The tiny Puget which went from steam to diesel and back to steam. Colorized, Capt. Raymond W. Hughes collection.

BUILT:  1908, Seattle, WA

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES: a. Vashonian, b. Puget

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 205849 SIGNAL LETTERS: KJVU

L/B/D: 122 x 34 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 188/128   PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 240/20

HISTORY: Built in 1908 as the steamship Vashonian for the Vashon Island Transportation Company.  She was unprofitable on the Seattle-Tacoma run and was moved to the San Juan

Islands mail run via Port Townsend in 1910 and renamed Puget.  In 1923, she was chosen to inaugurate service between Seattle and Port Ludlow and was rebuilt at a cost of $30,000 and

converted to carry cars.  In 1925 she was re-powered with a 320 horsepower oil-burning Bolinder engine.  This proved to be unsatisfactory to PSN (Black Ball Line) and in 1931 the engine from the steam ferry Whidby, which was being converted to the Rosario, was placed into the ferry, making the Puget the only vessel to have gone from steam to diesel and back to steam again.  Sold by PSN in 1941 to Red Salmon Canning Company.

NAME TRANSLATION: Named for Puget Sound, which was named for Peter Puget.

FINAL DISPOSITION: Foundered in Ward’s Cove, Alaska, 23 March 1951.