SKANSONIA

BUILT: 1929, Skansie Brothers Shipyard, Gig Harbor, WA

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 229088 CALL SIGN: WA7467

L/B/D: 165 x 51 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 446/303 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 465/32

PROPULSION:  Fairbanks-Morse Diesel SPEED: 8 knots 

NAME TRANSLATION: A play on the name of the builders, the Skansie Brothers.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, albeit stationary, as a wedding and event center on Lake Union.

HISTORY

Sitting on Lake Union is a ferry that was once familiar to hundreds commuting between Point Defiance and Vashon Island.  The small Skansonia, which sailed for Washington State Ferries on the route for nearly 20 years on the run is today largely forgotten.

Constructed in 1929 by the Skansie Brother shipyard for their Washington Navigation Company, the Skansonia and her near twin sister Defiance worked from Point Defiance—Defiance sailing to Gig Harbor and Skansonia to Tahlequah.

The ferry would have quite a long lifespan, considering that from keel-laying to her first day of service only took a total of 12 weeks.  The wooden wonder was put out of a job briefly in 1940 when the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened.  By October of that year, the span was at the bottom of the Narrows, having collapsed in a windstorm.  The State of Washington, now in charge of keeping the severed state highway open, purchased the Skansonia, Defiance and City of Tacoma from the bankrupt Washington Navigation Company. PSN purchased the Point Defiance-Tahlequah run and put the Vashonia on that route.

From fall 1940 until 1950 the Skansonia shuttled cars and passengers from Gig Harbor on the Kitsap Peninsula to Tacoma. Finally, in October of 1950 the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened, the Gig Harbor route ceased operation.

Skansonia, already state property, became part of the new Washington State Ferries 1951. (The other two ferries the state purchased from the Washington Navigation Company, the Defiance and City of Tacoma, were sold in April of 1951.)  Skansonia was assigned to work between Point Defiance and Tahlequah, the route she was most suited for, given her astoundingly slow speed of about 8 knots.

From 1951 and for nearly the next two decades, the little Skansonia worked the route, losing it only when a new steel ferry specially constructed for the route took over. The Skansonia made her last crossing from Tahlequah to Point Defiance on 20 July 1967, surrendering the route to the new Hiyu.

On 14 September 1969 she worked her last day as an extra boat at Mukilteo* before returning to Eagle Harbor and being tied up. Declared surplus in 1971, the ferry was sold and moved to Lake Washington, where for several years she was used as a private residence.

In the mid 1980’s she was renovated as a banquet hall and moved to Lake Union, where she has been ever since. She’s been very successful in this capacity, having hosted hundreds of weddings over the last 30-plus years.

* Courtesy of Rex Carlaw, who witnessed her last day of service.