octopus.

Her mine-laying duties completed, the Army used her in her intended purpose as a ferry, running between Fort Canby and Fort Stevens. At war’s end, the Army sold the Tourist No. 2 back to Elfving for $36,000. The State of Oregon took over the ferry in 1946.

After the Astoria Bridge was built, the ferry was moved from Oregon to Pierce County, Washington in 1967 and renamed the Islander. The ferry worked on Puget Sound between Anderson Island, Ketron Island and the mainland for many years, but eventually it became too small for the route and the ferry was retired and sold.

She was purchased by Argosy Cruises of Seattle in 1996 and extensively refurbished. Renamed the Kirkland, the ferry was a popular cruise vessel for Argosy. On 28 August 2010 an electrical fire was sparked below decks on the Kirkland. Though it was put out quickly, Argosy determined it would be too expensive to repair the vessel, and the company decided to scrap the boat, ending her eighty-six-year career.

Thankfully, the boat was not scrapped. After spending several years in Everett, was purchased by Christian Lint. After some clean-up of the fire damage,  which was not as extensive as thought, the engines started right up.

FINAL DISPOSAL: In 2016, after an absence of over forty years, the Tourist No. 2 returned to Astoria. Plans are under development, but the vessel could be used for excursions up the Columbia or become a land-based museum and conference center.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. In late July of 2022, the ferry heeled over and partially sank at its moorings. The ferry was demolished on-site, the last of the wreckage hauled away by Labor Day of 2022. A very sad end to a historic vessel.

TOURIST No. 3

BUILT: 1931, by the Astoria Marine Construction Co. at Astoria

NAME(S): a. Tourist #3, b. Princess Roxane

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 230941 CALL SIGN: WB3894

L/B/D: 109 x 38 x 10 GROSS/NET TONS:233/144  PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 280/28

PROPULSION: 475 HP Washington ESTEP Diesel engine.  SPEED:

NAME TRANSLATION: Tourist #3, following Tourist #2.  Princess Roxane: widow of Alexander the Great.

HISTORY: With traffic continuing to build on the Astoria-Megler run, a larger ferry was ordered by the Astoria North Beach Ferry Company to help out the Tourist No. 2.

 Built by the Astoria Marine Construction Co. at Astoria, the ferry was christened, not surprisingly, Tourist No. 3 and was a larger, faster ferry than her older sister. Like the other ferries on the run, the building of the Astoira bridge put the ferry out of a job. The Tourist No. 3 was sold to Ivar Wendt of Seattle’s Pacific Pearl Seafoods. After Dick Sutterlin Company completely renovated the ferry at Astoria, Wendt took the ferry up to Seattle, where she was fitted with live tanks with a capacity of 9,000 large size Alaska king crab. The Tourist No. 3’s passenger cabin was rebuilt to provide living and dining facilities for eighteen workers.

Renamed the Princess Roxane, the self-propelled floating crab cannery joined the Pacific Pearl floating shrimp cannery at Kodiak and was supplied by the motor vessel Shellfish. As the Princess Roxane, the old ferryboat was one of the largest and most modern Alaskan crab fishing vessels.

FINAL DISPOSAL: Mr. Todd Wendt, grandson of Ivar Wendt who purchased the Tourist #3 and converted her into the Princess Roxane emailed me and related what happened to the ferry: “After he (Ivar Wendt) sold Pacific Pearl Seafoods the new owners docked the boat a couple feet onto a competitors property. The competitor sued to have them move it. There was no dock space left to move the vessel even a foot and the ferry was nearing the end of its useful life. It would have been very costly to move and moor somewhere else, so they gave the Princess Roxane to the Navy. The Navy towed it out to sea and used it as target practice. The Princess Roxane is a rusted-out reef somewhere off the coast of Alaska.”

Note: This happened after 1981.  She was still on the register as of 1981 as the Princess Roxane.

WASHINGTON (II)

BUILT: 1923 at St. Helens, Oregon, for use on the Columbia River crossing at Longview.

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 222912 CALL SIGN:

L/B/D:  120 x 36 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 95/64

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: /30

PROPULSION: diesel, 140 hp SPEED: ?

NAME TRANSLATION: For Washington State, named after George Washington.  The Washington place name itself is derived from the Old English personal name wassa, which means “hunting,” combined with the locative suffix -thn, meaning “settlement, homestead.”

HISTORY: Purchased by Black Ball in 1930 from the Longview Ferry Company, the Washington was likely put out of work but the new Longview Bridge.  Black Ball assigned her to the Mukilteo-Columbia Beach run.

For the next eight years or so, the Washington provided service on the route with the converted steamer Puget.  It seems that the open-decked Washington was primarily a secondary service vessel, working the busier summer schedule and occasionally into fall, but taking the winters off.

By 1939, with Black Ball having absorbed the Kitsap County Transportation Company and having purchased the first round of larger ferries from San Francisco, the smaller vessels began to disappear.  The 1939 schedule notes the much larger ferry Bainbridge  working the route.  

FINAL DISPOSITION:  Abandoned/scrapped 1942.