Post by Mill Bay on Jun 13, 2009 13:44:29 GMT -8
MV Coho ferry connection between Victoria and Port Angeles turns 50
By Andrew A. Duffy, Times ColonistJune 13, 2009
The MV Cocho celebrates 50 years of operations.
At the end of the day, it's just a ship. Steel, rivets, massive engines and propellers.
But the MV Coho, which has plied the waters between Victoria and Port Angeles, Wash., since 1959, appears to be so much more.
It has been and continues to be a constant commercial and social link between the world's largest trading partners, an escape route for travellers going both north and south and a vital link between two communities on the west coast of North America.
The MV Coho, operated by Black Ball Ferry Line, turns 50 this year.
In that time it has seen vessels like the Princess Marguerite car ferry to Seattle and the Royal Sealink Express to Vancouver drop out of the game. Yet the Coho remains, and appears to have its course set for decades of continued service.
"It has endured, and I think that comes down to the great relationships formed between the company and its employees, its customers and partners and establishing a work ethic that has allowed us to keep fares [affordable] while providing a great service," said Black Ball Ferry president and CEO Ryan Burles.
For Burles, who has been with the company in a variety of roles since 1981, the Coho has remained an important piece of the transportation puzzle because it services all sectors.
It can accommodate 1,000 passengers and 120 vehicles on any one sailing, and provides a commercial link between the U.S. and the Island for produce and lumber while acting as a tourist-ferrying service and even as a commuter service.
"We are the best direct link south," he said.
It is also an attraction in and of itself, adds Captain Steve Banfill, one of two acting captains of the Coho. "It certainly is for me and for a lot of people."
"It really is an experience," added the Coho's chief engineer Mark Holloway. He points out that the 90-minute journey between the ports features stunning vistas and at times the chance to watch resident orcas in the wild.
That experience hasn't changed much in the 50 years since R.J. Acheson spent $3 million to build and put the M.V. Coho to work.
Charlie Pash was on the Coho for its first day of service, Dec. 29, 1959. A 17- year-old paper carrier for the Victoria Times, Pash won the trip along with nine of his colleagues for having signed up more new subscribers than anyone else.
"I was a real prairie hick and all of a sudden I won this wonderful trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and man that was something," he said.
"There wasn't much in that little town over there but it was a really neat experience and I never forgot it."
Local real estate agent Eric Charman was also on that voyage, and recalls how the Jaycees (the junior chamber of commerce) championed the new service.
"We thought it was such an important way to promote tourism," he said, noting they organized a short parade in Port Angeles for the event. "And you know I was on it about a year ago and it hasn't changed. It's amazing."
Joyce Nordwall's local ski group used to take the Coho regularly in the 1960s to ski at Hurricane Ridge, and recalls wild but beautiful passages across the strait.
"I remember they had just put armchairs in the lounge, but no carpet, and it happened to turn a bit wild out there and we were in these chairs sliding all over the floor," she said. "It took me back to the days when you got into those little cars that bump into everything, even the captain and first mate were doing it."
There are as many stories and experiences as there are travellers who have crossed the strait on the Coho.
And while each story is unique, a common theme is being witness to an amazing experience while riding the Coho.
Fastball player Jim Wilson recalled how he managed to sneak a case of beer back to Canada in an elderly fellow passenger's wheelchair after a double-header in Port Angeles.
And a 10-year-old passenger on a father's advice stayed glued to the windows to watch for the "big blue line" that would signal when the Coho passed into American waters.
That's the appeal, said tourism industry consultant Frank Bourree of Chemistry Consulting.
"It's the scenery, and cruising into this harbour and the coast sitelines. It's pretty amazing, if you come here from anywhere else in the world you are blown away by it," he said, adding the Coho plays a strong role in maintaining the $1-billion Victoria tourism industry.
"We live on an island; we need as many transportation links as we can get," he said.
A 2006 study revealed the Coho ferried more than 205,000 return passengers and brought $123.7 million into the Victoria economy.
The importance of the Coho in Port Angeles cannot be overstated either, said Diane Shostak, executive director of the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau.
"That link is simply vital and the tourism element is absolutely essential," she said, pointing out the link itself draws tourists from around the West Coast of the U.S. to Port Angeles because it is the most direct route to Victoria.
"So many people travel up the Oregon coast up the [Olympic Peninsula] to get to Canada," she said. "There would definitely be a gap in our smile without the Coho."
Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce said 25 per cent of overnight hotel stays are directly due to the vessel.
"It brings a lot of people to town," said Rian Anderson, the Port Angeles-based district manager for Black Ball. "The ferry operation is a real backbone of the local economy. It fills the hotels and people get on the ferry to Victoria in the morning."
And Black Ball is intent on making sure they keep doing so.
After flying under the radar for years under the leadership of Lois Acheson, wife of founder R.J. Acheson, the ferry service has started to raise its profile on both sides of the water.
"The old way was no news is good news," said Burles, who said times have changed and the company is now marketing itself more effectively, becoming a bigger part of community events and getting its message out. "We are telling our story now because we are an important link."
They have also become more customer-friendly with new reservations systems and amenities and this year Black Ball and its landlord, the Provincial Capital Commission, spent $700,000 to upgrade and renovate the Belleville Street Terminal facilities.
As for the vessel itself -- which is pristine and certainly doesn't look its age -- chief engineer Mark Holloway says there's plenty of life in it yet.
"It says something about the vessel, it was built well, good design and the owners didn't scrimp," he said. "It also says something about the crew and the philosophy of the company -- a belief in maintaining the service, a vital link between two countries."
To mark the 50th anniversary, on Wednesday the City of Victoria fireboat, Seaspan tugs and Harbour Ferries will escort the Coho into Belleville Terminal. The ferry should arrive between 2-2:15 p.m.
aduffy@tc.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
www.timescolonist.com/Travel/Coho+ferry+connection+between+Victoria+Port+Angeles+turns/1693021/story.html
www.timescolonist.com/boatloads+memories/1693142/story.html
- - -
BY THE NUMBERS
- Black Ball Ferry Line provides the only daily, year-round vehicle and passenger ferry service between downtown Victoria and downtown Port Angeles, Wash.
- Headquartered in Victoria
- Employs 90 people during peak season
- The journey of 22.59 nautical miles or 42 kilometres usually takes 90 minutes
- Annually, the Coho carries 400,000 passengers and 120,000 vehicles
- Since 1959, the Coho has transported 21 million passengers and five million vehicles between Victoria and Port Angeles.
- Passenger capacity 1,000
- Vehicle capacity 101
- Gross tonnage 5,135
- Length: 104 metres
- Width: 22 metres
- Draft: Five metres
- Average sea speed: 15 knots
- Power: Two General Motors EMD 5,100/12-cylinder diesel
- Propellers: Twin 8-foot stainless propellers with twin rudders
- On board amenities: Snack bar, gift shop, duty-free shop, an outside solarium on the top passenger deck and bike racks.
- Passenger fee: $13.50 (US)
- Children (5-11 years of age): $6.75
- Children under five: Free
- Motorcycle and driver: $29
- Vehicle and driver (18 feet and under): $50
- Online reservation (24 hours in advance, one-way): $11
- Phone reservation: $16
- President and chief executive: Ryan Burles
- Captain: Steven J. Banfill
- Captain: Elmer K. Grasser
- Peak travel times: Mid-June until September
- Leaves Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 9:30 p.m.
- Leaves Victoria at 6:10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
- - -
BLACK BALL FERRY LINE - A BRIEF HISTORY
- 1816 Captain Charles H. Marshall founds the Black Ball Line, the first company to have regularly scheduled passenger sailings across the Atlantic. The company folds in 1878 when steamships become faster than the clipper ships.
- 1895 Charles Marshall's great nephew Charles Peabody, resurrects the family ship company under the name Alaska Steamship Co.
- 1928 Peabody chooses the original Black Ball Line flag for his fleet, which operates ferries on Puget Sound under the trade name Black Ball Line.
- 1932 R.J. Acheson becomes traffic manager for Black Ball Line.
- 1936 Acheson purchases Black Ball Freight Service, a subsidiary of Black Ball Line.
- 1951 Peabody sells Black Ball Line to the Washington State Bridge and Toll Company. He retains five vessels, one destroyer escort, the rights to the Seattle-Victoria route and terminals in Seattle, Port Angeles and Victoria.
- 1951 Peabody creates Black Ball Ferries, Ltd. a Canadian company that provides passenger and vehicle ferry service along B.C.'s south coast. A decade later, in 1961, sells the company to the B.C. Government. Black Ball's five ships are renamed and form part of the growing fleet of BC Ferries.
- 1952 Acheson and his wife Lois organize a new subsidiary of Black Ball Freight Service, naming it Black Ball Transport, Inc. Acheson requests permission from peabody to incorporate a new version of the famous Black Ball flag for his new company.
- 1959 Black Ball Transport builds an auto and passenger ferry, naming it the MV Coho, after the silver salmon found in Puget Sound and adjacent waters. At the time, it is the most expensive, privately funded ferry ever built in North America -- at a total cost of $3 million. Ferry designed by Philip F. Spaulding & Associates of Seattle.
- Jan. 12, 1959 The MV Coho's keel is laid at the Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock in Seattle.
- Dec. 29, 1959. MV Coho makes her first commercial sailing to Victoria
- Aug. 29, 2004. Lois Acheson dies. The company is left in a trust, bequeathed to the Oregon State University Foundation.
- 2004 The Coho's original Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines are replaced with two General Motors Electro-Motive Division main propulsion engines.
n2005 Online reservation system is added.
- 2007 Sales for Victoria and Port Angeles hotels and attractions are made available through the Black Ball Ferry Line website.
- 2009 Black Ball Ferry Line celebrates its Golden Anniversary, 50 years of service between Port Angeles, Wash., and Victoria
- - -
COHO CAPTAINS
The captains of the Coho since 1959:
Henry C. Grandy, 1959-1964
Don Oldow, 1959-1965
Bert Holmes, 1964-1967
Dick Cook, 1965-1973
Al Walker, 1968-1972
John Keil, 1972-1975
Ron Lewis, 1973-1989
Dave Grasser, 1975-2003
Fred Bock, 1989-2004
Steve Banfill, 2003-Present
Elmer Grasser, 2004-Present
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
By Andrew A. Duffy, Times ColonistJune 13, 2009
The MV Cocho celebrates 50 years of operations.
At the end of the day, it's just a ship. Steel, rivets, massive engines and propellers.
But the MV Coho, which has plied the waters between Victoria and Port Angeles, Wash., since 1959, appears to be so much more.
It has been and continues to be a constant commercial and social link between the world's largest trading partners, an escape route for travellers going both north and south and a vital link between two communities on the west coast of North America.
The MV Coho, operated by Black Ball Ferry Line, turns 50 this year.
In that time it has seen vessels like the Princess Marguerite car ferry to Seattle and the Royal Sealink Express to Vancouver drop out of the game. Yet the Coho remains, and appears to have its course set for decades of continued service.
"It has endured, and I think that comes down to the great relationships formed between the company and its employees, its customers and partners and establishing a work ethic that has allowed us to keep fares [affordable] while providing a great service," said Black Ball Ferry president and CEO Ryan Burles.
For Burles, who has been with the company in a variety of roles since 1981, the Coho has remained an important piece of the transportation puzzle because it services all sectors.
It can accommodate 1,000 passengers and 120 vehicles on any one sailing, and provides a commercial link between the U.S. and the Island for produce and lumber while acting as a tourist-ferrying service and even as a commuter service.
"We are the best direct link south," he said.
It is also an attraction in and of itself, adds Captain Steve Banfill, one of two acting captains of the Coho. "It certainly is for me and for a lot of people."
"It really is an experience," added the Coho's chief engineer Mark Holloway. He points out that the 90-minute journey between the ports features stunning vistas and at times the chance to watch resident orcas in the wild.
That experience hasn't changed much in the 50 years since R.J. Acheson spent $3 million to build and put the M.V. Coho to work.
Charlie Pash was on the Coho for its first day of service, Dec. 29, 1959. A 17- year-old paper carrier for the Victoria Times, Pash won the trip along with nine of his colleagues for having signed up more new subscribers than anyone else.
"I was a real prairie hick and all of a sudden I won this wonderful trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and man that was something," he said.
"There wasn't much in that little town over there but it was a really neat experience and I never forgot it."
Local real estate agent Eric Charman was also on that voyage, and recalls how the Jaycees (the junior chamber of commerce) championed the new service.
"We thought it was such an important way to promote tourism," he said, noting they organized a short parade in Port Angeles for the event. "And you know I was on it about a year ago and it hasn't changed. It's amazing."
Joyce Nordwall's local ski group used to take the Coho regularly in the 1960s to ski at Hurricane Ridge, and recalls wild but beautiful passages across the strait.
"I remember they had just put armchairs in the lounge, but no carpet, and it happened to turn a bit wild out there and we were in these chairs sliding all over the floor," she said. "It took me back to the days when you got into those little cars that bump into everything, even the captain and first mate were doing it."
There are as many stories and experiences as there are travellers who have crossed the strait on the Coho.
And while each story is unique, a common theme is being witness to an amazing experience while riding the Coho.
Fastball player Jim Wilson recalled how he managed to sneak a case of beer back to Canada in an elderly fellow passenger's wheelchair after a double-header in Port Angeles.
And a 10-year-old passenger on a father's advice stayed glued to the windows to watch for the "big blue line" that would signal when the Coho passed into American waters.
That's the appeal, said tourism industry consultant Frank Bourree of Chemistry Consulting.
"It's the scenery, and cruising into this harbour and the coast sitelines. It's pretty amazing, if you come here from anywhere else in the world you are blown away by it," he said, adding the Coho plays a strong role in maintaining the $1-billion Victoria tourism industry.
"We live on an island; we need as many transportation links as we can get," he said.
A 2006 study revealed the Coho ferried more than 205,000 return passengers and brought $123.7 million into the Victoria economy.
The importance of the Coho in Port Angeles cannot be overstated either, said Diane Shostak, executive director of the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau.
"That link is simply vital and the tourism element is absolutely essential," she said, pointing out the link itself draws tourists from around the West Coast of the U.S. to Port Angeles because it is the most direct route to Victoria.
"So many people travel up the Oregon coast up the [Olympic Peninsula] to get to Canada," she said. "There would definitely be a gap in our smile without the Coho."
Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce said 25 per cent of overnight hotel stays are directly due to the vessel.
"It brings a lot of people to town," said Rian Anderson, the Port Angeles-based district manager for Black Ball. "The ferry operation is a real backbone of the local economy. It fills the hotels and people get on the ferry to Victoria in the morning."
And Black Ball is intent on making sure they keep doing so.
After flying under the radar for years under the leadership of Lois Acheson, wife of founder R.J. Acheson, the ferry service has started to raise its profile on both sides of the water.
"The old way was no news is good news," said Burles, who said times have changed and the company is now marketing itself more effectively, becoming a bigger part of community events and getting its message out. "We are telling our story now because we are an important link."
They have also become more customer-friendly with new reservations systems and amenities and this year Black Ball and its landlord, the Provincial Capital Commission, spent $700,000 to upgrade and renovate the Belleville Street Terminal facilities.
As for the vessel itself -- which is pristine and certainly doesn't look its age -- chief engineer Mark Holloway says there's plenty of life in it yet.
"It says something about the vessel, it was built well, good design and the owners didn't scrimp," he said. "It also says something about the crew and the philosophy of the company -- a belief in maintaining the service, a vital link between two countries."
To mark the 50th anniversary, on Wednesday the City of Victoria fireboat, Seaspan tugs and Harbour Ferries will escort the Coho into Belleville Terminal. The ferry should arrive between 2-2:15 p.m.
aduffy@tc.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
www.timescolonist.com/Travel/Coho+ferry+connection+between+Victoria+Port+Angeles+turns/1693021/story.html
www.timescolonist.com/boatloads+memories/1693142/story.html
- - -
BY THE NUMBERS
- Black Ball Ferry Line provides the only daily, year-round vehicle and passenger ferry service between downtown Victoria and downtown Port Angeles, Wash.
- Headquartered in Victoria
- Employs 90 people during peak season
- The journey of 22.59 nautical miles or 42 kilometres usually takes 90 minutes
- Annually, the Coho carries 400,000 passengers and 120,000 vehicles
- Since 1959, the Coho has transported 21 million passengers and five million vehicles between Victoria and Port Angeles.
- Passenger capacity 1,000
- Vehicle capacity 101
- Gross tonnage 5,135
- Length: 104 metres
- Width: 22 metres
- Draft: Five metres
- Average sea speed: 15 knots
- Power: Two General Motors EMD 5,100/12-cylinder diesel
- Propellers: Twin 8-foot stainless propellers with twin rudders
- On board amenities: Snack bar, gift shop, duty-free shop, an outside solarium on the top passenger deck and bike racks.
- Passenger fee: $13.50 (US)
- Children (5-11 years of age): $6.75
- Children under five: Free
- Motorcycle and driver: $29
- Vehicle and driver (18 feet and under): $50
- Online reservation (24 hours in advance, one-way): $11
- Phone reservation: $16
- President and chief executive: Ryan Burles
- Captain: Steven J. Banfill
- Captain: Elmer K. Grasser
- Peak travel times: Mid-June until September
- Leaves Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m., 12:45 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 9:30 p.m.
- Leaves Victoria at 6:10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
- - -
BLACK BALL FERRY LINE - A BRIEF HISTORY
- 1816 Captain Charles H. Marshall founds the Black Ball Line, the first company to have regularly scheduled passenger sailings across the Atlantic. The company folds in 1878 when steamships become faster than the clipper ships.
- 1895 Charles Marshall's great nephew Charles Peabody, resurrects the family ship company under the name Alaska Steamship Co.
- 1928 Peabody chooses the original Black Ball Line flag for his fleet, which operates ferries on Puget Sound under the trade name Black Ball Line.
- 1932 R.J. Acheson becomes traffic manager for Black Ball Line.
- 1936 Acheson purchases Black Ball Freight Service, a subsidiary of Black Ball Line.
- 1951 Peabody sells Black Ball Line to the Washington State Bridge and Toll Company. He retains five vessels, one destroyer escort, the rights to the Seattle-Victoria route and terminals in Seattle, Port Angeles and Victoria.
- 1951 Peabody creates Black Ball Ferries, Ltd. a Canadian company that provides passenger and vehicle ferry service along B.C.'s south coast. A decade later, in 1961, sells the company to the B.C. Government. Black Ball's five ships are renamed and form part of the growing fleet of BC Ferries.
- 1952 Acheson and his wife Lois organize a new subsidiary of Black Ball Freight Service, naming it Black Ball Transport, Inc. Acheson requests permission from peabody to incorporate a new version of the famous Black Ball flag for his new company.
- 1959 Black Ball Transport builds an auto and passenger ferry, naming it the MV Coho, after the silver salmon found in Puget Sound and adjacent waters. At the time, it is the most expensive, privately funded ferry ever built in North America -- at a total cost of $3 million. Ferry designed by Philip F. Spaulding & Associates of Seattle.
- Jan. 12, 1959 The MV Coho's keel is laid at the Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock in Seattle.
- Dec. 29, 1959. MV Coho makes her first commercial sailing to Victoria
- Aug. 29, 2004. Lois Acheson dies. The company is left in a trust, bequeathed to the Oregon State University Foundation.
- 2004 The Coho's original Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines are replaced with two General Motors Electro-Motive Division main propulsion engines.
n2005 Online reservation system is added.
- 2007 Sales for Victoria and Port Angeles hotels and attractions are made available through the Black Ball Ferry Line website.
- 2009 Black Ball Ferry Line celebrates its Golden Anniversary, 50 years of service between Port Angeles, Wash., and Victoria
- - -
COHO CAPTAINS
The captains of the Coho since 1959:
Henry C. Grandy, 1959-1964
Don Oldow, 1959-1965
Bert Holmes, 1964-1967
Dick Cook, 1965-1973
Al Walker, 1968-1972
John Keil, 1972-1975
Ron Lewis, 1973-1989
Dave Grasser, 1975-2003
Fred Bock, 1989-2004
Steve Banfill, 2003-Present
Elmer Grasser, 2004-Present
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
