''Fairhaven'' was a sternwheel steamboat of the

Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet 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 Steamboat, steamers and sternwheelers plied the wat ...

which operated from 1889 to 1918.

Career

''Fairhaven'' was built in 1889 by John J. Holland for the

Pacific Navigation Company The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in his shipyard at

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The vessel was placed on the run from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, to Bellingham, Washington, by way of

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...

and the town of

La Conner La Conner is a town in Skagit County, Washington, Skagit County, Washington (state), Washington, United States with a population of 965 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon, Washington, Mount Vernon& ...

, Washington. In March 1907, ''Fairhaven'' was blown onto the dock at Coupeville, Washington, during a gale, and then on to the shore, suffering substantial damage. The

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

'' Camano'' towed her off the beach.Newell, ed., ''McCurdy Marine History'', pp. 119, 135, 173, 189, 209, and 293. On November 3, 1911, ''Fairhaven'' sank at her mooring in Seattle. She was raised, but was destroyed by fire in 1918.

Gallery

References

* Affleck, Edwin L, ed. ''A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska'', Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC (2000) 1889 ships Steamboats of Washington (state) Passenger ships of the United States Puget Sound Navigation Company Maritime incidents in 1907 Maritime incidents in 1911 Maritime incidents in 1918 Shipwrecks of the Washington coast Ship fires November 1911 in the United States {{ferry-stub