Ilwaco was a small riverine and coastal steamship built in 1890 which was operated as a passenger vessel for the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, and later served in other roles, including tow and freight boat, cannery tender and fish packing vessel. Ilwaco was originally named Suomi.
Ilwaco served in several areas of the Pacific Northwest, including the Columbia River, the San Juan Islands, Puget Sound. Ilwaco also served coastal areas near San Francisco Bay, and the Inside Passage in Alaska. Ilwaco was wrecked in 1918 at Green Island, in Chatham Sound, not far from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in the Inside Passage.
Construction
The steamer Suomi, constructed at Chinook, WA in 1890 for B. A. Seaborg, was purchased by the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company in 1891 and renamed Ilwaco. In April 1890, it was reported that Suomi was nearly ready to begin service on the Astoria-Ilwaco run, under the command of Captain Herbert Petit.
Dimensions and power
According to official measurements in 1893, Suomi / Ilwaco was long, with a beam of and depth of hold of . Gross tonnage was 115, and net tonnage was 66. "Ton" in this instance was a unit of volume and not of weight. The merchant vessel registry number was 100514. According to the official registry, the steamer was built in Portland, Oregon and not in Chinook, Washington. The boiler was wood-fired.
Suomi on the Astoria-Ilwaco route
Suomi ran twice daily, Sundays excepted, from the Main Street wharf in Astoria, to Tansy Point (near Warrenton), Fort Stevens, and then, on the Washington side of the river, Fort Canby, and Ilwaco, departing Astoria, at 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Passengers disembarking at Ilwaco would be taken by coach to the beach. The fare for the round trip was fifty cents.
Suomi was substituted for the General Canby on the Ilwaco route, and remained on the run, in charge of Captains William Starr, Thomas Parker, and Engineer Charles Smith.
Operations as Ilwaco on Columbia
As of December 1894, Captain Parker was master Ilwaco. In February 1893, Ilwaco was advertised to be departing Astoria, Oregon daily at 7:30 a.m. bound for Ilwaco, Washington, stopping at Tanzy (also spelled "Tansy") Point before arriving in Ilwaco at 10:00 a.m., where it met the northbound train.
The rail line then ran to Nahcotta, Washington, where it ran out a dock to make connections with steamers, running to points on Willapa Bay, South Bend, Sunshine, North Cove, and Grays Harbor.
The route from Ilwaco zig-zagged around the many fish traps on the Columbia before it could reach the main channel of the river. In July 1895 Ilwaco made connections at Astoria with the large fast steamers Telephone and Bailey Gatzert, both owned by the White Collar Line, on the Portland-Astoria run.
Stranding of Kentmere
On November 24, 1894, when the British ship Kentmere went aground on the south side of the Columbia bar, Ilwaco carried the Fort Canby life-boat crew to Sand Island to stand by to effect a rescue.
Local dissatisfaction
In July 1895 there was talk that the side-wheel steamer North Pacific, with a capacity of 350 passengers, would replace Ilwaco on the Astoria-Ilwaco run. Up to that time Ilwaco had been the only vessel on the run, and it had then recently, on April 28, 1895, hauled out of the water for service, including replacement of the wheel and shaft and a new coat of paint.
The prospect of replacement of Ilwaco with North Pacific was welcomed by the Daily Astorian, which described Ilwaco as "a very small light craft [which] accorded the patrons inadequate facilities for comfort."
The editor of the Ilwaco newspaper Pacific Journal was dissatisfied with the steamboat service of the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company, publishing a sardonic "advertisement" for the line, at right.
Later service
In the fall of 1899 Ilwaco was engaged in towing work, bringing a barge laden with lumber into Goble, Oregon on September 15. In 1899 the Cook Canning Company bought Ilwaco, with the intent of transferring it to Port Townsend to be used as a cannery tender.
Transfer to Puget Sound
Reconstruction in Portland
In February 1900, Ilwaco was brought to the Supple ship yard in Portland for work on its engines. The steamer remained under repair until April, when it was remeasured by Deputy Barnes of the Steamboat Inspection Service. Ilwaco had been rebuilt with new house. After reconstruction, it measured out at length, beam, and depth of hold. The steamer's overall size was 106 gross and 22 net tons, with "ton" being a unit of volume in this instance and not of weight.