Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press
TACOMA — The historic former state ferry Kalakala is no longer listing and wasn’t responsible for a sheen at the Port of Tacoma, but the Coast Guard and Corps of Engineers are still keeping an eye on the historic ferry as a hazard to navigation.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Nathan Bradshaw says inspectors checked out a sheen on the Hylebos Waterway on Monday and determined it was not coming from the Kalakala. The Coast Guard continues to monitor the vessel.
Corps spokesman Bill Dowell says high tide apparently lifted the Kalakala off a sunken barge and it’s no longer listing. He says the Corps likely won’t step in unless something catastrophic happens.
Once the pride of Puget Sound and symbol of Seattle before the Space Needle, the 77-year-old streamlined ferry has been parked in Tacoma for six years. Its owner, Steve Rodrigues of the Olympia area, wants to restore the ferry that also plied the Port Angeles-Victoria route between 1954 and 1959 and is subject of a commemorative mural in the Port Angeles business district.
However, Rodrigues has been unable to raise support for restoration, now estimated to cost upwards of $49 million.
