PORT ANGELES — Black Ball Ferry Line will celebrate the M.V. Coho in style on Saturday with a reunion of about 350 employees, Ryan Burles, CEO and president of the company, told the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
The chamber attracted about 70 people and started the luncheon by singing “Happy Birthday” to the Coho — complete with a cake in shape of the ship.
The reunion will be in celebration of the maiden voyage of the ship on Dec. 29, 1959.
Since then the ship has missed six days because of engine failure and one day when crew were told not to run because of weather conditions.
“We could have run — so we’ve never missed because the weather would have prevented us,” Burles said.
For the future, the company is looking at building on what is already there, Burles said.
“We hadn’t until recently thought about marketing and helping people understand tourism in the areas, but we are really working on building that,” he said.
“We also are committed to providing affordable, reliable service between Port Angeles and Victoria, not only for our customers but also for employees for the next 50 years.”
Providing affordable service is a challenge when competing against government-subsidized ferry systems such as BC Ferries and Washington State Ferries, he said.
“Because of that, we’ve always been lean and mean,” he said.
He said that the company manages based on the family of employees who are committed to keeping the ship in pristine shape.
“Care of our employees has always been the core of our business,” he said.
“I’ve always felt like I was part of a family here.”
Although the June 1 deadline requiring all passengers to carry passports or enhanced driver’s licenses to return to the United States is fast approaching, Burles said he doesn’t anticipate many problems.
Meanwhile, the company is working with the Port of Port Angeles to renew the dock, Burles said.
“We are looking for government money to do that,” he said.
“It is toward the end of its lifespan, and we would like to aesthetically improve it and make it something that will be respected.”
Another challenge this month and in June will be the Hood Canal Bridge closure, Burles said.
He said he expects about a 20 percent passenger reduction.
“We expect that there is a good portion of people who it isn’t that much further for, but those who might have taken the Kingston-Edmonds ferry, it might significantly impact them,” he said.
Although the Coho is celebrating 50 years, the company is much older.
Black Ball was founded in 1816 by Charles H. Marshall, Rian Anderson, district manager in Port Angeles, said.
It became the first company to have regularly scheduled sailings across the Atlantic Ocean.
The company folded in 1878 when the steamships became faster than the clipper ships used by Black Ball.
Charles Peabody, Marshall’s grandson, resurrected the family ship company under the name Alaska Steamship Co. in 1895.
It later changed its name to Puget Sound Navigation Co. with a subsidiary called the Black Ball Line.
Most of the company was sold to the Washington State Bridge and Toll Co., which eventually became Washington State Ferries, Anderson said.
Part of the company became BC Ferries in Canada, Anderson said.
“It is really interesting to know that Black Ball has played a part in the huge ferry industry we have today,” Anderson said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
