OLYMPIA — The first of two 64-car state ferries to be built for the Port Townsend-Keystone route will be named for Chetzemoka, the Klallam chief who befriended 19th century settlers on the Olympic Peninsula.
The name, strongly advocated in Port Townsend, won out Tuesday when the state Transportation Commission agreed to the idea.
The 64-car ferry is being built at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle and should be launched next summer and operating on the route some time in August.
The second ferry, yet unnamed, is expected to be launched about a year later.
The MV Chetzemoka will be the first new Washington state ferry to go into service in a decade.
But it won’t be the first ferry to carry the name of the venerable Klallam chief.
The first Chetzemoka sailed under private ownership between Port Townsend and Edmonds from 1938 to 1947.
Descendant consulted
A campaign led by the Jefferson County Historical Society to name the new ferry Chetzemoka was mounted over the summer, and JoAnn Bussa was a major force behind the effort to name it — even going to Chetzemoka’s great-great grandson in Blyn, Les Prince, for his support.
Bussa, who went before the Transportation Commission on Tuesday in Olympia to present local support for the name, introduced Prince to the panel, said Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey.
She was joined by David Moseley, state deputy transportation secretary for ferries.
The name will also honor the memory of Steven Levin, a beloved historical society friend, volunteer and history buff who asked that the new ferry be christened in the Klallam chief’s name.
“This whole idea was inspired by this gentleman,” Bussa said in a September interview, looking over a life ring from the original Chetzemoka ferry that Levin bequeathed to the historical society along with $50,000.
Attempts to contact Bussa on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
The original Black Ball fleet ferry Chetzemoka plied the waters between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island and was used elsewhere around the ferry system before it was taken out of commission in 1973.
Levin was a well-known collector and former Theatre Historical Society of America president and magazine editor who donated the ticket booth now used at the historic Rose Theatre in downtown Port Townsend.
He was also a longtime volunteer at the Port Townsend visitor center and for the Port Townsend Main Street Program.
The Chetzemoka name recognizes the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, now based in Blyn, part of the 1855 Point No Point Treaty that Chetzemoka signed.
Chetzemoka, who was known as a peaceful man and a wise diplomat, was believed to be about 80 years old when he was buried in 1888 at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Townsend.
The city’s Chetzemoka Park overlooking Admiralty Inlet and the ferry route to Whidbey Island, was dedicated in the his name in 1904.
Settled in 1851
The tribe was originally settled in 1851 in Port Townsend by Chetzemoka’s older brother, S’Hai-ak, who was granted permission for the settlement after non-Native settlers arrived.
Also supporting the Chetzemoka ferry name were the Jefferson County commissioners, the city of Port Townsend, Port Townsend Main Street Program and the Jefferson County Ferries Advisory Committee, according to a historical society petition that circulated.
Also adding support: Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam and the powerful state House majority leader, who wrote a Sept. 11 letter to the Transportation Commission.
_________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
