At the beginning of last week, Ian McLeod of Shelton moored his boat, Ranger 7, in the Port Angeles Boat Haven.
The 50-foot-long wooden vessel — a familiar sight at Pleasant Harbor in Brinnon — was built in 1926 by the U.S. Forest Service at Gravina Island Marine Station in Ketchikan, Alaska, and has a rich history.
In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation creating two national forests in Alaska, the Chugach and the Tongass, which together have more than 10,000 miles of rugged coastline.
To patrol these coastlines and administer the forests, mineral rights and fish and wildlife policies, the U.S. Forest Service had to have boats.
The first to be built was the 64-foot Tahn, which was commissioned in 1908 and placed in service in Ketchikan where she was the sole vessel available for patrolling the 25 million acres of the two national forests.
In 1913, the Forest Service contracted with the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton for three boats, each 36 feet long, that were named Rangers 1, 2 and 3.
The Forest Service built a boat construction and maintenance facility of its own on Gravina Island in 1916 to support its growing Ranger boat fleet, which by then totaled six vessels.
This complex became the headquarters of all Forest Service marine activity in Alaska.
By 1931 five more Ranger vessels, Nos. 6 through 10, were built at the station.
The Forest Service boats of “the Tongass navy” or “the Green Serge navy” were called upon to perform virtually endless tasks.
As the only transportation to and from remote communities, Ranger boats were depended upon to deliver needed supplies and foodstuffs.
During the Depression, the boats were used to tow the scows that housed Civilian Conservation Corps workers.
In World War II, the vessels were painted gray and used to transport military personnel to their various posts.
In 1961, the Forest Service declared Ranger 7 as surplus property, and she was auctioned off.
For the next five years, the owner used her for hunting and fishing in the waters of Southeast Alaska.
In 1966, he replaced the original Atlas diesel engine with a Caterpillar 320 and also extended the wheelhouse.
Subsequently, the boat was sold, renamed Edna D and taken to Port Townsend where she was used for log salvage in and around Admiralty Inlet.
Following the owner’s death, the boat fell into disrepair and was purchased by Jim and Jill Thompson of Bellingham in 1980.
When the Thompsons purchased the boat, they were looking for a vessel that they could live aboard.
Their expectation was that after a few short months of refurbishing her, they would be able to call her home.
After refurbishing, rebuilding, replacing and refinishing numerous aspects of the boat, their goal of living aboard the renamed Ranger 7 came to fruition — in 1986.
For the next 14 years, the Thompsons cruised throughout Puget Sound and Canadian waters.
During their stewardship, which lasted until 2000, Ranger 7 was entered in the Victoria Classic Boat Festival a number of times and once won an award as the best restored powerboat and twice for best work boat.
Ian has owned Ranger 7 just shy of a year and keeps her moored at Pleasant Harbor Marina.
He brought her to Port Angeles for the expertise of Mike Evans, a mechanic who has garnered a stellar reputation on the waterfront for his mastery of all things diesel.
Mike diagnosed the balky engine problem as a blown head gasket which he is replacing.
Ranger 7 was expected to be under way by Saturday afternoon for the trip back to Brinnon.
Bottom washing
For much of last week, Expeditions was on the hard at Platypus Marine’s repair yard at Marine Drive and Cedar Street in Port Angeles.
She is the former Victoria Express II and was out of the water to have her bottom pressure-washed and painted.
Confidence is also sitting on the hard in Platypus Marine’s yard with her bow nosed into a satellite building.
The 50-foot commercial fishing vessel was built by Sunnfjord Boats of Tacoma and currently hails from Sitka, Alaska.
Capt. Charlie Crane, director of sales and marketing for Platypus Marine, said Confidence will be in for a couple of weeks to give Verne Braghettia and his crew in the fiberglass department time to install a bulbous bow.
The pilot boat Puget Sound was hauled out of the water Tuesday and put back in Friday.
According to Capt. Charlie, the 74-foot boat which was built by Nordlund Custom Boat Builders of Tacoma, was in the Commander Building for a few days as personnel applied a new coat of paint to the weather decks.
Charlie also said that Robert Shelton and the crew of the boat took the opportunity to do maintenance on the Hamilton Jet Drives.
Quick visit
— The articulated tug and barge duo consisting of the tug Sound Reliance and tank barge 550-2 moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1 North on Thursday afternoon.
The 121-foot tug and her 477-foot companion barge were dockside for a scant 24 hours to allow for the offloading of oily water residue.
The articulated pair were replaced at Terminal 1 by Alaskan Legend, a 941-foot crude oil tanker.
According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine Repair, the topside repair company on the waterfront, the double-hull tanker was scheduled to be at the dock until late Saturday afternoon to have her stern tubes inspected.
— Tesoro Petroleum on Monday provided bunkers to the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge, Commitment.
On Tuesday Tesoro refueled, an 825-foot tanker that is due in the eastern Siberian port city of Kozmino, Russia, on Oct. 25.
Tuesday also saw Tesoro’s refueling barge alongside Overseas Tampa, a 597-foot petroleum products carrier.
Tesoro on Friday bunkered Sea Bay, a 597-foot tanker that is flagged in Hong Kong.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats, ships and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
