The Press Release for the KALAKALA
From Puget Sound Navigation Company, 1935

The vessel is fully streamlined in accordance with the latest practices in aero-dynamics. Strikingly unusual in appearance and coated in shining aluminum paint, she will at a distance resemble a mammoth aeroplane skimming over the surface of the water.

The flying bridge on either side of the wheelhouse has the appearance of modified wings and a low tapered stern accentuates the illusion. In order to fully carry out the streamline design, the running lights are cleverly housed in the sides of the flying bridge and the range light is carried on a mast which disappears from sight during the daytime and is electrically controlled from the wheelhouse.

Lifeboats, carried on the main deck, are completely inset and are equipped with a special launching gear. The steel construction on this ship is quite unusual as the ship itself. A unique method of electric welding gives great strength and has made it possible to do away with unsightly rivet heads and other objectional features common to ordinary steel construction. Gracefully rounded I-beams have been used in place of the conventional angle irons and many other innovations have been introduced in her construction to give the new vessel rugged strength as well as a pleasing appearance. From stem to stern the graceful curves have replaced angles and flat surfaces.

Not only is this vessel notable as the first streamlined ship to be built, but she will rank as the largest and fastest ferry ever to ply Puget Sound.

The Kalakala, 276 feet long, has a beam of 55 feet 8 inches and a draft of 13 feet. She is 21 feet 6 inches in depth of hold and has a freeboard of 10 feet and is designed to carry 2,000 passengers and 110 automobiles. She has three large observation rooms; one on the first passenger deck forward and one forward and one aft on the sun deck. Betwen these two upper observation rooms is an observation-type dining room with a seating capacity of over one hundred. The central portion of the dining room contains a double horseshoe counter, while the tables are arranged in each corner. The dining room furniture is all of metal and the tables and counters have hard rubber tops, trimmed in stainless steel. The galley is furnished in metal throughout and all cooking is done electrically. On the main passenger deck amidships are the passenger cabins, with a seating capacity of over seven hundred. The ladies lounge, aft, which is being fitted out in harmonizing shades of tan and brown, will have a seating capacity of 100. A total of 500 deep upholstered chairs will be used in furnishing the ferry. Under the seat of each of these chairs is a special case containing a regulation life preserver.

In two spacious compartments just below the automobile deck, yet well above the waterline, is located the tap room and the men's lounge. Just off the men's lounge are the shower and locker rooms, designed primarily for the Navy Yard workers who may want to clean up and change clothes enroute. These facilities, however, are availabe to anyone who may want to use them.

All passenger cabins, lounges and observation rooms are provided with a special type of controlled ventilation, giving complete air conditioning at all times. The interiors of all observation rooms, lounges, etc., are of steel, finished in pleasing shades of polychrome-sprayed laquers. A different color scheme is used in the draperies and decorations of each room. Indirect lighting is provided throughout. All decks in the passenger cabins are covered with a special type of rubber tile and all windows are of plate glass in bronze frames.

Two large murals are now being painted by S. A. Cookson, Seattle marine artist, for the cabins of the Kalakala: one of the Black Ball Liner of over a century ago and another of the fast Black Ball packets of the clipper-ship era.

The elimination of fire hazard has been given unusual consideration in the building of this new vessel and she is 97.75 percent steel construction. Even the wheelhouse, which heretofore has always been of wood, is now built of non-magnetic metal. The ship is equipped throughout with a new design of firefighting apparatus unlike anything yet to appear on shipboard.

Eight watertight bulkheads make her virtually unsinkable. Some idea of the size of this ship can be gained from the fact that it is 412 feet around the promenade on the sun deck. The hull, designed by Hibbs, McCauley & Smith and built in 1927 by the Moore Shipbuilding Company of Oakland, California, is of unusually fine lines.

She is powered to make the trip from Seattle to Bremerton is forty-five minutes. The main engine is a 10-cylinder, 2-cycle, 3,000 horsepower Busch-Sulzer diesel, the largest ever to be installed in a ferry. The foundation of the engine is over one hundred feet long and contains one hundred tons of steel. Turning at a speed of 230 revolutions per minute the engine will drive a single-screw propeller 8 1/2 feet in diameter. The main engine is without auxiliaries of any kind, the entire 3,000 horsepower being used from propulsion. A speed of 18 knots is indicated. All pistons are visible through large plate-glass ports, making it possible to see just what condition they are in at all times. The auxiliary engine is a 4-cycle, 8-cylinder, 600 horse power Busch-Sulzer Diesel and directly connected to a 400 kilowatt generator which supplies the auxiliary equipment through the latest type of central, dead-front switchboard. The auxiliary engine is more powerful than the main engine of many well-known Puget Sound ferries. All auxiliary units are electrically operated and can be started and controlled at the switchboard.

Aboard the ship are a total of 112 electric motors. When the ship is in port, the auxiliary engines may be stopped and electricity supplied through shorelines. Both engines are fresh water-cooled and the temperature of either engine can be controlled to a fraction of a degree. Steam heating for the entire ship is produced in a cleverly designed boiler, utilizing waste heat from both engines. A booster boiler is also provided for extreme cold weather.

The wheelhouse of the Kalakala contains navigating equipment of a type never before used on a vessel in this class of service. She is equipped with a Hydro electric-hydraulic steering gear, which is not only supersensitive, but is also the fastest steering device known. The wheelhouse will be connected with the engine room with an automatic electric telegraph, the first of its type to be used on inland commercial vessels. Communication between the wheelhouse and the stern of the vessel is maintained by telephone.

The construction of this vessel is going forward under the direct supervision of James E. Murphy, Marine Superintendent, and Helmuth W. Schmitz, Naval Architect, of the Puget Sound Navigation Company. Both men are widely known in marine construction circles and have taken an active part in the building of several outstanding ferries.

Captain Wallace Mangan, who will command the Kalakala, is one of the most colorful characters in Puget Sound shipping. He has been employed as a Master of vessels of the Black Ball Line and associated companies for over thirty years. Almost without exception this entire period has been spent on the Seattle-Bremerton-Port Orchard route. During this time he has made over fifty thousand round trips in this route without a single mishap to a vessel under his command.

The first automobile ferry to the Olympic Peninsula was established in 1921. The famous old stern-wheeler Bailey Gatzert, which carried about 25 cars, was operated over the same route which will be served by this new vessel. In the space of fourteen years this remarkable development in inland passenger and automobile carriers has taken place. This development is a direct result of increased interest in the Olympic Peninsula and the Puget Sound country as an outstanding vacation area. Also, during recent years, there has been a marked tendency o the part of citizens in Seattle other large centers of population to establish residences in desirable suburban localities nearby. With the development of faster and better cross-Sound transportation this tendency has manifested itself in the building of summer and all-year-round homes on the west side of Puget Sound. The Kalakala is being built in anticipation of an even greater interest in this area as well as the development of the Puget Sound Navy Yard as the great naval base of the Pacific.

The original Black Ball Line was established in 1816 to give regular service between New York and Liverpool. During the famous clipper-ship era some of the fastest ships to fly the American flag flew the house flag of the Black Ball Line. For the past six years, Captain Alex M. Peabody, son of C. E. Peabody, has been in charge of the destinies of the Black Ball Line. Under his administration the deluxe automobile ferry has been developed and four of these fine ships are in operation on Puget Sound, the Iroquois, Chippewa, Quilcene, and Rosario.

Just as the Black Ball Line of a century ago led the field in marine transportation, so the Black Ball Line of today is a long step in advance of the times in bringing about this remarkable vessel, the silver-winged Kalakala.

--William O. Thorniley
Puget Sound Navigation

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