Leaky ferry stayed in service

A Washington State Ferries engineer who for nearly two decades has been trusted to keep one of the state's oldest boats in operation says ferry officials aren't adequately addressing problems with the aging vessel.

Mike Marston, who for more than 17 years has been a chief engineer on the ferry Klickitat, said state officials are pushing the 80-year-old ferry into service it simply no longer can handle.

Worse, the 28-year veteran of the ferry system said, those in authority aren't listening to the boat or to the people in the best position to determine her ability to continue to safely carry passengers and vehicles across Puget Sound.

In March, ferry officials kept the Klickitat in service between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend for more than two days after Marston discovered a 6-inch crack in the ferry's riveted steel hull.

Contrary to what ferry officials said at the time, logbook entries show no immediate attempt was made to repair the leaking crack.

Built in 1927, the Klickitat has been leaking for years. Marston said he's found all but one of the leaks in the ship in the past decade. The defect discovered in March was the worst he'd seen. It was the type the engineer believes could have burst and allowed water to rush into the hull. Its location was an added concern, because there was no immediate way to determine whether it extended into more than one water-tight space in the hull.

The Klickitat, like the state's other three Steel Electric-class ferries, does not meet federal safety requirements in place since the 1950s. It is not rated as capable of remaining afloat if more than one water-tight compartment floods. Vessels that don't meet that standard are at greater risk of sinking or capsizing.

Marston said that when he found the crack about 1 a.m. on March 10, he was told by ferry officials the Klickitat would immediately be pulled from service. He was surprised when he showed up for work at his next shift, more than a dozen hours later, and learned the vessel had been returned to service.

"I don't think it was prudent. We did watch it, and it didn't fail, so the state got away with it," Marston said. "They took a risk with the safety of the vessel and I assume somebody thought it was an acceptable risk."

The Klickitat was allowed to operate with a crack in the hull under a plan that was approved by the Coast Guard and carefully implemented by ferry crews, Mike Anderson, executive director of the state ferry system, said Friday. The crack was inspected every two hours and at no time was anyone's safety placed at risk, he said.

If Marston believed otherwise, he could have ordered the vessel out of service, Anderson said.

That's news to the engineer. It is his understanding that only the vessel owner - in this case state ferry officials - can order service stopped.

State ferry policy indicates that ferry chief engineers are to advise the operations center if a vessel "is to be removed from service" but don't specify that it is the engineer's decision.

"There is no way I have that authority," Marston said. "If they all of a sudden want to grant me that authority, great. I've been working for them 28 years and I've never had that authority."

A Coast Guard inspector ordered the Klickitat out of service the afternoon of March 12, about 60 hours after Marston found the hull crack. That was the first opportunity the inspector had to make an in-person visit.

Lt. Cdr. Todd Howard stands by the Coast Guard's handling of the incident. Howard, chief of domestic vessel inspection for the Coast Guard in Seattle, wasn't personally involved in the response, but said it "sounds proper."

Howard said his inspectors were promptly informed of the crack in the Klickitat by ferry officials. They were told that water was only seeping in when the vessel was being unloaded, not while it was underway.

"Usually when you're on a vessel and you think about a crack in its hulls, you see a lot of water," Howard said.

Marston has photographs of the crack while the Klickitat was underway and carrying passengers. When examined closely, the photographs show fine streams of water entering the hull.

When the vessel was taken to a shipyard, the crack was found to have extended 3 inches into the watertight bulkhead. A section of the corroded hull plating had to be cut out and replaced. The repair cost the ferry system $50,000.

The Klickitat's crack was the first in a series of leaks and other mechanical problems to plague the state's four oldest ferries this year. The Coast Guard has responded by ordering stepped-up inspections and repairs for all of the Steel Electric boats.

Last week, ferry officials acknowledged that the future is uncertain for two other Steel Electric ferries, the Illahee and Quinault, both of which are now in dry dock.

If a leak ripped open on the Klickitat today, it would be handled differently by the Coast Guard than it was in March, Howard said.

"If the Klickitat starts showing such a thing today we would not" allow her to keep operating, he said. "We've already upped all the Steel Electrics' inspections and reduced the time period between them. Washington State Ferries people are looking at them more closely."

Ferries chief Anderson said he is committed to keeping the state's ferries safe, including the Steel Electrics.

"I would go ride them today," he said.

The state is having problems with the Steel Electrics because they are old, and the ferry system hasn't been spending money on their preservation, Marston said. The engineer said they need to be retired - and soon.

"The issue's been raised," Marston said. "It has been raised by the boats."

Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.