1972 ❖ STEAMING with S. S. VIRGINIA V ❖

S.S. VIRGINIA V 
(222170)
Steaming since her launching in 1922 at Maplewood, WA.

Puget Sounders who were used to knocking about in boats from ferries down to pleasure craft found something new afloat along some favorite travel lanes in this year. Seattle's Puget Sound Excursion Line ran three-day cruises aboard its steamship VIRGINIA V through the San Juan Islands.
      The cruises, 12 in all, made the run from June through September leaving from Seattle's Fisherman's Terminal.
      After being lowered to sea level through Government Locks––the VIRGINIA V steamed to Coupeville on Whidbey Island.
      This town, one of Washington's oldest communities, featured historic buildings and shops reminiscent of the mid-1800s. 
      Following lunch at Coupeville, the ship continued along the Inland Channel, through the Swinomish Indian Reservation and LaConner into Skagit Bay, then past Anacortes into the Rosario Straits. Steaming past Blakely, Shaw and many other San Juan Islands, the VIRGINIA V headed for Orcas Island and Rosario Resort, formerly the grand estate of the shipbuilder Robert A. Moran and then one of the most luxurious spas on the West Coast.
      Two nights and one day was spent on Orcas––largest of the San Juans.
      From Orcas, the ship sailed to Kitsap's neighbor, Port Townsend, where passengers could view old homes and shops.
      From Port Townsend, the VIRGINIA returned to her home port of Seattle.
Above text by Ken Martin for The Bremerton Sun of 20 May 1972.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.

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When mariner Keith Sternberg was asked yesterday if he was on board VIRGINIA during the year of 1972, here was his response:

Keith Sternberg 1972
MARTIN D
Submitted by KS, for S.P.H.S., 5/2015.

"I was not in the V5 crew the year of '72, because I was in Alaska. North to Sitka aboard the tug FEARLESS, which had been built at Tacoma in 1925.  Mid-summer I obtained a better job on the tug MARTIN D, ex-Army tug of 1943, towing logs from the camps around Hoonah Sound to the mill at Sitka.  By November the log storages froze up so the MARTIN was laid up for the winter, and I joined one of the other company tugs, the CALUMET (built for the Coast Guard in 1936) on a chip barge run between Wrangell and Sitka. I escaped this punishment during Christmas, traveled back to the States, and got a job with Washington Tug & Barge Co. as deckhand on the tug RELIANCE, soon promoted to mate. The WT & B tugs RELIANCE, SALLY S and TARTAR towed oil barges, delivering gasoline and diesel fuel all over the Puget Sound basin from Olympia to Friday Harbor. Port Angeles was a frequent stop. Port Townsend had two oil docks."