MV Hyak

History

The Hyak was built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California in 1966, at a cost of $6.5 million. It was launched and christened by Nancy Evans, wife of Governor Daniel J. Evans, on December 17, 1966. The vessel traveled north along the Pacific Coast in June 1967, but was delayed by a severe storm near San Francisco, California when it broke a temporary breakwater. She arrived in Seattle on July 4, several days later than scheduled, and was moved to the Todd Shipyards for repairs. The word Hyak is chinook jargon for "speedy".

The ferry was not able to enter service after arrival because of an ongoing labor dispute with the local chapter of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots. The union argued that the wage agreement it signed with Washington State Ferries did not cover new, larger vessels like the Hyak. The dispute reached the King County Superior Court, where a judge signed an injunction ordering the ferry to be crewed on its first run on July 19. The Hyak entered service that afternoon, and was assigned to the Seattle–Bremerton route, cutting the crossing time from 65 minutes to 45. The next day, the ferry made its first scheduled run and nearly rammed Pier 52 in Seattle after an engine failure. During the 90's she was on the Edmonds-Kingston route and she would fill in there and the Seattle-Bainbridge route during the last few years of her service life.

Unlike her sisters, the Hyak did not have her cabin refurbished. In June 2015, the Hyak was replaced by the in the third sailing spot in the San Juans. It was moved to the Seattle–Bremerton route for the remainder of its life, but returned to the San Juan route several times to replace vessels undergoing maintenance. The Hyak primarily served as a standby vessel for the rest of the fleet and was considered for experimental conversion to use hybrid diesel-electric generators until the plan was scrapped in 2015. The retirement of the Hyak, originally anticipated for the arrival of , was delayed into 2019 after replaced it as a relief vessel.

The Hyak had a $37 million maintenance backlog that was left unaddressed by the state legislature, which allocated $2 million in supplemental funds to operate the ferry until June 2019. The supplemental funds were not extended in the 2019–21 transportation budget, signaling the vessel's retirement. On June 30, 2019, the Hyak made her final run on the Seattle–Bremerton route; the vessel's retirement caused schedule modifications on several routes to accommodate the downsized fleet. The Hyak will be stripped of her usable equipment and prepared for sale as surplus property.

Legacy

The vessel's horn was donated to Climate Pledge Arena, where it is used by the National Hockey League's Seattle Kraken every time they score a goal during home games. Four years later, the engine order telegraph was also salvaged for a new part of the pre-game show The Surge.

Incidents

On April 19, 1977, the Hyak rammed the terminal slip at Seattle causing an estimated $500,000 worth of damage.

On April 14, 1986, the Hyak ran aground in Anacortes, Washington after a navigational error made by the crew, placing the ferry in shallow water above a reef. Only one injury was reported of the 250 people on board, but the ferry sustained damage that cost $250,000 to repair.

On September 13, 2013, the Hyak collided with a private 27 ft sailboat between Orcas and Shaw islands. No one was injured. The sailboat, however, was damaged and sank about 20 minutes after the accident.

References

References

1. "M/V Hyak". Washington State Ferries.
2. (December 18, 1966). "1 Ferry Launched, 2 More Started". [[The Seattle Times]].
3. (June 27, 1967). "New Ferry Will Miss Her Starting Date". The Seattle Times.
4. (July 4, 1967). "Superferry Here; Service Date Uncertain". The Seattle Times.
5. "M/V Hyak". Washington State Ferries.
6. (July 19, 1967). "Judge Orders Union to Man Superferry". The Seattle Times.
7. (July 20, 1967). "Operators, Passengers Agree: Hyak's Great!". The Seattle Times.
8. Hannula, Don. (July 16, 1967). "Superferry Hyak May—Or May Not—Make 1st Run Tomorrow". The Seattle Times.
9. (July 20, 1967). "New Superferry Almost Rams Pier As Engines Die". The Seattle Times.
10. Stein, Alan J.. (March 4, 2001). "Ferry Hyak enters service on July 20, 1967.". [[HistoryLink]].
11. "The Super class today". Evergreen Fleet.
12. Smith, Anna V. Smith. (December 30, 2015). "Elwha out of service due to "necessary repairs"". [[Journal of the San Juan Islands]].
13. Friedrich, Ed. (April 28, 2001). "Hyak returning to Bremerton". Kitsap Sun.
14. Lee Carlaw, Rex. (February 13, 2009). "Back home on the Hyak". Kingston Community News.
15. Friedrich, Ed. (March 25, 2015). "WSF reconsidering converting ferry power". [[Kitsap Sun]].
16. Pilling, Nathan. (February 16, 2018). "Once home to square dances, ferry Hyak headed toward retirement". Kitsap Sun.
17. Vosler, Christian. (March 9, 2018). "State supplementary transportation budget would keep Hyak afloat". Kitsap Sun.
18. (June 27, 2019). "State ferry Hyak to sail into retirement". Washington State Department of Transportation.
19. Guevara, Natalie. (June 30, 2019). "Ferry Hyak to retire after final sailing Sunday night". [[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]].
20. Clark, Ryan S.. "Ferry horns and Nirvana: As Kraken open Climate Pledge Arena, here's what you can expect to hear".
21. Baker, Geoff. "A Bigger Entry To Kraken In-Game Entertainment".
22. (19 Apr 1977). "Prince George Citizen".
23. (April 14, 1986). "Ferry runs aground at Anacortes—300 aboard; 1 passenger". [[The Seattle Times]].
24. (April 29, 1986). "Ferry's first mate is suspended". The Seattle Times.
25. (April 17, 1986). "Grounding of Hyak laid to navigation". The Seattle Times.
26. (September 13, 2013). "Sailboat sinks in San Juans after crash with state ferry". [[KIRO-TV.