Former sailor dreams of saving his old ship
Published 9:00 pm Monday, June 4, 2007
BOTHELL – Vern Bouwman has a dream and a Web site.
He just doesn’t know quite how to make his dream come true.
He wants to save a ship from the Navy scrap heap, bring it to Seattle and convert it to a floating museum or some other good use.
The ship, the USS Kawishiwi, now floats in a graveyard for ex-Navy ships at Suisun Bay in the outer reaches of San Francisco Bay.
Why save the Kawishiwi?
It was a Navy supply ship, an oiler, that carried oil, munitions, food and other supplies to support the fleet from 1955 until its decommissioning in 1979. There are no other oilers saved for museum purposes.
Besides, Bouwman was one of the ship’s original crewmembers, what maritime people call a plank owner.
“Lots of ships could be saved for museums,” said the Bothell man, 72. “There aren’t any tankers saved as a museum anywhere. So, if there is to be one, why not mine?”
After the Navy used the ship, it went to work with civilian crews for the Military Sealift Command, a civilian operation that supports the Navy and other maritime services. The Kawishiwi ended its life at sea in 1994. Named after a river in Minnesota, it is one of six similar ships the U.S. built.
The Kawishiwi earned some accolades at sea.
It was one of a group of Navy ships that in 1970 participated in hauling in Apollo 13, the accident-plagued moon flight capsule after it splashed down in the South Pacific, Bouwman said.
It also supplied the fuel the U.S. used to fly helicopters during the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Afterward, it hauled civilian evacuees to safety from Saigon.
Bouwman is seeking advice, support and any group that might champion his cause.
He went to the Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center at Pier 66 in Seattle, but the nonprofit group has not indicated whether it will support the effort, museum educator Cassandra Sandkam said.
On his Web site, Bouwman points to the USS Turner Joy, which already has been turned into a museum in Kitsap County, and the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, which will soon be decommissioned and could be moved to Bremerton.
The Web site has a photo of those two ships and the Kawishiwi steaming together. He thinks it would be fitting to bring the Kawishiwi to Puget Sound and Seattle.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do,” said Bouwman, a former Boeing Co. telephone engineer. “Seattle needs a good museum for the Navy.”
The history of supply ships would be part of the exhibit, according to his dream.
If a museum is out of the question, he also suggests the Kawishiwi be used as a place for homeless veterans to stay, for research of Elliott Bay or maybe for homeland security purposes.
He has already approached U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., hoping she will help put the Kawishiwi on a list for historical preservation. That would be the first step. Then he needs an organization to raise money, move and operate the vessel.
“I just think that it would make an appealing museum,” he said. “Everything is possible.”
Here’s the plan
Vern Bouwman’s Web site, www.memorieshop.com/Seattle/broucher.html, details what he wants to do.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
