Darsie Beck's Childhood Memories of Vashon Island

New Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Member Darsie Beck gave us the permission to share a special gift with you, his childhood memories of Vashon Island. It's so beautifully written. Thanks A Million, dear Darsie for this very special Betty MacDonald Birthday gift!

Childhood memories of Vashon Island 1943-53

Copyright by Darsie Beck

I've always been fascinated by the ferry boats that serve the island
and Olympic Peninsula communities of Puget Sound. I feel particularly
fortunate to have spent my first ten years and the last thirty years
here on Vashon Island and the in between years living in water front
homes near the Fauntleroy ferry dock and on the north end of Mercer
Island near the old ferry landing that once served that island
community.

I have many fond memories of the ferry boats but one in particular
remains as clear to me today as when it occurred many years ago.

At the time I was born, my parents lived with my grandparents in a
small house on Judkins street just east of 23rd, a few blocks south of
the Lake Washington floating bridge tunnels. This area, at the time,
was the northern most end of what was called, "Garlic Gulch", the
original Italian community in Seattle. With a new baby in the house
things got pretty crowded and before long my parents moved to Vashon
Island where they purchased their first home on the bluff above Dolphin
Point on the north end of the island. My mother's sister Betty
MacDonald, her husband Don and her two daughters Anne and Joan had
moved to the island a couple years before prompting my parents to
follow their lead to this island community.

In the 1940's as now, we reached the island by ferry boat. I can't tell
you what that first ferry ride was like in the fall of 1943 or which
boat we rode on but I do know, the boats were privately operated by
Puget Sound Navigation (PSN), doing business as the Black Ball Line.
Black Ball provided service between Vashon Island, Harper (on the
Olympic Peninsula) and Fauntleroy (West Seattle). During the 1940's the
wooden ferries Vashon and Kehloken and the steel electric Quinault saw
regular service on this run. The Quinault carried 100 cars compared to
the 45 car capacity of the smaller wooden ferries and was considered a
super ferry at the time. Most of the ferries flying the Black Ball
burgee were former San Francisco Bay boats purchased by PSN after the
completion of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.

In early 1948, a proposed rate increase by PSN resulted in Vashon
Island suspending its service contract with Black Ball. Undeterred by
Vashon's action, Black Ball continued service between Harper and
Fauntleroy and to Vashon on an "as needed only" basis. With the help of
sympathetic state and local government agencies Vashon began developing
its own ferry service utilizing former Lake Washington and Tacoma boats
out of service since the opening of the Lake Washington floating bridge
and the Tacoma Narrows bridge. The Lincoln, Washington, City of Tacoma
and Crosline became the backbone of the new fleet.

My first ferry boat recollection is from the summer of 1948. I was five
years old, my mother was pregnant with my sister, and we were sitting
in the family car on the Vashon ferry dock on a very foggy July morning
waiting for the boat to Fauntleroy to take my mother to the hospital.
The fog had created a stillness over the dock broken every few minutes
by the sounding of fog horns and the occasional car driving on and off
the wood planked ferry dock. Soon I heard the sound of an approaching
ferry, its engines reversing, its prop wash splashing noisily between
the pilings, the shrill screech of the ferries wood side rails rubbing
against creosote dolphins and apron wing walls as the boat nudged
itself into the slip. Chains clattered as deck hands removed car
barriers in preparation of off loading. I don't remember which of the
old ferries landed at the Vashon dock that foggy morning but I do
remember, once our car was loaded onto the boat, sitting on the car
deck, looking out the port into the fog when suddenly out of the mist a
large ferry appeared. Its propellers furiously reversing, deck hands
and passengers on both boats bracing for an impending collision. My
eyes grew big and my body grew tense as the huge ferry cleared the fog
revealing her black hull, white superstructure and the black ball
painted near the top of her red stack. It was the Quinault, Puget
Sound's first super ferry heading directly for our boat. The prop wash
of the huge ferry was buffeting the side of our boat, causing it to
rock back and forth in its slip. The Quinault was now within a car's
length of our boat when its forward motion finally came to rest and her
reversing action began to move the boat out of harms way. As stealthy
as she had appeared, she now disappeared back into the fog sending a
collective and audible sigh of relief through passengers and crew of
both boats.

The Quinualt, now considered a medium sized boat compared to today's
super ferries, still ply's the waters of Puget Sound and still holds a
place in my childhood memories as the most enormous boat ever seen by a
five year old.

Linde Lund created the Betty MacDonald, Monica Sone and Wolfgang Hampel Blogs
http://www.blogger.com/profile/15388942569315864610

Betty MacDonald Interviews on CD and DVD

http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/06/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items-comments.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-interviews-on-cddvd_17.html

Betty MacDonald Community
http://bettymacdonaldcommunity.blogspot.com/

You can find more info about our Betty MacDonald projects and events in the future.

Wolfgang Hampel, author of the Betty MacDonald Biography and winner of the first Betty MacDonald Memorial Award founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Society in 1983. We are the largest Betty MacDonald Fan Club in the world - with members in 23 countries. Join our wonderful international Betty MacDonald Community!
We have tons of fun!

Betty MacDonald - Fan Club of Betty MacDonald and Society of Betty MacDonald
http://bettymacdonald.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Fan Club
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Forum
http://bettymacdonaldforum.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Society
http://bettymacdonaldsociety.blogspot.com/

Mary Bard Society
http://marybardsociety.blogspot.com/

Nancy and Plum Fan Club
http://nancyandplumfanclub.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Fan Club
http://pigglewigglefanclub.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone
http://monicasone.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Society
http://monicasonesociety.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Fan Club
http://monicasonefanclub.blogspot.com/

Darsie Beck Artist and writer of Your Essential Nature - A Practical Guide to Greater Creativity and Spiritual Harmony - nephew of authors Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard - Honour Member of Betty MacDonald Society and Fan Club
http://darsiebeck.blogspot.com/

Wolfgang Hampel Founder of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society
http://wolfganghampel.blogspot.com/