''Asbury Park'' was a high-speed coastal steamer built in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and intended to transport well-to-do persons from New York to summer homes on the New Jersey shore. This vessel was sold to West Coast interests in 1918, and later converted to an automobile ferry, serving on various routes

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...

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 m ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. This vessel was known by a number of other names, including ''City of Sacramento'', ''Kahloke'', ''Langdale Queen'', and ''Lady Grace''.

Owners

''Asbury Park'' had a number of owners over the long career of the vessel. These included, among others, the Jersey Central Railroad (1903-1918) Monticello Steamship Co. (1918-1917); Golden Gate Ferry Co. (1918-1927),

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...

, (1927-1941), Puget Sound Navigation Company, (1941-1952), Black Ball Line, Ltd, (1951-1961), and

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle fer ...

(1961-1976). Asbury Park steamer Feb1910

Engineering

As built, the mechanical plant of ''Asbury Park'' consisted of twin four-cylinder, triple expansion

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s, compound steam engine; cylinder bores , and 2x ; stroke , generating 5,900

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

, with each engine driving a propeller shaft. Steam was generated by nine coal-fired boilers, which ventilated through twin smoke stacks. This drove the vessel at speeds in excess of .Newell, Gordon R., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', “Maritime Events of 1941” and “Maritime Events of 1953”.

Jersey coast service

The Jersey Central had a fleet of steamships which it operated from New York to points along the coast of New Jersey. ''Asbury Park'' was considered a prestige vessel and was the flagship of the Jersey Central fleet.New York Times, "Asbury Park is Sold – Famous Harbor Queen is Going to Golden Gate as a Ferry", August 9, 1918.
(accessed 05-21-11). The vessel was intended to attract wealthy patrons from New York's financial district, who would use the ship to reach their summer homes on the New Jersey shore. With a speed of over 20 knots, she operated during the summer season between the north

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May P ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. However, her size and speed made her ill-suited to the route, and she lacked manoeuvrability in the congested waters of New York harbour. With the decline in traffic during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

she was laid up during the 1917 and 1918 summer seasons.

California service

War conditions and other economic problems had caused ''Asbury Park'' to be taken out of service in 1916. In 1918, ''Asbury Park'' was sold to the Monticello Steamship Company, a San Francisco firm. It was announced that prior to the transfer, extensive mechanical work would be done to the vessel, including removal of a number of the vessel's boilers (with a consequent decrease in engine power) and conversion to an oil-burner. In addition the saloons and staterooms of the vessel would be dismantled in preparation for conversion to a passenger ferry. However it appears that this work was not done on the East Coast, but later, after the vessel had reached California.Evergreenfleet.com ''Asbury Park'' / ''City of Sacramento''
Photos and history of this vessel at various stages of its career. ''Asbury Park'' was taken to the west coast under Capt. Fred Warner and Chief Engineer Samuel Sutton. Once the vessel arrived in San Francisco it was placed on the Vallejo –

Mare Island Mare Island ( Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the ...

, transporting workers to

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates ...

. In 1925 the vessel was extensively modified and renamed to become the commuter ferry SS ''City of Sacramento'' crossing

between

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and Vallejo. In 1925, she was refitted and more passenger deck space was added, and in 1927 she came under the ownership of Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries following a series of mergers of the ferry companies operating on the Bay. In 1927 Southern Pacific acquired Monticello Steamship Company, and its three ships, including ''City of Sacramento''.Kline and Bayless, ''Ferryboats – A Legend on Puget Sound'', at pages 250, 259, 271, 278-79, 310 and 335. The opening of the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ve ...

in 1936 and the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco P ...

in 1937 put most of the ferry services on San Francisco Bay out of business, and in 1941 the ''City of Sacramento'' was sold to the Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) and moved to

. There she operated between downtown

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

and Bremerton, site of the

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...

, one of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

's main centres for building, maintaining, and repairing warships during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Puget Sound service

USS Enterprise (CV-6) anchored off Puget Sound Navy Yard in June 1945

To meet the rising demand for ferry capacity on the Seattle-Bremerton route, the vessel was purchased by Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSN) in 1941, but was not brought north to

until May 1944.MacMullen, ''Paddlewheel Days in California'', at pages 132, 134, 146, and 149. The delay had been caused by the Navy's having requisitioned the ship to transport workers to and from navy shipyards.

British Columbia service

In 1950, ''City of Sacramento'' was taken out of service.Newell, ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', at page 206. Following the sale of most of the PSN fleet to the Washington State Ferry system in 1951, PSN reorganized itself into an international company which included a Canadian division, Black Ball Line Ltd. In 1952–53, PSN transferred the vessel to Canadian registry, and moved to the Yarrows shipyard at

Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by E ...

, where the ship underwent a substantial reconstruction. The steam engines were removed and were replaced with four V-16 General Motors diesel-electric engines, each generating 1,750 horsepower. The new engineering plant drove the vessel at a service speed of . Passenger capacity of the reconstructed vessel was set at 1,000, with room for 100 automobiles on the six-lane car deck, which was long. The vessel was renamed ''Kahloke'', and was placed on the run from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

across the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "Hub City," which was ...

, completing the route five times per day.

Later years

From 1953 to 1962 she operated along with the MV ''Chinook II'' crossing the

between

and Horseshoe Bay in

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Ba ...

. In November 1961, Black Ball Ferries was purchased by

, which had commenced operations in June 1960 as a division of the British Columbia Toll Highways and Bridges Authority, a Crown corporation of the

provincial government. In 1964, MV ''Kahloke'' was renamed MV ''Langdale Queen'' and moved to the Horseshoe Bay-

Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

route, where she continued to operate until 1976. After being retired by BC Ferries, new owners sold the engines and renamed her MV ''Lady Grace''. Under a succession of further changes of ownership, storms and a semi-submersion at her berth damaged her beyond repair. In 1988 her superstructure was removed, and her hull found service as a barge. After apparently being abandoned sometime after 2004 on the Fraser River, the barge sank after being covered in heavy snowfall in December 2008. The hull was raised and salvaged in the spring of 2009.

Notes

External links

References

Evergreenfleet.com ''Asbury Park'' / ''City of Sacramento''
Photos and history of this vessel at various stages of its career, as ''Asbury Park'', ''City of Sacramento'', ''Kahloke'', ''Langdale Queen'', and ''Lady Grace'' * Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, George A., ''Ferryboats - A Legend on Puget Sound'', Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 * MacMullen, Jerry, ''Paddlewheel Days in California'', Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA 1944 * Newell, Gordon R., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1966 * Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2d Ed. 1960)
New York Times, "Asbury Park is Sold – Famous Harbor Queen is Going to Golden Gate as a Ferry", August 9, 1918.
(accessed 05-21-11) {{DEFAULTSORT:Asbury Park, SS Ships of BC Ferries Washington State Ferries vessels Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) Steam ferries of Washington (state) Ferries of California Ferries of New Jersey Ferries of New York City San Francisco Bay Puget Sound Navigation Company 1903 ships Ferries of Washington (state)