TYEE

BUILT: 1985, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Freeland, WA

PREVIOUS/LATER NAMES: a. Glacier Express b. Express c. Tyee d. Aqua Express e. Glacier Express

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 693273 CALL SIGN: WTS7740 (as Tyee)

L/B/D: 87 x 31 x 9 GROSS/NET TONS: 87/59 PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 250/0

NAME TRANSLATION: “Chief”

FINAL DISPOSITION: Resold to her original owners, renamed Glacier Express and in use as a tour boat in Alaska.  In service, 2019.

HISTORY

WSF tried for many years to get a passenger-only service fleet off the ground, dating as far back as the mid 1980’s. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that the program got off to a fairly good footing, with the introduction of low-wake, high speed water-jet driven catamarans which could buzz along the water at an incredible 35 knots.

Starting the program back in 1986, WSF picked up a second-hand vessel by the name Glacier Express, a former Alaska tour boat. Her named was chopped down to Express and she was assigned to the Bremerton run, with the promise of a half hour commute.

It was far from a success. The Express constantly broke down. Dire warnings (which proved to be unfounded) about the safety of the vessel floated up from the engineers. The first year of service found the Express out of service more than in. And darker times loomed ahead as property owners on Bainbridge Island got a look at what the wake was doing to their beaches.

By the time the Skagit and Kalama joined the passenger only fleet in 1989, the Express had already been slowed voluntarily by WSF.

Renamed Tyee in 1989 to be in line with the Native American names of her two running mates, all three vessels were tied up when there was no funding to run them. The Skagit and Kalama actually first saw service on San Francisco Bay after they were sent down there to assist after the ’89 earthquake.

Over the next decade the Tyee and her sisters ran from Bremerton and to Vashon Island from Seattle, but with the two new POFF’s (passenger only fast ferries) arriving in 1997 and 1998, it was assumed the Tyee and the others would be put out to pasture.

Funding for the expanded passenger only program dried up with the passage of I-695. The ferries held on for a time, but service at Bremerton ended in 2003. The Tyee, which had been working at Vashon, was pulled from the run.

A few months later, WSF listed her on eBay for sale. She was purchased by a new company with designs on returning to the Bremerton route.

Renamed the Aqua Express, the ferry operated for about six months from Kingston to downtown Seattle.  Unable to make a profit, and with a steadily declining number of passengers, the run was shut down.  The Aqua Express was listed up for sale, and, coming full circle, was purchased by her original owners and given her original name—Glacier Express.

Back in Alaskan waters serving as a tour boat, the former Tyee will likely pass into the pages of history with little distinction.