Sioux (steamship)
Encyclopedia
Sioux was a steamship which was operated on Puget Sound
and the Strait of Juan de Fuca
from 1912 to 1941. From 1924 to 1941, following reconstruction, the vessel operated as an auto ferry under the name Olympic. During the Second World War (1941-1945) this vessel was taken under the control of the U.S. Army and renamed the Franklin R. Leisenburg. The Liesenburg served as a ferry in the Panama Canal
area under Army control, and then was sold to a firm which ran the vessel on the Surinam river in South America.
in 1904, Joshua Green
, president of the Puget Sound Navigation Company
, owner of the Clallam and the dominant Puget Sound shipping concern, announced that the company would replace its wooden steamships with ones built of steel. As part of this effort, in 1910, the steel steamers Sioux and Kulshan
. were built nearly simultaneously in Seattle
by the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company
. Sol Duc was specifically designed for the Seattle – Tacoma.
Dimensions for Sioux were 461 gross tons, length 148.3 ft (45.2 m) beam of 24.2 ft (7.38 m) and depth of hold of 14.8 ft (4.51 m). Power was suppled by a four-cylinder, compound steam engine
, with cylinder bores sized14 in (35.6 cm), 22 in (55.9 cm)and two 26 in (66 cm); stroke 20 in (50.8 cm). Two oil-fired boilers produced steam at 250 pounds pressure, with whole power plant developing 1400 hp.
Sioux was later placed on the Hood Canal
route, running with the sternwheeler State of Washington
for the rest of the summer of 1911. Afterwards the steamship's permanent route became Seattle-Edmonds
-Everett
. Sioux could make the run in two hours, not as fast as the Flyer
, but still considered good time. When the Lake Washington Ship Canal
was completed, the Sioux was the first commercial vessel to pass through the locks during the opening ceremony on July 4, 1917.
Another mistake was made and the Sioux went full ahead, smashing into the stern of the Camano
, driving Camano forward into the 75 feet (22.86 m) gasoline launch Island Flyer which in turn struck another gasoline launch, the newly-built Alverene
. Island Flyer was sunk as a result and Alverene was seriously damaged. Camano then sank at the dock. The small launch Arrow was demolished and the steam launches Ranger and Daphne suffered lesser damage.
It turned out that an engine room assistant, known as an oiler had been left in charge of the telegraph. Fortunately no one was killed although there was at least one close call. The destruction showed the vulnerability of wooden hulled steamers, one of the reasons why the Puget Sound Navigation Company switched to steel-hulled vessels.
Sioux, renamed Olympic was placed on the Victoria, British Columbia
to Port Angeles, Washington
route across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
, departed from Seattle on Saturday, June 14, 1924, making her first run on June 15, 1924, under Capt. Louis Van Bogaert, Chief Officer Harry Carter, and Chief Engineer I. Terado. Olympic had been scheduled to depart on Friday the 13th, but company management felt this supposedly ill-omened date would create too much adverse comment, and postponed the departure by one day.
Olympic is also reported to have been run on the Victoria, BC-Bellingham, Washington
route.
area as the Franklin R. Leisenburg. After the war the vessel was sold to a firm in Dutch Guiana for service out of Paramaribo
on the Surinam River. As of the late 1950s the ship was reported to be still in operation on the Surinam river.
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
and the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
from 1912 to 1941. From 1924 to 1941, following reconstruction, the vessel operated as an auto ferry under the name Olympic. During the Second World War (1941-1945) this vessel was taken under the control of the U.S. Army and renamed the Franklin R. Leisenburg. The Liesenburg served as a ferry in the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
area under Army control, and then was sold to a firm which ran the vessel on the Surinam river in South America.
Design and construction
Following the loss of the nearly-new but wooden steamship ClallamClallam (steamboat)
The steamboat Clallam operated for about six months from July 1903 to January 1904 in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage to Victoria, British Columbia.-Construction:...
in 1904, Joshua Green
Joshua Green (seaman and banker)
Joshua Green was an American sternwheeler captain, businessman, and banker. He rose from being a seaman to being the dominant figure of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, then sold out his interests and became a banker...
, president of the Puget Sound Navigation Company
Puget Sound Navigation Company
The Puget Sound Navigation Company was founded by Joshua Green in 1913. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia...
, owner of the Clallam and the dominant Puget Sound shipping concern, announced that the company would replace its wooden steamships with ones built of steel. As part of this effort, in 1910, the steel steamers Sioux and Kulshan
Kulshan (steamship)
Kulshan was a steamship which operated on Puget Sound from 1910 until 1929. When built, Kulshan was one of a newer type of inland steamships constructed entirely of steel, and was then considered to be a one of the finest vessels ever to operate on Puget Sound.-Design and construction:Kulshan was...
. were built nearly simultaneously in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
by the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company
Seattle Construction and Drydock Company
The Seattle Construction and Drydock Company was a shipbuilding company based in Seattle, Washington. Formally established in 1911, the shipyard could trace its history back to 1882, when Robert Moran opened a marine repair shop at Yesler's Wharf...
. Sol Duc was specifically designed for the Seattle – Tacoma.
Dimensions for Sioux were 461 gross tons, length 148.3 ft (45.2 m) beam of 24.2 ft (7.38 m) and depth of hold of 14.8 ft (4.51 m). Power was suppled by a four-cylinder, compound steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, with cylinder bores sized14 in (35.6 cm), 22 in (55.9 cm)and two 26 in (66 cm); stroke 20 in (50.8 cm). Two oil-fired boilers produced steam at 250 pounds pressure, with whole power plant developing 1400 hp.
Operations
Originally Sioux was intended to be placed on the route from Seattle to Irondale, where an important ironworks had been established, and which had provided much of the steel for the construction of the vessel. In May 1911 Sioux was placed on the Irondale route but only ran until July 1911, when she was replaced by the City of Everett. The ironworks was in trouble financially and about to file bankruptcy, so the traffic on the route didn't appear to justify use of the new steamer. Instead, Sioux was placed on the route from Seattle to the new municipal dock at Tacoma, alternating with the Indianapolis so that a steamer left Seattle every two hours bound for Tacoma.Sioux was later placed on the Hood Canal
Hood Canal
Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins, of Puget Sound in the state of Washington. Hood Canal is not a canal in the sense of being a man-made waterway—it is a natural waterway.-Geography:...
route, running with the sternwheeler State of Washington
State of Washington (sternwheeler)
State of Washington was a sternwheel steamboat of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, later transferred to the Columbia River.-Career:State of Washington was built in 1889 by John J. Holland in Tacoma, Washington. From 1889 to 1902 the vessel was placed on the Seattle-Bellingham route. From 1902 to...
for the rest of the summer of 1911. Afterwards the steamship's permanent route became Seattle-Edmonds
Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Edmonds has a view of Puget Sound and both the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range. The third most populous city in Snohomish County after Everett and Marysville, the population was 39,709 according to the 2010 census...
-Everett
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
. Sioux could make the run in two hours, not as fast as the Flyer
Flyer (steamboat 1891)
Flyer was a steamboat that served from 1891 to 1929 on Puget Sound. During her last years, from 1918 to the end of her service, she was officially known as the Washington. The Flyer ran for millions of miles at high speed, more than any inland vessel in the world...
, but still considered good time. When the Lake Washington Ship Canal
Lake Washington Ship Canal
The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the City of Seattle, Washington, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Ship Canal includes a series of locks, modeled after the Panama Canal, to accommodate the different water levels...
was completed, the Sioux was the first commercial vessel to pass through the locks during the opening ceremony on July 4, 1917.
1912 Everett harbor accident
Sioux was involved in an accident at Everett on August 16, 1912, which as it was said, resulted in "seriously depleting the local mosquito fleet". Steamships had no direct speed control from the bridge of the vessel. The captain signaled the engine room using a system of bells and dials called the engine room telegraph. Accidents could and did happen when engine telegraph signals were misinterpreted by the engine room. On this particular occasion, Sioux, coming in from Seattle, was approaching the Everett dock. From the bridge, Capt. William Thorton signaled the engine room for "half astern" to slow the vessel down. Instead the engine room gave him "half ahead" which caused the steamer to ram into the dock. Captain Thorton then signaled for "full astern".Another mistake was made and the Sioux went full ahead, smashing into the stern of the Camano
Camano (steamboat)
Camano was a steamboat built in 1906 at Coupeville, Washington which operated on Puget Sound from 1906 to 1917. Camano was later known as Tolo. As Tolo the vessel was sunk in 1917 as a result of a collision at sea. Four people died as a result.-Design and construction:Camano was built by Capt. H.B...
, driving Camano forward into the 75 feet (22.86 m) gasoline launch Island Flyer which in turn struck another gasoline launch, the newly-built Alverene
Alverene (motor launch)
Alverene was a gasoline launch built in 1912 which operated on northern Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands.-Design and construction:...
. Island Flyer was sunk as a result and Alverene was seriously damaged. Camano then sank at the dock. The small launch Arrow was demolished and the steam launches Ranger and Daphne suffered lesser damage.
It turned out that an engine room assistant, known as an oiler had been left in charge of the telegraph. Fortunately no one was killed although there was at least one close call. The destruction showed the vulnerability of wooden hulled steamers, one of the reasons why the Puget Sound Navigation Company switched to steel-hulled vessels.
Reconstruction as ferry Olympic
In 1923, the Puget Sound Navigation Company decided to rebuild Sioux, then running the Seattle - Port Townsend route into an automobile ferry, and late in the year gave the reconstruction contract to the Todd Dry Dock corporation in Seattle. The reconstruction was completed in the first part of 1924. Sioux was renamed Olympic.Sioux, renamed Olympic was placed on the Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
to Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
route across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca
The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long that is the Salish Sea outlet to the Pacific Ocean...
, departed from Seattle on Saturday, June 14, 1924, making her first run on June 15, 1924, under Capt. Louis Van Bogaert, Chief Officer Harry Carter, and Chief Engineer I. Terado. Olympic had been scheduled to depart on Friday the 13th, but company management felt this supposedly ill-omened date would create too much adverse comment, and postponed the departure by one day.
Olympic is also reported to have been run on the Victoria, BC-Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
route.
Later years
In 1941, the U.S. Army bought Olympic from the Puget Sound Navigation Company and rebuilt her for service in the Panama CanalPanama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
area as the Franklin R. Leisenburg. After the war the vessel was sold to a firm in Dutch Guiana for service out of Paramaribo
Paramaribo
Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...
on the Surinam River. As of the late 1950s the ship was reported to be still in operation on the Surinam river.
External links
- evergreen.com (Olympic page) (accessed 06-04-11) (provides several images of Sioux in service as ferry Olympic.)
- Photograph of Sioux, circa 1912, probably in Seattle, University of Washington digital archives image TRA927 (accessed 06-04-11)