Historic Washington State Ferry Cheats Scrappers to Become Floating Office

One of the storied ferries familiar to residents of Washington State for its more than 50 years of service is cheating the scrappers and by a quirk of fate will be saved through creative reuse.  Everett Ship Repair and Washington State Ferries have reached terms to see the Elwha, which was built in 1967, repurposed at the shipyard.

Last fall, Elwha, which had been retired in 2020, was due to slip away on a towline bound for dismantling in Ecuador. She had been sold for $100,000 and a tug arrived to start her final voyage along with another WSF ferry. They got the boats away from the maintenance dock in Bainbridge, Washington, but that’s when things started to go wrong.

According to reports the hookup failed. Then there were reports of problems with the 60-year-old tug that was hired for the 34-day trip. The ferries were brought back to the mainte…