History | |
---|---|
Name: | Comet |
Route: | Puget Sound, White, Black, and Nooksack rivers |
Completed: | 1871 |
Out of service: | 1900 [1] or early 1880s. [2] |
Identification: | US registry #5973 [1] |
Fate: | abandoned [1] |
General characteristics | |
Type: | inland steamboat |
Tonnage: | 56.83 regist. [1] |
Length: | 65 ft (19.81 m) |
Installed power: | two steam engines, horizontally mounted |
Propulsion: | sternwheel |
Comet was a sternwheel steamboat that ran from 1871 to 1900 on Puget Sound and rivers flowing into it, including the White and Nooksack rivers.
The steamboat Comet, whose name was said to have been "misleading", was built in Seattle in 1871 by Capt. Simon F. Randolph (d.1909). Comet was constructed in an unusual fashion. Randolph built the vessel upside down by picking a flat area of ground, marking out the shape of the boat on the ground, and driving in posts at regular intervals to act as ribs. He then connected the ribs with crossbeams, bent planks around the posts and over the crossbeams, and had the hull complete, although upside down.
With the posts still affixed in the ground, the vessel looked like a potlatch house. Randolph then sawed off the posts, and pushed the hull out into the water. He then flipped the hull over using rocks piled on one side as an assist. The resulting hull was right-side up, but full of water. Randolph then beached the hull, pumped out the water with a home-made wooden pump, and the hull was complete. The steam engines Randolph installed were described as "non-descript and mismatching" and the upper works were said to have been tall and barn-like. [3]
Comet was placed on the White River route under Capt. Curtis D. Brownfield (b. 1850) until 1876 or later, and was the first steamer to be successful on that route, which included service to farmlands on the Black River. [4] Comet then was shifted to run almost every route out of Seattle. Under Captain Brownfield, Comet was a pioneer vessel on the Nooksack River. [4] Capt. George A. Cushman (d.1891), who built the steamer Lillie, also for the White River route, was in command of Comet for a long time. [2] (The current course of the White River deviates from its original as a result of flood control projects). [4]
Capt J. C. Brittain (d.1891), who at one point controlled one of the largest merchant fleets on Puget Sound, came to own Comet at some point and used the vessel in connection with the steamers Despatch and Teaser to carry the mail, for which he had a contract, to Snohomish, La Conner, Whidbey Island, Fidalgo, Bellingham Bay, Semiahmoo Bay, and Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands. [2]
The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.
The river sternwheeler Ramona operated from 1892 to 1908 on the Willamette River in Oregon, on the Stikine River running from Wrangell, Alaska into British Columbia, and the Fraser River, in British Columbia. This vessel should not be confused with the coastal steamship Ramona which also ran in Alaskan waters.
The Carrie Ladd was an important early steamboat on the lower Columbia and lower Willamette rivers. The vessel established the basic design of the Columbia River steamboat, which was later used throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Alaska, and the Yukon.
The steamboat Shoalwater was the sixth steamer to operate on the upper Willamette River, which refers to the part of the river above Willamette Falls at Oregon City. In a short career of six years, Shoalwater was renamedFenix, Franklin, and Minnie Holmes. Shoalwater was the first steamboat in Oregon to suffer a boiler explosion, although no fatalities resulted.
Governor Grover was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Willamette River during the 1870s. Because of the completion of the Willamette Locks in late 1872, it was possible for vessels such as Governor Grover to be built in Portland, Oregon and then readily navigate the Willamette above Willamette Falls.
Annie M. Pence was a steamboat that ran on Puget Sound in the early 1890s.
Henry Bailey was a sternwheel steamboat that operated on Puget Sound from 1888 to 1910. The vessel was named after Henry Bailey, a steamboat captain in the 1870s who lived in Ballard, Washington.
Elk was a steam tug that operated on Puget Sound, and earlier, from 1880 to 1896, on Lake Washington under the name of Katherine.
Chehalis was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Chehalis River, Puget Sound, and Lake Washington from 1867 to 1882. This vessel should not be confused with other steam vessels named Chehalis.
Lady of the Lake was a wooden steamboat that operated on Puget Sound from 1897 to 1903. Following a fire in 1903, the vessel was rebuilt as the tug Ruth.
Daisy was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on Puget Sound and the Skagit River from 1880 to 1897.
Quickstep was a steamboat that operated from 1877 to 1897 in coastal, inland waters and rivers of the Pacific Northwest. This vessel should not be confused with a number of other vessels with the same name, some of which operated in the same area about the same time.
The Moran sternwheelers were a set of 12 almost identical sternwheel steamboats built in 1898 by the Moran shipyard in Seattle, Washington to run on the Yukon and tributary rivers in Alaska.
Otter was a wooden sternwheel steamboat that was used in Puget Sound and briefly on the Columbia and Stikine rivers from 1874 to 1897.
Teaser was a steamboat which ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1874 to 1880.
Triumph was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington in the 1890s.
Old Settler was a sternwheel steamboat that operated on Puget Sound from 1878 to 1895.
No Wonder was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette, Columbia and Cowlitz rivers from 1889 to 1930. No Wonder was originally built in 1877 as Wonder, which was dismantled in 1888, with components being shifted over to a new hull, which when launched in late 1889 was called No Wonder.
Manzanillo was a stern-wheel driven steamboat built at Portland, Oregon in 1881. Manzanillo was first run on the Columbia River route from Portland to Clatskanie, Oregon and way points along the river. The initial owner of the boat was the People's Freighting Company, but the Shaver family soon acquired control of the vessel, which became the first vessel of what is now Shaver Transportation Company.
Governor Newell was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated from 1883 to 1902 in the Pacific Northwest.