❖ WAITING FOR THE ALVERENE ❖

"Waiting for the Alverene"
Carrie Hammond and Charlie Hammond,
Crane Islanders in Old Bob,
Pole Pass, San Juan Archipelago, 1923.

The Alverene
Built in Everett, WA, by A. J. Goulette for
Captain J.H. Prather in 1912.

Here operated by the well-known Capt. Kasch,
detail from 8" x 10" undated photo.
Original from the archives of the S.P.H.S©

The pioneer navigator, William H. Kasch, "Capt. Bill" (as he was affectionately called), the owner of Kasch Navigation Co, bought his first boat in 1901, to haul freight and mail to Friday Harbor, between towing jobs. He found business was so good, he formed the Inter-Island Navigation Co in 1913. After the war Kasch returned to his inter-island business to sell the slow, old Georgia and purchased the Alverene, that quickly became a very popular boat among his many island and Bellingham patrons.
      Following the death of "Captain Bill" in 1927, his wife, Adelaide, continued to operate the fine steamer for several years.

Age 40 years ... Going out ablaze.
The Alverene is seen here at the Fremont Boat Co
was chosen for the annual ship burning ritual to take
place on Elliott Bay, part of the Seafair celebration.
 Seattle, WA, July 1952.
Yukon Club members, the Crenshaws, and the Jeffersons,
are helping with the preparations. Tug Skookum was
scheduled to tow the Alverene to the firemen, while the
 city fireboat, Duwamish, would be standing by.
Photographer unknown. Original from the files of  S.P.H.S.©

❖ TUGBOAT STUBBY born on Orcas Island in 1950 ❖

"Mississippi" Toler
With STUBBY working in the San Juan Islands,
Date between 1950 & 1982.
Courtesy of Deer Harbor's Cliff Thompson and 
Mark Freeman, Seattle.

STUBBY was built by boatbuilder, Chet North, in Deer Harbor, Orcas Island, for Bill "Mississippi" Toler. She was put in the lumber trade in the San Juan Islands as a boom boat in 1950. STUBBY had 1 1/8" fir planking covered with 3/4" Ironbark.
      In 1982 STUBBY was purchased by the Fremont Tugboat Company of Seattle. According to Wooden Boat magazine, she was renamed SPANNER and added to the company's growing fleet. SPANNER was recaulked, refastened and repowered with a 60-HP Gray Lugger, that turned a 22 x 21" propeller through a 3:1 reduction gear. A new house was installed. Designer for the rebuilding was Lewis B. Nasmyth, mechanical work was done by Bill Francis, and the shipwright was Steve Humphries.
      The tug was in dry storage in Anacortes, prior to her recent purchase and a survey revealed that no planking or frames had to be removed because of dry rot, although the rest of the vessel had deteriorated beyond repair. The 24-ft workboat joined five other tugs in the fleet of Fremont Tugboat Company.
Source of text data: Wooden Boat magazine, date of publishing unknown.

❖ The Good Ship TACOMA ❖

S. S. TACOMA
Built Seattle 1913.
Original photo from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

We can't call her a "regular" to San Juan County, but the Tacoma was seen in our waters when she brought 1,000 excursionists* to see the sights of San Juan Island in the summer of 1933. Here is a little of her days of old, as she goes down in the logbook of SJC maritime history.

Highwater Mark of Steamboating

text by Roland Carey

The steamer Tacoma was the fastest vessel of her class ever to turn a wheel in the waters of Puget Sound. Designed especially to speed passenger service between Seattle and Tacoma, the steel, express steamer logged more than 1,200,000 miles over that route in 18 years, making four round trips a day, as regular as clockwork.      

      The long, low racy-appearing vessel was built at the old Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Co (SCDDC) in 1913, the fifth in a series of steel steamers built at that yard for the Inland Navigation Co (INC). A subsidiary of the Puget Sound Navigation Co (PSNC), headed by Joshua Green, controlled the largest fleet of steamers on Puget Sound. The Tacoma was intended to be the largest, finest, and fastest vessel in the fleet. Her designers succeeded to such an extent superlatives described the Tacoma from the days she was launched until she made her last trip on the route in 1930.

      The speed of the vessel was guaranteed by a provision in the builder's contract. The contract provided for a test run, and the steamer was to cruise at 20 knots before she could be accepted. It is something of a tribute to C.H. Hinericks, chief draftsman of the SCDDC, that the job could be taken in those days, under such conditions.

      On 3 May 1913, the day of the launching, a group of 500  people arrived on the Indianapolis from the city for which the Tacoma was named. 

      The vessel was so nearly complete that she already had steam up, as the launching party took their places. A steady pounding could be heard beneath the craft, as workmen cleared away the last blocks. At 3:30 PM, the "all clear" signal was given. The pounding stopped, and only two turns of the jackscrew set the steamer in motion. At that moment, young sponsor, Florence Lister swung the red, white, and blue beribboned bottle of champagne. "I christen thee Tacoma," she said as the bottle shattered upon the steel bow.

      A clear, deep blast of the Tacoma's own whistle signaled the start of her trip down the ways. The whistles of tugs and steamers in the bay then joined in a long salute. Aerial bombs were shot (please click read more)

❖ Schooner C.S. HOLMES towing in with Furs, Ivory and Fossils, Eighty Years Ago ❖

Schooner C. S. HOLMES,
Captain John Backland,
Towing into Port of Seattle from the Arctic.
Photograph dated, September 1935.
Photographer unknown.
Original from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

"Laden with a cargo of furs, ivory and whalebone, as well as museum pieces, including bird eggs, and fossil remains, the veteran trading schooner, C. S. HOLMES arrives home. The vessel was the sole source of supplies and contact with the outside world for natives and trappers along the bleak Alaskan coast." 

Text from the Seattle Times, 9/1935 

Trading Vessel of the Arctic,
C.S. HOLMES.
Icebound off the Northern tip of Alaska until the
US Dept of Indian Affairs Motorship
NORTH STAR towed the HOLMES
100 miles through the ice to Pt. Barrow, where
both vessels discharged cargoes of winter
supplies for the inhabitants of that town.
Photo back stamped 28 September 1933.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©