❖ OLD FERRY GREETED BY HER OLD CAPTAIN ❖

Captain Halvorsen (L)
and Captain Ole Rindal
Two four–stripers heading for shore –– after cake.
Original, undated photo signed by
Williamson's Marine Photo Shop
from archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Back when the Puget Sound ferry ENETAI was known as the SANTA ROSA –– the first time –– one of her captains was Ole Rindal, at right in the above photo at his retirement.
      He may have thought he had seen the last of the boat when he skippered her into retirement.
      But he hadn't.
      When the old ferry, now the SANTA ROSA again, was given a champagne welcome upon her return to San Francisco Bay Ole Rindal was there.
      The SANTA ROSA was towed from Puget Sound to Oakland along with another ferry well known to residents of both areas. The other vessel was the FRESNO, which resumed her original name after plying Puget Sound as the WILLAPA.
      Oakland's fireboat greeted the ferries as they went under the Golden Gate Bridge, the span that ended the SANTA ROSA's service between San Francisco and Marin County. 
      Then the ferries went under the Bay Bridge, which put both of them out of business on San Francisco Bay in May 1940, and opened the way for them to be purchased by the Puget Sound Navigation Co.
      Several hundred people greeted the returning ferries at Oakland, where the SANTA ROSA (ex-ENETAI), was rechristened by Mrs. Don Clair, the ferry's new owner.

M.V. SANTA ROSA
Permanently anchored at Pier 3,
adjacent to downtown San Francisco for
Hornblower Cruises and Events.
The former car deck is now a dance floor,
with corporate offices above.
Hornblower Cruises website 2018.

      "Capt. Ole Rindal was there in his Washington State Ferries uniform," Harre Demoro, member of a steering committee which plans to turn the SANTA ROSA into a maritime museum, said in a letter received here today.
      'He was skipper of the ferry when she arrived on Puget Sound and ran for a few weeks as a diesel-electric, under her old name.' 

M.V. ENETAI (ex-SANTA ROSA)
and Captain Ole.
Click image to enlarge.
Photos from the archives of the Saltwater People Log©

Then he was one of her first skippers when she emerged in 1941 as the ENETAI.
      Then he tied her up for the last time last June. 
      'He was quite the celebrity.'
      Like the ENETAI and the WILLAPA, Capt. Rindal is now retired.
      The SANTA ROSA and FRESNO are tied up near where the KALAKALA, another former Puget Sound ferry, was launched as the PERALTA in 1927.
      About 100-feet from the SANTA ROSA is the bulk of the CHIPPEWA, the first Puget Sound ferry which Clair bought for a museum ship. Workmen have begun removing the charred superstructure of the CHIPPEWA, which caught fire, apparently burned by vandals, while under conversion."
Text by Jay Wells, Maritime Editor, the Seattle Times. May 1964.
Clip submitted courtesy of Capt. Jack Russell, Seattle, WA.
Here is another Saltwater People Log entry regarding a young Capt. Ole.

❖ REGARDLESS OF THE WEATHER ❖

Captain A. Ole Rindal, skipper of the CHIPPEWA, had the distinction of being one Norwegian sailor who didn't come from the old country in a square-rigged windjammer. He came as a passenger on the CHRISTIANIA FJORD, a 16,000-ton liner. He tried farming for a while, but if there is any sodium chloride in a man's blood (and what Norwegian's isn't a saturated solution?) the waters of Puget Sound will bring it out. No, in July 1918 he went to work for the Black Ball line and was with the company--a skipper since 1931––21 years service except for a 42-month interlude at Port Townsend Marine Hospital.
      Ole walked with a limp. Well, during his early days of quartermastering he had a habit of checking the pull of the wheel with his knee. This habit, coupled with a later accident, put him in drydock for three and a half years.
      Ole is affectionately remembered by Port Townsendites and all of these who have traveled back and forth between Edmonds-Seattle and the historic town that lies in the lee of Point Wilson. For a number of years, he skippered the INDIANAPOLIS, which vessel he lovingly referred to as his "pride and joy".
      I remember riding with Ole one stormy day. Admiralty Inlet was a smother of spume and spindrift. Wondering if the storm might get worse, I asked to see the glass. "Glass?" he echoed, puzzled, and then grinning, he added, "Oh, you mean the barometer, of course. Well, we haven't one because it wouldn't do us any good. You see, we've got to go regardless of the weather.
Seattle Star, 6 Jan. 1940.

❖ SOUND SKIPPERS ❖ June 1933 ❖

Date, ferry, location, master, all unknown.
We do know it is an original photo by Aashel Curtis.
From the archives of the S. P. H. S.
Click to enlarge.

This is the time of the year when folks start getting acquainted with the Puget Sound ferry captains. Whether you are a daily commuter to Vashon or Bainbridge Islands, the Kitsap County mainland, or a passenger on the longer ferry trips on Puget Sound, it's worthwhile to know who is the captain of the boat on which you are riding

Capt. Louis Van Bogaert with unknown passenger

to many Seattleites, the Sound skippers need no introduction. They're institutions. Take Capt. Wallace Mangan of the ferry CHIPPEWA, for instance. He's been on the Seattle-Bremerton route for 22 years and his alternate, Capt. Thomas Sumner has been a Sound skipper for Puget Sound Navigation Co for 14 years.

S. S. IROQUOIS Menu
with Captain L. Van Bogaert listed as skipper, 1938.
From the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

  Among the Black Ball Line few skippers have a better record than Capt. Louis Van Bogaert of the IROQUOIS that runs between Seattle and Victoria, BC, via Port Angeles. Capt. Van Bogaert has been with the company since 1904 and has often saved small craft in distress. [Capt. Louis, who was raised on Orcas Island,  retired in 1957 after working on the water his whole career.]

      Manchester commuters could be offended if Capt. James Anderson and Capt. George Clements, alternate on the ferry CROSLINE, were not mentioned while Capt. Lawrance Crowley of the ferry QUILLAYUTE running between Edmonds and Port Ludlow, has been on the Port Ludlow route since its establishment and has hundreds of friends on the Olympic Peninsula.

Captain Clarence Lampman 
Dated original stamped 14 August 1961.
From the archives of the Saltwater People Log©

      Other popular Sound skippers are: Captains Clarence Lampman and Lyle Fowler of the ferry SEATTLE, running between Bremerton and Seattle; 

      Capt. Ole Rindal of the ferry INDIANAPOLIS on the Edmonds-Port Townsend route; Capt. Walter Murry of the ferry AIRLINE on the Seabeck-Brinnon route; Capt. A. N. Draper of the SOL DUC on the Seattle-Kingston route; Capt. S. F. Hunsiker of the Mukilteo-Columbia Beach route; Capt. Oliver van Nieuwenhuise of the COMANCHE on the Straits route; Capt. John Oldow of the Gooseberry Point-Orcas Island route and Capt. Carl Stevens of the excursion steamer TACOMA.     

      The Kitsap Ferry Line, operating boats to Vashon, Bainbridge Island, Rolling Bay, and Poulsbo also has its familiar captains, many of whom are veteran Sound navigators like Capt. C. T. Wyatt, who alternates with Capt. Tom Birkland on the run to Port Blakeley. There's Capt. Ward Henshaw of the Str. WINSLOW that runs to Eagle Harbor points. And Capt. Arney Rodal of the MANITOU, which runs between Seattle and Rolling Bay points, not to overlook the popular Capt. Jim Shaw of the VASHON who keeps on schedule despite the fact that he has saved more than one man from missing the "last boat" by waiting a few minutes.

      

The highly regarded Captain Sam Barlow
and the ROSALIE
serving the San Juan Islands.
Three photos from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

      No list of Sound skippers would be complete without mention of Capt. Sam Barlow of the ferry ROSARIO on the Anacortes-San Juan Islands route. The holder of one of the oldest master's licenses on Puget Sound, Capt. Barlow [born on Lopez Island] was an early captain on the old ROSALIE, one of the first Black Ball steamers.
Above text published by The Seattle Times, June 1933