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*Carlisle II*
	Carlisle II departing Port Orchard, Washington, October 2010
History
United States
Name	Carlisle II
Owner	Kitsap Transit
Operator	Kitsap Harbor Tours
Route	Bremerton-Port Orchard, Washington
Builder	O. I. Thorsen
Launched	April 9, 1917
Identification	Official Number: 214872; Callsign: WDB7545;
Status	Museum ship
General characteristics
Tonnage	95 Gross, 86 Net
Length	65 ft (20 m) on deck
Beam	20 feet (6.1 m)
Depth	5.7 feet (1.7 m)
Installed power	300 hp (220 kW) John Deere
Propulsion	Propeller
Capacity	143 Persons
Notes	Wood Hull
	Carlisle II dockside

Carlisle II is the oldest of only two operational examples of a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet vessel. (The other is the 1922 Steamship Virginia V.) They were once part of a large fleet of small passenger and freight carrying ships that linked the islands and ports of Puget Sound in Washington state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

History

Carlisle II was built in Bellingham in 1917 by Lummi Island Navigation Company, and first carried freight and passengers between Bellingham and the Carlisle Packing Company's salmon cannery on Lummi Island. Original power was from a Fairbanks-Morse Type "C-O" Heavy Duty Marine Oil Engine. It was a three-cylinder hot bulb (or "semi-diesel") engine rated 75 horsepower at 340 RPM.^[1]^[2]

In 1923 she was rebuilt as a car ferry and ran from Gooseberry Point to Lummi and Orcas islands.^[3]^[4]

Horluck Transportation Co., under Captain Willis Nearhoff, purchased Carlisle II in 1936^[5] and converted her back to passenger vessel use for the short run between Bremerton and Port Orchard across Sinclair Inlet. The service was heavily used during the war years by personnel commuting to and from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. Eventually Mr. Nearhoff's daughter, Mary Lieske, became manager and then owner of the company. She was also reportedly the first woman ferry captain.^[6]

Seattle businessman Hilton Smith bought out Horluck in 1995 and invested almost $300,000 in repairs and upgrades to Carlisle II.^[7] In 2008, Kitsap Transit purchased Carlisle II from Smith and continues to use her as needed on the Bremerton-Port Orchard run.^[8] The vessel underwent a major, two-year renovation that cost $1.3 million and was completed in 2021. The renovation included replacing the engine, generator, ventilation, and propeller, along with repainting of the exterior and seating areas.^[9]

Current status

Carlisle II remains in operation, acting as a backup vessel for service between Bremerton and Port Orchard, Washington. The MV Waterman, a hybrid diesel-electric ferry, is the primary vessel for the service.^[10]

Carlisle II has been designated a "Floating Museum" by the Washington Commission for the Humanities, and her interior is decorated with numerous photos and information about her and other Mosquito Fleet vessels.

Books

Kitsap County Historical Society, Port Orchard (Images of America), Arcadia Publishing, 2012, page 112, ISBN 0738589225
Follansbee, Joe, The Fyddeye Guide to America's Maritime History, Fyddeye (Publisher), 2010, page 68, ISBN 0615381537
Neal, Carolyn, and Janus, Thomas Kilday, Puget Sound Ferries, American Historical Press, 2001, pages 59, 80 ISBN 1-892724-19-7

References

^ Pacific Fisherman Yearbook 1919
^ Fairbanks-Morse Instructions pamphlet #2600 for Type "C-O" Heavy Duty Marine Oil Engines
^ "Home".
^ Ed Friedrich (September 14, 2007), "Mosquito Fleet Veteran Still Going Strong at 90", Kitsap Sun, archived from the original on May 15, 2014, retrieved 2013-01-29
^ Some sources say 1934.
^ Lander, Patricia (2002), Guide to Ferryboats of Puget Sound Past and Present, Annapolis, MD: Lighthouse Press, p. 145, ISBN 1-57785-293-1
^ King, Niki (2003-07-20). "Sea Change". The Sun. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
^ "Kitsap Transit Buys Horluck", Port Orchard Independent, June 12, 2008, archived from the original on September 19, 2016, retrieved 2013-02-07
^ Vosler, Christian (April 28, 2021). "The Carlisle II is back: Century-old ferry ready for riders again after $1.3M overhaul". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
^ Vosler, Christian (March 14, 2019). "A first-of-its-kind hybrid-electric ferry among three new vessels coming this year". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2021.