WSF: Cathlamet

This is the Washington State Ferry (WSF), called the Cathlamet, it runs between Whidbey Island (Clinton) and Mukilteo Washington. It was a very beautiful day sunny as can be but so cold.

The Cathlamet was built in 1981, as an Issaquah Class ferry, for service on the Seattle-Bremerton Route. However its capacity was shortly reached and it was moved to the Mukilteo-Clinton route in the late 1980s.

There is a myth about this ferry: The Cathlamet is infamous in Puget Sound as it has on several occasions struck ferry docks while attempting to dock. The problem was eventually traced to the computer that controls the pitch of the props, which because of a large amount of unshielded wiring, would short out a couple of signal lines causing the props to re-angle for full propulsion, instead of reversing. The computer system was eventually replaced in the early 2000s, and since then, the Cathlamet has not smashed another dock.

Meaning of Cathlamet: From the Kathlamet tribe, the Chinook word calamet meaning "stone," was given to the tribe because its members lived along the rocky stretch of the Columbia River. A city also bears its name.