The Ghost Ship of the Sound: How a Tiny Ferry Conquered the Ice
After three weeks at sea and a harrowing journey through storm and ice, the *Flossie* arrives in Juneau, proving that Seattle’s maritime spirit is forged in the coldest waters.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The little tugboat Flossie, built by the Conner Towing & Transport Company for the Juneau Ferry Company of Juneau, Alaska, completed her maiden voyage from Port Townsend to Juneau. She left Seattle nearly three weeks ago on her hazardous trip north in charge of Captain Charles Macnider, who returned on the steamer *Captain City* yesterday.
The Flossie made the trip to Juneau in exactly seven days and three hours from Port Townsend, a port she called at after leaving Seattle. The trip north was extremely rough and stormy, snow being of frequent recurrence. The Flossie was often obliged to seek shelter at some of the bars and harbors along the coast, where she would wait until the weather moderated.
Notwithstanding the severity of the trip, the Flossie arrived at Juneau safe and sound. When she tied up alongside the dock, her deck, roof, and pilot house were covered with ice. The sidelights were completely enclosed in ice. A man on the dock remarked, as he took the steamer's lines: 'It’s a snowball in this!'
The vessel will operate between Juneau and Douglas City as a ferry steamer.
In an era before reliable air travel or paved highways to Alaska, maritime logistics were the lifeline of the frontier. The *Flossie*’s journey mirrors modern supply chain vulnerabilities; just as today’s shippers worry about port congestion and weather delays, this early 20th-century tug faced the raw power of the Pacific Northwest coast, where 'safe arrival' was a triumph of engineering and nerve rather than a guarantee.
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