The Seattle–Bremerton ferry is a ferry route across

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

between

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerto ...

. Since 1951, the route has primarily been operated by the state-run

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a government agency that operates automobile and passenger ferry service in the U.S. state of Washington as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation. It runs ten routes serving 20 terminals loca ...

system, currently the largest ferry system in the United States.

Kitsap Transit Kitsap Transit is a public transit agency serving Kitsap County, Washington, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The system is based in Bremerton and operates bus service on 40 fixed routes, a foot ferry, a vanpool system, worker-driver ser ...

also runs passenger-only "fast ferries" service on the route.

History

The Seattle–Bremerton ferry route was once known as the "Navy Yard route". Before ferry service, the route was served by steamships and steamboats, such as the ''

Inland Flyer ''Inland Flyer'' was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the ''Mohawk''. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. ''Inland Flyer'' was one ...

''. The sternwheeler ''Bailey Gatzert'', once considered one of the most prestigious vessels to operate on

and the

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

, was converted to an automobile ferry and as such became the first ferry to run on the Seattle-Bremerton route.Newell, Gordon, R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', at 291, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA, 1966 Another vessel to run on the route was the unique "streamlined" ferry ''Kalakala''. From 1986 to 2002, Washington State Ferries operated passenger-only service on the Bremerton route using specialized high-speed boats. After the service was cancelled,

contracted with private companies to operate a similar service for several years, and later debuted its own service,

Kitsap Fast Ferries Kitsap Fast Ferries is a passenger ferry service operating between Seattle and Kitsap County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is funded and operated by Kitsap Transit and began service in July 2017, with a single boat traveling between Seattl ...

, on July 10, 2017.

Current status

The route from Seattle departs from the Washington State Ferry Terminal on the central Seattle waterfront. Normally assigned to the route are the Super-class ferry ''Kaleetan'' and

Olympic-class ferry The Olympic-class ferries are the newest vessels to the Washington State Ferries fleet. They are intended to allow the agency to retire the aging ferries currently in service. The ferry design is based on the Issaquah-class ferry, Issaquah-clas ...

''Chimacum'', with the

Jumbo Class ferry The Jumbo class are two ferries that were built by Washington State Ferries in 1972 to supersede the . They have a capacity of 2,000 passengers and 188 vehicles. Ferries in this class: * * History By the late 1960s, Washington State Ferries ...

''Walla Walla'' filling in when maintenance needs allow. Chimacum

Popular culture

A ship ('' Klickitat'') in this ferry route is mentioned in the ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situatio ...

'' TV movie "Most Deadly Passage" that first aired in 1978.

Notes

References

* Demoro, Harre, ''The Evergreen Fleet – A Pictorial History of Washington State Ferries'', Golden West Books, San Marino, CA (1971) * Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, G.A., ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', Bayless Books, Seattle, WA (1983) * Newell, Gordon, R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA (1966) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seattle-Bremerton Ferry Ferry routes in western Washington (state) Transportation in King County, Washington History of King County, Washington Transportation in Kitsap County, Washington History of Kitsap County, Washington

History

Current status

Popular culture

See also

Notes

References