Some possible good news for this California steamship, which the Mexican government has threatened to scrap if it isn't removed from the harbor at Ensenada.

http://www.thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=61770
ryarger@rypn.org

I saw her last April. She is setting on the bottom of Ensinada Harbor. At high tide the water hits the top deck.. There is a colony of about 50 sea lions living aboard.

I sailed on her to Catalina several times and have fond memories, butÂ…

While its good news that the hull is sound, I can’t imagine trying to restore her mechanically, much less make her presentable. As a group we are used to restoring and rebuilding large mechanical devices. This is larger than a whole steam powered passenger train, and its been sitting in (as opposed to on) salt water for some years. Look at the cost of a dock fees alone, much less the dry dock time (and professional crew to do the work while in dry dock, since you can’t tie up a dry dock while you work on “volunteer time.”

Randy Hees



http://spcrr.org
hees@ix.netcom.com

At least this one is still afloat and unaltered


http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17449_186
lamontdc@adelphia.net

Just visited the Cincinnati History Museum in the old Union Station and was very impressed with everything - huge model railroad of the city, streetcar body, a whole full size riverfront block from the steamboat era including a replica steamboat in a pool.

If there are real steamboats available and rotting, why build replicas? Are the only available examples just the huge white elephants? What about the smaller steamers - any left to recycle like the Murray River paddle wheelers in Echuca?

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

The SS Nobska, undergoing restoration in this drydock, is located just a couple of hundred feet from the USS Constitution in Charlestown, MA just adjacent to Boston. She is purported to be the last tall-stacked coastal steamship in the US.



http://www.nobska.org/index.htm

SJHussar@aol.com

On the subject of steamboats, the old Streckfus Steamers excursion sidewheeler President is tied up in Vicksburg, for sale. It was converted to diesel in the 1980's, but still has its boilers below deck and its engines. Was a casino boat within the past two years. Built in 1924 it reportedly has a pretty good riveted hull. It's quite an old war horse, though, at over 300 feet.
>

The SS Nobska, undergoing restoration in
> this drydock, is located just a couple of
> hundred feet from the USS Constitution in
> Charlestown, MA just adjacent to Boston. She
> is purported to be the last tall-stacked
> coastal steamship in the US.


runner@i-55.com

Randy, I am just back from a visit to Catalina and the steam ship is well remembered there.

You are right on about restoration; they tryed to do it with volunteers in Boston on the NOBSKA the last New England coastal steamer.

They are out of money and time and they may scrap the ship. I hope that at least the engine gets saved!

ted_miles@nps.gov

> They are out of money and time and they may
> scrap the ship. I hope that at least the
> engine gets saved!

There was a feature on the news a couple of weeks ago about the streamlined ferry up in Seattle having the same problem....

Smokebox

The link below gives some info on the Kalakala car ferry in Seattle. It's an old article, but has some good history of the Kalakala.

Boyd


Kalakala
bowens@rypn.org

The link below is to the Kalakala Foundation, and details all the bad news about it's current fate.

Boyd


Kalakala.org
bowens@rypn.org

That's heartbreaking news there after seeing how far those guys had come to preserve the ship. The Kalakala Foundation used to have a poster that said "The ship that launched a thousand electric shavers", I just hope she doesn't end up as the ship that became a million razor blades...

rjenkins@railfan.net

If expensive moorage is the main problem, I wonder if pulling it up onto land for now might be a solution. I'm sure that would be an expensive proposition, but might solve the problem temporarily?

ryarger@rypn.org

> You are right on about restoration; they
> tryed to do it with volunteers in Boston on
> the NOBSKA the last New England coastal
> steamer.

> They are out of money and time and they may
> scrap the ship. I hope that at least the
> engine gets saved!

Ted,
which vessel are you speaking of?



http://www.nobska.org/index.htm
SJHussar@aol.com

One thing to consider regarding land storage of a ship is the potential impact to the frame of the ship. Public TV in the Philly/Wilmington area several years ago did a documentary on bringing an aircraft carrier upriver to the-then Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The drydock (somewhat akin to dry land) had to have concrete and timber cribbing/supports at precise locations to maintain frame/structure integrity (my laypersons term). Surveyors were used in conjunction with the tugboats positioning the carrier to get the carrier right over the supports, prior to draining the water from the drydock.

Interesting suggestion considering that's exactly the kind of situation that the Kalakala was "rescued" from up in Alaska. During her days as a fish cannery, dirt was filled in around her hull until she was completely landlocked. I wonder if more of the restoration work could have been done while she was up there, instead of towing her down to Seattle where the cost of mooring her is presumably a lot higher. However, if I remember correctly she was faced with scrapping where she was.

Beaching her might be a good solution if the problem was the condition of the hull. However, unless you have the means to drag the boat some distance over land (as was done with the Ticonderoga at Shelburne, Vermont), beaching her would necessitate a chunk of waterfront property that's not only the length of the boat, but also the width as well. If something like that was available to the Kalakala folks, I'm sure it would be easier (cheaper) just to moor the boat there rather than go through the additional expense of dragging her out of the water.

rjenkins@railfan.net