Urania was built at the Lake Washington Mill Company shipyard, south of Leschi Park on Lake Washington. She was launched on May 11, 1907, and christened by Miss Daisy Johnson, daughter of her builder.[1] She was commissioned by Captain John Anderson, to expand his fleet of steamboats on Lake Washington, operating under the name of the Anderson Steamboat Company.[2] She was 85 feet (26m) long, with a beam of 20.4 feet (6.2m). She displaced 93 gross tons.[3]Urania was similar to but slightly shorter than another Anderson vessel, Fortuna, built in 1906.
Her oil-fired steam engine was built by Seattle Machine Works.[4] It was reported to be capable of producing 550 horsepower.[1] Fully loaded, with 350 passengers, Urania could maintain a speed of 16.6 knots.[5]
In 1913, Urania was reconstructed to allow four automobiles to be carried sideways across her foredeck. The reconstruction required removal of a portion of her upper deck.[6]
The ship's namesake, Urania, was the Greek muse of astronomy and astrology.
Operation
Urania had a regular run from Madison Park to Kirkland and Juanita, completing seven round-trips per day.[7] She was also chartered for all kinds of special events including conventions,[8] company parties,[9] and as a viewing platform for crew races on Lake Washington.[10]
Urania, after the fire on February 12, 1914
Urania had her share of mishaps during her operational life. In August 1908, Cyrene's bowsprit punched a hole in Urania's cabin.[11] In November 1908 she went aground at the entrance to Union Bay and was stuck for a day before she was refloated.[12] On December 20, 1913, passenger John White committed suicide by jumping into Lake Washington from Urania's stern.[13] The worst came on February 12, 1914. Urania burned at her dock at the Anderson Shipbuilding facility in Houghton. The fire pumps on Fortuna extinguished the flames, but not until after most of Urania's upper works had been destroyed.[14] Captain Anderson built Dawn to replace her.[15]
Urania's machinery was removed and she was rebuilt as a smaller vessel, maintaining both her name and Federal registration number. As rebuilt, Urania was 58.3 feet (17.8m) long, 18.2 feet (5.5m) in beam, with a displacement of 63 gross and 41 net tons. Her new engine was much smaller than her original, producing only 75 horsepower.[16] By June 1915, she was back on Lake Washington as part of the Anderson Steamboat Company fleet.[17]
Sometime between 1916 and August 1918, Harry D. Hanson of Bremerton purchased Urania.[18][19] He operated her as a passenger ferry between Seattle and Bremerton as part of the H. D. Hanson Ferry Company. On December 7, 1919 Urania tied up to the company's float at Manette. Twenty-five passengers were waiting to board as fifteen disembarked. The boarding passengers moved to one side to let the arrivals off, and this weight shift caused the boat to list and then submerge. Forty people were thrown into the water and one drowned. Nine of the passengers filed and won lawsuits, but received no payouts as the ferry company had no assets.[20][21][22] Hanson owned Urania personally, and did so through 1930.[23]
Federal registration records show that William E. Westerman of Tacoma purchased Urania in 1931.[24] These records classify her as a freighter at this time. Westerman owned her at least until 1941, the last time she was Federally documented. Her ultimate fate is unclear.
Discovery of wreck
In 2002, divers of the Submerged Cultural Resources Exploration Team (“SCRET”) found a wreck they concluded was Urania, noting that she lies upright on the bottom, her hull substantially intact, but her upper works completely destroyed by fire.[25] It is unclear how this wreck relates to the Urania built in 1907, or the vessel rebuilt in 1915.
The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a multitude 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 Coos Bay Mosquito Fleet comprised numerous small steamboats and motor vessels which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on Coos Bay, a large and mostly shallow harbor on the southwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, to the north of the Coquille River valley. Coos Bay is the major harbor on the west coast of the United States between San Francisco and the mouth of the Columbia River.
Lake Washington steamboats and ferries operated from about 1875 to 1951, transporting passengers, vehicles and freight across Lake Washington, a large lake to the east of Seattle, Washington. Before modern highways and bridges were built, the only means of crossing the lake, other than the traditional canoe or rowboat, was by steamboat, and, later, by ferry. While there was no easily navigable connection to Puget Sound, the Lake Washington Ship Canal now connects Lake Washington to Lake Union, and from there Puget Sound is reached by way of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.
The King and Winge Shipbuilding Company was an important maritime concern in the early 1900s on Puget Sound. The shipyard was located at West Seattle. The owners were Thomas J. King (1843–1925) and Albert M Winge. King was born in Boston and learned to build ships under the famous Donald McKay. He came to Puget Sound in about 1880, and worked in the shipyards of Hall Bros. and T.W. Lake before starting his own shipyard with Winge. King’s partner, Albert L. Winge was a native of Norway.
The steamboat Aquilo operated on Lake Washington and Puget Sound in the first part of the 20th century.
The steamboat Triton was a passenger ferry that operated on Lake Washington in the first part of the 20th century.
The steamboat Fortuna was a vessel that operated on Lake Washington in the first part of the 20th century.
The steamboat Yosemite operated for almost fifty years on San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento River, inland coastal waters and the lower Fraser River in British Columbia, and Puget Sound.
The steamboat Dix operated from 1904 to 1906 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. She was sunk in a collision which remains one of the most serious transportation accidents in the state of Washington to this day.
Cyrene was a steamboat that operated initially on Puget Sound and later on Lake Washington from 1891 to 1914. Cyrene and another similar vessel Xanthus were somewhat unusual in that they had clipper bows and were both originally built as yachts.
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.
Alice Gertrude was a wooden steamship which operated on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound from 1898 to January 1907, when she was wrecked at Clallam Bay in Washington.
Albion was a steamboat which ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1924.
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.
Atlanta was a steamboat built in 1908 at Houghton, Washington which served on Lake Washington and Puget Sound until 1938, when it was converted into a diesel-powered houseboat.
The steamboat Acme operated on Lake Washington and also on the Sammamish Slough to Bothell, Washington from 1899 to 1910, when it was destroyed by fire.
Falcon was a 26 registered ton gasoline-powered launch built built in Bellingham, Washington in 1909. She operated in Puget Sound and nearby regions, and also on Lake Washington during the first part of the 1900s. The wreck of this vessel has been discovered in Lake Washington not far from Kirkland and is in good condition under 190 feet (58 m) of water. This vessel should not be confused with the steam tug Falcon built in Tacoma, Washington in 1902.
Dawn was a wooden passenger ferry on Lake Washington in the early part of the twentieth century.
Captain John Laurentius Anderson was a preeminent figure in Washington state maritime industries in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly ferry service, shipbuilding, and ship-based tourism. He ran the largest ferry fleet on Lake Washington for three decades. He ran a large ferry fleet in Puget Sound. He built more than a dozen vessels at his shipyards, including the first ocean-going ship ever built on Lake Washington.
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