page_title: MV Kalakala
section_title: Retirement
hierarchical_section_title: MV Kalakala / Retirement
caption_attribution_description: English: The former Washington State Ferry MV Kalakala, moored in Tacoma, Washington, 2007.
context_page_description: Motor Vessel Kalakala was a ferry that operated on Puget Sound from 1935 until her retirement in 1967.
  MV Kalakala was notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling, and luxurious amenities. The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists, and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. The ship is known as the world's first streamlined vessel for her unique art deco styling.
  After retiring from passenger service in 1967, the ship was beached in Kodiak, Alaska, and converted to a shrimp cannery. In 1998, the ship was refloated and towed to Puget Sound with the owner hoping to restore the ship. During this time, the ship continued to deteriorate, with the Coast Guard declaring the ship a hazard to navigation in 2011. Unable to raise the funds required for restoration, the ship was scrapped in 2015.
context_section_description: In 1967, Kalakala retired from service and moved to the Washington State Ferries repair facility at Eagle Harbour. A year later she was sold to a seafood processing company and towed to Alaska to work as a crab cannery at Ouzinkie, Alaska. Later  the Kalakala was beached in Kodiak in 1970 and used to process shrimp.
  Peter Bevis discovered the rusting hulk on a fishing trip in 1984. Kalakala was still operating as a cannery, with her internal structure having been reworked to create a building with cement floors, drywall, and ceiling tiles. After complicated financial negotiations, the ship was refloated and towed back to Seattle in 1998. The vessel became a source of controversy for the remainder of her existence as her owners were unable to raise sufficient funds to refurbish the vessel or even to keep her moored in Seattle's Union Bay.
  The vessel was sold in 2004 to a private investor, who moved her to an anchorage in Neah Bay provided by the Makah people. Soon after arriving at Neah Bay Kalakala was evicted by the Makah, who also brought a lawsuit against the owners. The vessel was then relocated to Tacoma, Washington.
  In February 2008, Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues announced his intention to acquire additional vintage ferry vessels and to restore them and the Kalakala as either ferries powered by wind and solar technologies or as museums. Kalakala was scheduled for work on her hull and superstructure in dry dock in 2010, but this never happened. After six years in Tacoma, Kalakala began listing, and officials became concerned that the ferry might pose an environmental risk. The vessel's owner was also pressured to take action after Washington State passed a law focusing on the removal of abandoned or neglected vessels. For these reasons, Kalakala's owner put her up for sale for a nominal fee of one dollar, contingent on the purchaser committing to renovating Kalakala.
  In December 2011, the Coast Guard declared the ship a hazard to navigation. Among other issues, the Coast Guard stated that her mooring arrangements were inadequate. The Coast Guard set a December 19 deadline for the owner to repair the hull of the ship and submit a plan to tow her away from her current mooring in Tacoma. This deadline was not met. The owner, Steve Rodrigues, appealed this order, claiming that an anonymous person had purchased the ship. The Coast Guard rejected the appeal as there was no evidence that any work had been done on the ship and no evidence of the supposed sale.
  The Coast Guard described the ship as being in such fragile condition that it may not withstand being moved to other moorage and might have to be scrapped. In July 2012 Steve Rodrigues sued the state of Washington claiming that the state had failed in its "duty" to help preserve the ferry. Rodrigues' suit asked that the state be prevented from forcing Kalakala to be moved, confiscated, or sunk and sought to force the state to pay approximately $50 million for restoration of the ferry under a proposal Rodrigues previously submitted, which was rejected. In November 2012, Karl Anderson, owner of the Hylebos Waterway uplands where the boat was moored, took possession of the vessel in exchange for the $4,000 he claimed Rodrigues owed him in back rent.
caption: The Kalakala moored at Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma, Washington in November 2007
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