M/V ''Taku'' is a ''Malaspina''-class mainline vessel built for the Alaska Marine Highway System. The ship has been retired and was sold to a Dubai-based company for $171,000. The owner sought to sell the ferry internationally, and was unsuccessful, and it was last seen beached in

Alang, India Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Ala ...

, to be scrapped.

History

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, the M/V ''Taku'' is named after Taku Glacier which is located just southeast of

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

and has been in the ferry system for over forty years. In 1981, the ''Taku'' received a major refurbishment and was in service steadily until the summer of 2015 when she was laid up due to budget considerations. The AMHS subsequently announced that it would retire the vessel in preparation for sale or scrapping.AMHS focus of SE Conference
Bowman, Nick. ''

Ketchikan Daily News The ''Ketchikan Daily News'' is the primary daily newspaper for Ketchikan, Alaska, founded in 1934. Lew Williams, Jr., who became the paper's managing editor in 1966, was well known in Alaska as an opinion columnist. Originally appearing mainly ...

'', 25 February 2017

Role

As a mainline ferry, ''Taku'' served the larger of the inside passage communities (such as

Ketchikan Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District. With a population at the 20 ...

, Petersburg, and

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

), its route primarily stayed between

and

Skagway The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal wit ...

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

. The M/V ''Taku'' was the largest of the three AMHS vessels able to serve the communities of

Hoonah Hoonah ( tli, Xunaa or ''Gaaw Yat’aḵ Aan'') is a largely Tlingit community on Chichagof Island, located in Alaska's panhandle in the southeast region of the state. It is west of Juneau, across the Alaskan Inside Passage. Hoonah is the only ...

and

Kake KAKE (channel 10) is a television station in Wichita, Kansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on West Street in northwestern Wichita, and its transmitter is located in ...

and because of this served as a critical component of providing transportation out of Hoonah and Kake after the "milk run" ferry, the hit a rock and went into

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

Amenities

The ''Taku''s amenities included a hot-food cafeteria; bar; solarium; forward, aft, recliner, movie, and business lounges; gift shop; 8 four-berth cabins; and 36 two-berth cabins.

Accidents and Incidents

* On April 23rd, 1963 the ''Taku'' struck a rock outside Petersburg in a minus tide. She returned to service on May 3rd. * On August 8th, 1963 two boys entered the wheelhouse when the ''Taku'' was preparing to leave Petersburg, and engaged the engines. The resulting damage to the dock left the vehicle loading ramp out of commission for three months. * On July 29th, 1970, the ''Taku'' ran aground on Kinihan Island, outside of

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist caval ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. All passengers on board were evacuated safely, and the cars were transferred to the BC Ferry ''

MV Queen of Prince Rupert MV ''Queen of Prince Rupert'' was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry operated by BC Ferries that provided the main surface transport link between the Queen Charlotte Islands and mainland British Columbia, connecting Skidegate with Prince Rupert across ...

'' Cohen (1994), p. 16

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Official Alaska Marine Highway System website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taku Former Alaska Marine Highway System vessels 1962 ships Ships built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company