Uploaded July 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This footage is either from the summer or 1947 or 1948. In either case, The MV Chinook was very new.
The Chinook was ordered by the Black Ball Line (aka The Puget Sound Navigation Company) right after the war. Captain Peabody of the line was looking for a modern ship to serve in the Seattle-Port Angles-Victoria run.
The ship was designed by William Francis Gibbs who would later design the SS United States and SS America. The ship was built in Seattle at the Todd Shipyard in Seattle.
She could carry 100 cars and had staterooms. She was a very popular addition to the fleet but this did not stop the problems for the Black Ball Line and in 1951 Peabody lost control of his ships serving intra-Washington state routes. He retained five ships, one of them was the Chinook. The Chinook continued the Port Angles to Victoria route til 1954.
Black Ball moved the ferry to the Horseshow Bay to Nanaimo route. She renamed to the Chinook II Chinook was already on the ship register in Canada.
The Chinook II remained on that route till 1963 even after the 1961 nationalization of the Black Ball line by the Socreds
She was renamed the Sechelt Queen in 1963 and was moved to many runs over the next 13 years before being transferred to the Ministry of Highways and used on the Comox to Powell River run. I remember sailing on her in the summer of 1977. There was no sign of the staterooms by that point.
She remained in service till June 1982. There were a number of possible plans for her future, seemingly the most concrete being one to sail between Milwaukee and Muskegon and was renamed the Muskegon Clipper.
Next a casino company purchased her in the 90s and planned on having being a floating casino in Gary Indiana. She was eventually broken up in about 2001.
She was in service for 35 years, which for ferries in the Pacific Northwest is not that long. As of 2023 the two BC Ferries Spirit Class ships are 30 years old. The V Class ferry the Queen of New Westminster is still in service after 59 years. The other V Class ships served for 39 to 54 years.
Lots more at this link: evergreenfleet.com/chinook-sechelt-queen
Original footage comes from this link:
youtu.be/l0FpYSC4rWE
This footage is either from the summer or 1947 or 1948. In either case, The MV Chinook was very new.
The Chinook was ordered by the Black Ball Line (aka The Puget Sound Navigation Company) right after the war. Captain Peabody of the line was looking for a modern ship to serve in the Seattle-Port Angles-Victoria run.
The ship was designed by William Francis Gibbs who would later design the SS United States and SS America. The ship was built in Seattle at the Todd Shipyard in Seattle.
She could carry 100 cars and had staterooms. She was a very popular addition to the fleet but this did not stop the problems for the Black Ball Line and in 1951 Peabody lost control of his ships serving intra-Washington state routes. He retained five ships, one of them was the Chinook. The Chinook continued the Port Angles to Victoria route til 1954.
Black Ball moved the ferry to the Horseshow Bay to Nanaimo route. She renamed to the Chinook II Chinook was already on the ship register in Canada.
The Chinook II remained on that route till 1963 even after the 1961 nationalization of the Black Ball line by the Socreds
She was renamed the Sechelt Queen in 1963 and was moved to many runs over the next 13 years before being transferred to the Ministry of Highways and used on the Comox to Powell River run. I remember sailing on her in the summer of 1977. There was no sign of the staterooms by that point.
She remained in service till June 1982. There were a number of possible plans for her future, seemingly the most concrete being one to sail between Milwaukee and Muskegon and was renamed the Muskegon Clipper.
Next a casino company purchased her in the 90s and planned on having being a floating casino in Gary Indiana. She was eventually broken up in about 2001.
She was in service for 35 years, which for ferries in the Pacific Northwest is not that long. As of 2023 the two BC Ferries Spirit Class ships are 30 years old. The V Class ferry the Queen of New Westminster is still in service after 59 years. The other V Class ships served for 39 to 54 years.
Lots more at this link: evergreenfleet.com/chinook-sechelt-queen
Original footage comes from this link:
youtu.be/l0FpYSC4rWE
