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Memories of the Art Deco–styled Passenger Ferry Kalakala

by John MacFarlane and Darrell Ohs 2019

Kalakala

The Kalakala was a popular icon in Victoria’s inner harbour. (Photo from the John MacFarlane collection.)

As the Peralta she was a San Francisco Bay ferry that operated on the San Francisco–Oakland route. She burned out in 1928 – and again in 1933, killing five people. She was towed to Seattle WA by the tug Creole. She was re–designed by Louis Procter. The superstructure was built by Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton WA.

Kalakala

The Kalakala berthed across from the Parliament Buildings (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

The superstructure was a combination of riveted and electro–welded steel plate. The wheelhouse and flying bridge were copper plate. Interior walls were steel plate. She made her trial run on the Black Ball Line in 1935. She was known as the "Flying Bird". Her initial run was Seattle–Bremerton WA. In 1945 she received the first commercial marine radar set to be installed in a ship in the USA. Washington State Ferries put her on the Port Angeles–Victoria BC run. In 1945 her weekend excursion sailings began between Seattle and Victoria.

In 1955 her ownership transferred to Washington State Ferries. At the request of Premier W.A.C. Bennett Washington State Ferries assigned the Kalakala to make four round trips daily from Port Angeles to Victoria. The Kalakala sailed this Port Angeles–Victoria crossing until 1960 when the newly built MV Coho replaced her. In 1960 Washington State Ferries reassigned the Kalakala to the Seattle–Bremerton run.

In 1967 she was sold to American Freezerships and was converted into a self–propelled crab–processing ship in Alaskan waters. After a piston failure she spent the rest of this phase of her career under tow. In 1972 she was beached on a man–made gravel bed/berth in Gibson Cove near Kodiak, Alaska, and back–filled with gravel around the hull. Refitted as a shrimp cannery she operated until the company went bankrupt in 1980. Legal title for the abandoned vessel reverted to the City of Kodiak which debated about the means of disposing the ship for years to follow.

Kalakala

The Kalakala's name. (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The unique shape of the windows on the Kalakala were a source of fascination (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Her interior had a modern style that was unusual for her day.

Kalakala

The seating in the Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

On September 15, 1957 she accidentally pulled over the tug Island Comet which then sank in Victoria Harbour. In 1960 she was placed back on the Bremerton run. After her retirement on October 2nd, 1967, she became a fish cannery in Dutch Harbour Alaska.

Kalakala

In 1969 the Kalakala was moved to Gibson Cove, Kodiak AK as a shrimp processor. (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)

In 1992 Seattle commercial fisherman and sculptor, Peter Bevis, after overseeing the abandoned Kalakala while fishing in Alaska, incorporated the Kalakala Foundation. Bevis and a team of Seattle–area fishermen, tradesmen, and artists volunteered their time for the next several years to clean up the bilges of sludge and strip out the cannery equipment and concrete floor from the car deck. On October 20, 1998 towed by tugs and pushed by bulldozers she slid back into the ocean.

It was 1998 that the Kalakala arrived in Seattle from Alaska to temporarily dock at Pier 66 to some fanfare. Later she was docked in Lake Union undergoing restoration work in fits and starts. She was brought back to Seattle WA for restoration by the tug Neptune anchored on Lake Union awaiting restoration. In 2004 she was anchored in Neah Bay WA as a hulk awaiting restoration as a heritage vessel. The Kalakala was guided into dock at Pier 66 in Seattle and applauded by hundreds of supporters and well–wishers while the Portage Bay Swing Band played "In the Mood".

In September 2004 she was moved to Tacoma WA after being evicted from Neah Bay WA. In 2011 she was located in Tacoma WA in a state of progressive destruction on the tidal flats. By 2015 she had been fully scrapped.

Kalakala

The Kalakala (Photo from the Darrell Ohs collection.)


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2019) Memories of the Art Deco–styled Passenger Ferry Kalakala. Nauticapedia.ca 2019. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Kalakala.php

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Site News: December 21, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

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