A private, landing-craft ferry built for service in Lynn Canal is being repurposed as a ferry that will operate out of Prince of Wales Island.
The Silver Eagle, currently being overhauled in Washington state, will be rechristened the Rainforest Islander.
Bruce Gilbert, who built the 65-foot, raised-cabin vessel and launched it here in 1995, sold it in December to the North End Ferry Authority.
The vessel will run between Coffman Cove and Wrangell and Petersburg. Service is scheduled to begin in mid-June.
Heather Hedges, marketing tourism director for the City of Coffman Cove, said residents of Coffman Cove started up the authority to increase access from their community to northern cities.
“We have no other direct way to Petersburg or Wrangell other than floatplane or taking the ferry from Ketchikan,” Hedges said.
The Inter-Island Ferry Authority, which runs between Prince of Wales and Ketchikan, formerly ran to Petersburg and Wrangell but the route didn’t create sufficient traffic to justify use of the IFA’s larger vessels.
The 65-foot Silver Eagle, which carries up to six vehicles and 28 passengers, is considered more economically sized for the route. As the Rainforest Islander, the boat will be scheduled to link with IFA and state ferry vessels.
Like its operation in Lynn Canal, the boat will land at sportboat ramps. The authority will run an inexpensive shuttle between ramps and nearby communities, she said.
“People can get between Ketchikan and Wrangell and Petersburg on our ferry and the IFA. It’s about creating loops,” Hedges said. Changes will be made to the Silver Eagle’s deck, galley and restrooms, she said.
The authority received a $3 million rural development grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create the service, according to a March 24 story in the Ketchikan Daily News.
The vessel was envisioned as providing service between Juneau, Haines and Skagway at a time when summer traffic limited space on state ferries. But it couldn’t go as fast as the state ferry or operate in rough weather, and fares were more expensive. “My objectives are to keep it small, safe and simple,” Gilbert said in a 1995 interview.
Gilbert said this week that he pursued operation between Skagway and Haines, but it didn’t catch on. “I couldn’t convince people in Skagway it was important to their community to run it.” State ferry day boat service in Lynn Canal also hurt business, he said.
The Silver Eagle was used to ship goods to remote, beachfront locations around the Panhandle, including hauling construction materials and school buses for development of a canoe tour at Davidson Glacier.
The boat has been in storage at a Wrangell boatyard, said Glenda Gilbert, Bruce’s daughter. “It’s a memorable boat. It doesn’t go to a harbor that people don’t remember it.”
Gilbert said the Silver Eagle years ago made trial runs between Ketchikan and Metlakatla. “We proved to the state it was a viable vessel for small runs.”
She said although the vessel is 20 years old, it doesn’t show much wear. “It has very low hours. (The ferry authority) wanted the bugs worked out, but essentially they got a brand-new vessel,” Gilbert said.