❖ FERRY QUINAULT Stands by for SILVER SALMON ❖

Steel electric ferry QUINAULT
(ex-Redwood Empire)
226738
256' x 73'10" x 12'9".
Built Oakland 1927.
She came north to Puget Sound in 1940.
Washington State Ferries bought her in 1951,
widened the ferry 8' and re-engined in 1957.
This photograph came from the estate of
Chief Engineer Dave Stitt, Shaw Island.
Refit 1981-1987.
In service 1927-2007;
Towed to Mexico for scrapping in 2009.
Photo from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

On one of the initial runs of the steel-electrics when returning from Sidney, BC to Friday Harbor, the ferry responded to a purse seiner's call for assistance. The fish boat whistled the ferry down, came alongside, and explained that a bad leak was filling up the fish hold, a flood of water seemed to be coming in from the stern-tube. The crew of eight were prepared to abandon the boat with the freeboard getting less and less and the water not draining to the bilge pump.
      The seiner captain asked if the ferry could stand by for a while in the event their boat sank before they could plug the leak. He said in the meantime they would throw out the salmon to lighten the boat and try to get at the trouble. They had only the haul from one set aboard, probably 500 fish, so it wouldn't take long. The boat had two fish pews and they would pitch the salmon from the after end of the hold up to the open deck of the ferry. The ferry captain on the upper deck responded with, 'Have at it, we'll wait.'
      The boat eased alongside the end of the ferry, made fast, and the salmon began to fly aboard. In fifteen minutes the after deck was covered with slithering 'silver' and the fishermen were able to pull out the floor section of the hold and get at the leak. They found the packing almost gone from around the bearing and by dint of fast but wet work, they tightened the gland enough for them to feel safe and yell up to the captain that they would be okay to poke along to Friday Harbor. The captain quickly pointed to the fish on the deck, then to the fish hold––about 200 had been tossed over. The seiner's captain pointed back and yelled, 'The fish are all yours for the help and the stand-by!' Then as the seiner drifted astern, the passengers shouted, 'Good fishing to you!'
      Everybody on board went home with a salmon, compliments of the Washington State Ferries and the crew of the seiner GOLDEN LIGHT.
Mike Skalley; Seattle. An excerpt from Ferry Story, The Evergreen Fleet in Profile. Superior Publishing. 1983.

Unidentified purse seine boat
near the Salmon Banks, San Juan County, WA.
dated 1979
by the well-known photographer
Josef Scaylea, Seattle.
Low res scan of an original from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

A few years earlier than the story by Mr. Skalley,
a Puget Sound purse seine crew hauling 
in their net by hand. 
Dated 1943.
Low res scan of an original from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©