The M/V ''Kitsap'' was a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

built in 1925 at the Lake Washington Shipyard in

Houghton, Washington Houghton is one of the lakeside neighborhoods of the city of Kirkland, Washington. Consisting mostly of upscale, single-family homes, Houghton overlooks Lake Washington and is one of the wealthier districts of the Eastside suburbs of Seattle ...

(now part of Kirkland). She was long, and her original capacity in 1925 was 95 cars and approximately 800 passengers. By 1960, cars had become much bigger and her capacity was reduced to 32 modern automobiles and 325 passengers. A 600-horsepower Estep diesel engine allowed her to sail at when originally built. Almost every part of her was from Washington state; her hull and superstructure were built from Washington-grown fir, and her Estep engine was built in at

Washington Iron Works The Washington Winch sits in the forests of eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria near Swifts Creek and is also known as the Washington Iron Works Skidder. Its rusting relics are close to Bentley Plain and the Moscow Villa hut which was built ...

in Tacoma. She was owned originally by the

Kitsap County Transportation Company The Kitsap County Transportation Company was an important steamboat and ferry company that operated on Puget Sound. The company was founded in 1898 as the Hansen Transportation Company. Hansen Transportation The Kitsap County Transportation Com ...

(KCTC), and was the first in a series of ferries (the others being the and ) that provided some serious competition to the

Puget Sound Navigation Company The Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) was founded by Charles E. Peabody in 1898. Today the company operates an international passenger and vehicle ferry service between Port Angeles, Washington, United States and Victoria, British Columbia, Ca ...

(PSN), which was the other dominant ferry operator on Puget Sound. She first entered service on the Fauntleroy-Vashon route and sailed there until 1930 when she was moved over to the Suquamish-Ballard route. A strike in 1935 resulted in KCTC being acquired by PSN, making PSN the sole ferry operator on Puget Sound. PSN kept her on the Suquamish-Ballard route until 1938, when they moved her to the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry route. In 1940, she was on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry route but returned to Mukilteo-Clinton a year later, where she remained until World War II ended. She was assigned to the Point Defiance-Tahlequah run from 1947 to 1949. In 1951, almost all of PSN's ferries and routes were acquired by

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a public ferry system in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and operates 10 routes serving 20 terminals within Puget ...

(WSF), including the ferry ''Kitsap''. She was assigned to the Lofall-South Point route across Hood Canal, where she supplemented the newer . The

Hood Canal Bridge The Hood Canal Bridge (officially William A. Bugge Bridge) is a floating bridge in the northwest United States, located in western Washington. It carries State Route 104 across Hood Canal in Puget Sound and connects the Olympic and Kitsap ...

opened in 1961, and WSF no longer needed the ''Kitsap''. In 1961, she was sold to the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway De ...

for use on the Astoria–Megler ferry route across the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

. In 1966, the

Astoria–Megler Bridge The Astoria–Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever through-truss bridge in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States that spans the lower Columbia River. It carries a section of U.S. Route 101 from Astoria, Oregon, to Point Ellice near M ...

opened, putting the ''Kitsap'' and other ferries that served the route out of service. ''Kitsap'' was sold to a private party to be used as a fish cannery. She sank while being towed to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

on 3 November 1966. A new, much larger ferry with the same name was built in 1980, and is still in service on

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

References

Washington State Ferries vessels Kitsap County Transportation Company Puget Sound Navigation Company Ships built at Lake Washington Shipyard {{ferry-stub