General Frisbie (steamship)
Steamship, built 1900 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The steamship General Frisbie was a wooden two-deck passenger ship built in 1900, named after John B. Frisbie. She was designed for use as a ferry between Vallejo and San Francisco. The steamer was successful in that role and was the fastest ship on the route when she began service. Improved roads, bridges, and automobiles reduced demand for ferry service in the Bay Area, and newer ships were optimized for transporting cars, so General Frisbie was retired in the late 1920s.
General Frisbie ca. 1909 | |
History | |
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Name |
|
Owner | Hatch Bros. Steamship Co.(1900-1905); Monticello Steamship Co.(1905-1929); Union Ferry Co.(1930-1935); Far North Packing Co.(1936-1950), and others |
Route | San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, Alaska |
In service | 1900 |
Out of service | 1939 |
Fate | Engines removed and beached. |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 670 GRT |
Length | 184 feet (56 m) |
Beam | 29 feet (8.8 m) |
Draft | 12 feet (3.7 m) |
Propulsion | as built: four cylinder triple expansion steam engine; later 1930s: converted to diesel engine. |
Speed | 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h) |
Capacity | 450 passengers |
Crew | 24 |
Notes | Official Number 86541 |
In 1930 General Frisbie was sold and towed to Seattle. She was renamed Commander and operated as a ferry between Bremerton and Seattle beginning in 1931. Rather than the superior service with which she began her San Francisco service, in Seattle she was the cut-price competitor with limited capabilities, particularly for cars. She continued her runs until November 1935 when her owner was acquired in the midst of a strike by ferry workers. She was immediately retired from ferry service.
The ship was sold again and converted into a floating salmon cannery in 1936. In 1937 and 1938 she sailed to Moser Bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska in the spring, and returned with cases of canned salmon in the fall. In 1939 her engine and other fittings were removed at Seattle. She was towed back to Moser Bay and beached in 1940 to become part of the permanent land-based cannery facility. In 1950 she was dismantled completely.