PORT TOWNSEND — It was the last glimpse of the Nisqually and Quinault Steel Electric ferries.
The two 82-year-old ferries, two of the four Steel Electrics that plied the route between Port Townsend and Keystone for much of 80 years until 2007, were towed past Port Townsend at about 9 p.m. Friday night on their final journey.
The boats, sold for scrap in June for $200,000, are headed for Ensenada, Mexico, where the materials of the boats, which were built in 1927 for use in San Francisco Bay, will be recycled.
Smudges
Even with a telephoto lens, the boats floating past Marrowstone Island just after the sun set appeared as mere smudges on the horizon.
The ferries, without captains or passengers, floated past Port Angeles at about midnight.
The remaining two Steel Electric ferries, the Klickitat and Illahee, will be towed to Mexico in one to two weeks, said Marta Coursey, state ferries system spokeswoman.
The state ferries system sold all four Steel Electric ferries to Eco Planet Recycling Inc. of Chula Vista, Calif.
Docked in Bainbridge
The ferries were towed from the Washington State Ferries Eagle Harbor facility on Bainbridge Island to Elliott Bay to be rigged for ocean tow. Then they were taken through Puget Sound and Admiralty Inlet into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on their way down the west coast to Mexico.
Eagle Harbor and towing company crews spent the past two weeks preparing the vessels for towing by building breakwaters, adding ballast and rigging tow cables.
They were towed by Fred Dahl Tug and Barge and Island Tug and Barge.
The trip to Ensenada is expected to take two weeks.
A new 64-car ferry for the Port Townsend-Keystone route is expected to be completed in June 2010 for sea trials.
