PORT TOWNSEND — John Hulburd has a boatload of fond memories when it comes to riding Steel Electric ferries across Admiralty Inlet, and he wants to mark the vehicle ferries’ demise with a wake, of sorts.
“I’ve always loved the ferries, and over the years I learned a lot about them,” Hulburd said Tuesday at the Port Townsend ferry dock, where one of the aging Steel Electric-class vehicle ferries, the MV Klickitat, is moored and awaiting its fate.
“I felt that we should have an honorary celebration on board the Klickitat in their memory,” he said.
“I wanted this to be a goodbye.”
A Washington State Ferries spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency is interested.
“I’ve heard from a bunch of people about that,” state ferries system spokeswoman Hadley Greene said.
“What we’ve said is, we’re definitely interested in having some kind of retirement party or event,” although it won’t happen for one or two months.
Hulburd proposed interviewing those with stories about the vessels to document them for the historic record.
The Klickitat and three other 80-year-old Steel Electrics — Nisqually, Illahee and Quinault — were pulled from service Nov. 20 after significant pitting and corrosion was found in the hull of the dry-docked Quinault.
State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond declared them unsafe to run between Port Townsend and Keystone Harbor on Whidbey Island, severing state Highway 20 between the Olympic Peninsula and the rest of Washington.
The Klickitat has been idled at the Port Townsend terminal, and state ferries officials said it will remain there indefinitely.
