Tacoma (steamship)

	Tacoma
History
Name:	Tacoma
Owner:	Puget Sound Navigation Company
Route:	Puget Sound. Strait of Juan de Fuca (Seattle-Tacoma, Seattle-Victoria, excursions)
Ordered:	1 August 1912
Builder:	Seattle Construction and Drydock Company
Christened:	3 May 1913
Maiden voyage:	24 June 1913
In service:	1913
Out of service:	1938
Fate:	scrapped
General characteristics
Type:	inland steamship (express passenger)
Tonnage:	836
Length:	209 ft (64 m) [1]
Beam:	30 ft (9 m)
Depth:	17.6 ft (5 m) depth of hold
Installed power:	steam engine, compound, four cylinders, twin oil-fueled boilers generating 250/lb. steam.
Propulsion:	single propeller
Speed:	Designed for regular speed of 19.0 knots; capable of 21.5 knots maximum speed.

Last updated February 26, 2019

Tacoma was a steamship that served from 1913 to 1938 on Puget Sound. Built of steel, Tacoma was known for being one of the fastest and best-designed vessels to operate on Puget Sound. Tacoma was particularly noted for high-speed service from 1913 to 1930 on the route between Tacoma and Seattle.

Puget Sound sound along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington

Puget Sound is a sound along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of around 1 million.

Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 730,000 residents as of 2018, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. According to U.S. Census data released in 2018, the Seattle metropolitan area’s population stands at 3.87 million, and ranks as the 15th largest in the United States. In July 2013, it was the fastest-growing major city in the United States and remained in the Top 5 in May 2015 with an annual growth rate of 2.1%. In July 2016, Seattle was again the fastest-growing major U.S. city, with a 3.1% annual growth rate. Seattle is the northernmost large city in the United States.

Design and construction

On 12 August 1912, the Puget Sound Navigation Company ("PSN'") contracted with the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company to build for them a passenger vessel which would run at a regular speed of 19 knots and which would be ready for service by 1 March 1913.^[1] PSN had decided to replace its fleet of wooden steamers with steel-built replacements, and Tacoma was intended to be the first of a new series of high-speed vessels.^[1] Tacoma was designed by James V. Paterson, the president of Seattle Construction and Drydock.^[1]

The Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) was founded by Charles E. Peabody in 1898. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia. Known colloquially as the Black Ball Line, the PSNC achieved a "virtual monopoly" on cross-sound traffic in the 1930s and competed with the Canadian Pacific Railway's steamships on several routes.

Tacoma was launched on 3 May 1913. The vessel was christened by Florence Lister, daughter of the governor of Oregon. Various dignitaries were brought to the launching in another PSN vessel, the steel steamship Indianapolis, with PSN President Joshua Green on board.^[1] Acceptance trials were conducted on 16 June 1913, and the vessel was found capable of 20.78 knots. Later the vessel was found to be capable of running even faster, at 21.5 knots.^[1]

Propulsion

Tacoma was driven by a single propeller, driven by a steam engine about 35 feet long. The engine was a four-cylinder, triple-expansion type, which was designed to extract the maximum energy possible from the steam. Twin oil-fired Ballin water-tube boilers supplied steam at 250 pounds pressure.^[1]

Propeller fan that transmits rotational motion into thrust

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics, like those of aircraft wings, can be modelled by Bernoulli's principle and Newton's third law. Most marine propellers are screw propellers with fixed helical blades rotating around a horizontal axis or propeller shaft.

Steam engine Heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force is transformed, by a connecting rod and flywheel, into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is generally applied only to reciprocating engines as just described, not to the steam turbine.

Operations on Puget Sound

On 24 June 1913 Tacoma made its first regular run from Seattle to Tacoma in 77 minutes. This was a new speed record for the route. With the aid of a tug, Tacoma could be turned at the Tacoma municipal dock in 2.5 minutes, half the time it took to turn Indianapolis, then the other major vessel on the route. About six months after Tacoma began on the route, command of the vessel was taken over by Capt. Everett B. Coffin, one of the most experienced steamboat captains of Puget Sound. He had commanded the famous Flyer for much of the time from 1890 to 1911 when Flyer had dominated the Seattle-Tacoma route in competition with the Puget Sound Navigation Company.^[1]

Flyer was an American steamboat that served from 1891 to 1929 on Puget Sound. From 1918 until the end of her service, she was officially known as the Washington. The Flyer ran for millions of miles at high speed, more than any inland vessel in the world. This 1891 steamer Flyer should not be confused with the steamboat Flyer built on Lake Coeur d'Alene in 1905, although the Coeur d'Alene vessel was inspired both in design and name by the success of the Puget Sound ship.

Tacoma was a well-designed vessel which handled extremely well. Captain Coffin, in later years after Tacoma had been taken out of service, described the vessel in comparison to Flyer.

Previous to becoming master of S.S. Tacoma in 1914, I had been mate and master of S.S. Flyer for twelve years and I was a little doubtful if Tacoma could equal the workings of Flyer. But I soon found out that Tacoma was superior in every point. She was faster and much easier to handle, and as for time, she could be depended on to a second. Day in and day out, her time between points, allowing for tidal conditions, was the same, and in making landings at the different piers, it was like landing in a row boat. Her reversing power was wonderful and from full ahead to dead stop required seventeen seconds, a feat that was tried several times. Going astern, she was almost as fast as ahead, when she would gain in speed. Another point she had, when emergency required a sudden reversal, by a slight change in the rudder she could be held in perfect position until she commenced to gain sternway. Then she would crawl rapidly to port. Her ability on the points mentioned often prevented accidents in fog.^[1]

End of regular service

Tacoma continued in service until better roads and increased automobile and bus traffic between Seattle and Tacoma forced the termination of regular marine passenger between the two cities. Tacoma 's last run on December 15, 1930 marked the real end of commercial passenger activity for steamboats on Puget Sound. Marine historians Newell and Williamson documented the occasion:

The Tacoma and the Indianapolis passed a little south of Three Tree Point. ... Capt. Coffin pulled down a window and leaned out in the driving rain. The Indianapolis floated by, a dozen squares of light topped by a star. She spoke; three long, lingering blasts. ... Capt. Coffin reached for his own whistle cord. Three long blasts. And he let the last blast die away slowly, until it was only a moan in the throat of the whistle. “That’s the last time we pass each other,” he said.^[2]

When Tacoma arrived at the dock in Tacoma harbor that last night, every ship in the port blew three blasts on their whistles as a salute. Andrew Foss, owner of the great Foss tug concern, sent Foss No. 17 to help Tacoma make the landing, even though it had been two years since Tacoma could afford a tug. Departing that last time on her return to Seattle, Tacoma passed the hull of the Greyhound, once the fastest boat on the Sound and now, minus her upper works, engines and sternwheel, in service as a mudscow.^[3]

Last years

Tacoma was still a sound vessel, and from time to time was placed on excursion runs or on the Seattle to Victoria. When the Puget Sound Navigation Company brought the streamlined ferry Kalakala on to the Seattle-Bremerton route, the mechanical problems of Kalakala required that Tacoma escort the ferry on the first run west across the Sound to Bremerton. During the westbound trip, to avoid embarrassing the owners, who had billed Kalakala as the fast ferry on the sound, Tacoma was restricted to running at Kalakala 's maximum speed, about 17 knots. On the return, however, made by Tacoma alone without Kalakala, Captain Coffin ran Tacoma at top speed, which set a speed record for the trip.^[1] Captain Coffin recalled the Tacoma's later years:

When she was put in the excursion business, I got a great surprise as to her sea going abilities in the Strait between Point Wilson and Victoria. In the fresh southwesters that often occur in summer afternoons, I found her able to meet them all with very little fuss in going or coming either way. So I have always said that she was the ablest boat of her size ever on the Sound and as for stability, she was a wonder. When tested at inspection, as was often done, she surprised those giving the test. I have often see five and six hundred passengers on the hurricane deck when landing and very few in the cabin, and she would hold her stability.^[1]

Sold for scrap

In October 1938, Puget Sound Navigation company sold Tacoma, and a number of other vessels, to Seattle Iron and Metals Corporation, for scrapping.^[1]

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Newell, Gordon R., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 220, 231, 254, 396, 437, 466, 477, 547, 578, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1966 ISBN 0-87564-220-9
↑ Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Joe, Pacific Steamboats, at pages 130-31, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1958
↑ Gordon and Williamson, at 131

Related Research Articles

The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock. The historical period defining the beginning and end of the mosquito fleet is ambiguous, but the peak of activity occurred between the First and Second World Wars.

The sternwheeler Multnomah was built at East Portland, Oregon in 1885 and operated on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers until 1889 in the United States. She was later transferred to Puget Sound and became one of the better known steamboats operating there.

The steamboat Defiance operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. In later years this vessel was called Kingston.

The steamboat Dart operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.

The steamboat Dauntless operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.

The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This Puget Sound steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello, which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.

The steamboat S.G.Simpson operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. This vessel was later renamed E.G. English.

The steamboat Fleetwood operated in the 1880s and 1890s on the Columbia River and later as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.

The steamboat Rosalie operated from 1893 to 1918 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, also operating out of Victoria, B.C. In 1898, Rosalie went north with many other Puget Sound steamboats to join the Klondike Gold Rush.

The Greyhound was an express passenger steamer which operated in 1890s to about 1915 on Puget Sound in Washington, United States. This vessel, commonly known as the Hound, the Pup or the Dog, was of unusual design, having small upper works, but an enormous sternwheel. Unlike many sternwheelers, she was not intended for a dual role as passenger and freighter, but was purpose-built to carry mostly passengers on express runs.

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.

Crest was a wooden steamboat that operated on Puget Sound in the early 1900s. Following a sale of the vessel in May, 1912, this boat was known as Bay Island.

Dode was a steamboat that ran on Hood Canal and Puget Sound from 1898 to 1900.

Florence K was a steamboat that was operated on Puget Sound from 1903. This vessel was later renamed Gloria and was rebuilt as a steam ferry and renamed Beeline.

Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.

Sioux was a steamship which was operated on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca from 1912 to 1941. From 1924 to 1941, following reconstruction, the vessel operated as an auto ferry under the name Olympic. During the Second World War (1941-1945) this vessel was taken under the control of the U.S. Army and renamed the Franklin R. Leisenburg. The Liesenburg served as a ferry in the Panama Canal area under Army control, and then was sold to a firm which ran the vessel on the Surinam river in South America.

Concordia was a steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1930 to 1976. Although later converted to diesel power, Concordia was the last inland commercial steamboat ever built on either Puget Sound or the Columbia river.

Speeder was a motor launch built in 1908 which served on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. From 1908 to 1922 this vessel was named Bainbridge.

References

Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, George A., Ferryboats - A Legend on Puget Sound, Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 ISBN 0-914515-00-4
Newell, Gordon R., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1966 ISBN 0-87564-220-9
Newell, Gordon R., Ships of the Inland Sea, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2d Ed. 1960)

External links

Tacoma, at EvergreenFleet.com

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[McCurdy-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Newell, Gordon R., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 220, 231, 254, 396, 437, 466, 477, 547, 578, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1966 ISBN 0-87564-220-9

[2] Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Joe, Pacific Steamboats, at pages 130-31, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1958

[3] Gordon and Williamson, at 131