NEAH BAY — Makah tribal member Harriette Cheeka said she saw the Kalakala approaching Neah Bay about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, grabbed her drum and began singing it to safety.
Gusty winds and rough seas had caused the tug-assisted Kalakala to turn perpendicular to the shoreline and take on water.
Richard Butler said he, too, watched the ferry rock in the surf and became worried about it making it safely to the dock.
“It was diving and dipping, but it made it,” he said. “It was really something to see.”
Another vessel frequently in the news — the Neah Bay-stationed rescue tug Barbara Foss — motored out to help Kalakala into Neah Bay.
The 126-foot Foss Maritime rescue tug is on call at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca during the difficult fall and winter months to assist ships — such as oil tankers — in distress.
This time it was a 69-year-old streamlined ferry boat that’s received an inordinate amount of press lately.
“Barbara Foss came out to assist us at the entry — about a half-mile out to sea,” Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues said.
“She did save us. We were perpendicular to the swells.”