SHASTA

BUILT: 1922, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Union Yard, San Francisco, CA

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES: a. Shasta, b. Centennial Queen, c. River Queen Restaurant

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 222598 CALL SIGN: WH6754

L/B/D: 230 x 64 x 12 GROSS/NET TONS: 919/625   PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 458/55 

PROPULSION: Triple expansion steam engine, 1200 HP SPEED: 13 knots 

NAME TRANSLATION: From the Cascade volcano in northern California (various meanings, one being “white mountain.”)

FINAL DISPOSITION: Scrapped by order of U.S. Coast Guard, summer 2018.

HISTORY

The Shasta, San Mateo, and Yosemite were still being finished at Bethlehem Shipyard in 1922 when in March of that year a landslide destroyed the Six Minute Ferry north shore terminal on Morrow Cove.  Unable to recover from the loss, the ferry company went out of business and the three sisters were sold to Southern Pacific, taking their place in the company’s already extensive fleet.

Out of work with the opening of the bay bridges, the sisters Shasta and San Mateo were offered for sale and purchased by the Puget Sound Navigation Company in 1941. (The Yosemite had been purchased by a South American company and taken to Argentina, where after some years in service it was wrecked, turned into a barge for a time and finally scrapped.)

The Shasta, like the San Mateo was not used consistently for PSN, spending much of her time in lay-up.   The ferry worked in 1945 on the Seattle-Manchester route, and in 1946 through 1947 the steamer was put to work on the Winslow-Seattle run alongside the Kehloken.  She was brought out of lay-up in the summer of 1950 the Shasta working as the spare boat on the Bremerton run.

After the State took over ferry operations in 1951, the ferry saw a little more service, working alongside her sister San Mateo on the Vashon run between 1952-54, but went into lay-up from September of 1954 until May of 1957. In 1957 the ferry was called into service for the summer season, working the Kingston route with the Nisqually.

The reason the San Mateo was used far more than the Shasta, was the Shasta’s bad habit of belching out a significant black cloud of oil smoke from her 47-foot high smokestack. Even in 1958 this wasn’t environmentally acceptable, and with the addition of the Evergreen State Class, the steamer was retired after the 1958 summer season.

The Shasta was sold and briefly worked for a time running up and down the Columbia River as the Centennial Queen, celebrating the State of Oregon’s 100th year of statehood. The change of name didn’t change the ferry’s proclivity for leaving behind a black cloud of oil smoke. The Centennial Queen didn’t turn a profit and her owners were soon bankrupt.  The ferry changed owners was converted into a stationary restaurant.        

As the River Queen, the old Shasta was moored along the banks of the river in downtown Portland and for the next three and a half decades operated very successfully.

Losing her moorage, the River Queen restaurant closed in 1995. On the register for historical vessels/landmarks, the Shasta was moved to St. Helens, Oregon. She was listed for sale and it was hoped she would be restored.

After changing owners, the ferry was on the Columbia River at Goble, Oregon. The years passed, the ferry was vandalized and decayed, the roof collapsing in sections. Finally, the Coast Guard had enough, declaring the site where she was moored and the ferry a hazard.  She was ordered to be scrapped by the USCG, and the process began in the summer of 2018.  By July, she’d been stripped to the hull, which was put on a cradle and then towed to a drydock for dismantling, ending the nearly century-long life of the once-elegant San Francisco Bay steamer.

The Lost Sister: Yosemite

Identical to her sisters, Yosemite (Number 222722) was launched on 19 October 1922 and delivered to Southern Pacific on 25 January 1923. After working nearly twenty years on San Francisco Bay the ferry was put up for sale with her sisters. Black Ball did not pick her up, however, the ferry being sold to the Argentina-Uruguayan Navigation Touring Company in 1939. After paying Bethlehem Shipbuilding $35,000 to modify the ferry for the open-ocean trip to the Rid de la Plata, the ferry was renamed Argentina and left San Francisco under her own power on April 16th, 1940. The trip, which would take 50 days, covered some 9000 miles.

After serving a few years on a 30-mile route across the Rio de la Plata, Argentina was cut down to her hull and converted to a barge. The barge sank in 1948.