M/V Hiyu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**M/V Hiyu**

Class	Hiyu Class
Type	Auto/Passenger Ferry
City Built	Portland
Year Built/Rebuilt	1967/
General Characteristics
Length	162'
Beam	63'1"
Draft	11'3"
Gross Tonnage	498
Net Tonnage	338
Speed	10 knots
Propulsion	Diesel
Engines	2
Horsepower	860
Passengers	200
Vehicles	40
Max Commercial Vehicles	12
Auto Deck Clearance	15'0"

The Hiyu was orignally built in 1967 in Portland to replace the aging Skansonia on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah run. For nearly her entire career she worked the short route between the Island and Tacoma, but eventually traffic outpaced her.

WSF reassigned her to the San Juans where the Hiyu proved herself ever the workhorse as the inter-island boat, chugging along between San Juan, Orcas, Shaw and Lopez islands.

That route was taken over by a larger Steel Electric when the Hiyu's small size became and issue once again. The Nisqually replaced her first and then the Illahee.

Mothballed at Eagle Harbor, her last use was to have been contracted out for service Anderson Island when the Chirstine Anderson needed emergency repairs. Because of her one-compartment design, the ferry cannot cross charted traffic lanes, nor be a mile from shore, which limits her use.