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Dawn
Specifications
- Vessel type: Wooden passenger steamer
- Length: 55 Feet
- Beam: 15 feet
History
The Dawn was a pretty, toy-like little steamer that was built at the Houghton shipyard in Kirkland, Washington in 1914. She was 55 feet long with a beam of approximately 15 feet. The Dawn was used to ferry passengers on Lake Washington from stops on Mercer Island to the Leschi Park dock in Seattle. She had a captain and purser as crew. Many of her passengers were children on their way to and from school.With the advent of the automobile, most residents of Mercer Island chose to keep their vehicle at Leschi and ride the Dawn. While it was possible to cross the east channel bridge and drive to Seattle through Renton, it was a long trip. In the 1920’s automobile ferries began to operate on Lake Washington, and the Dawn’s service as a passenger steamer ended.
On December 24, 1923, the Dawn was sunk at the Leschi Park dock by a gale that swept through the area, but she was later salvaged and returned to service. In her later years, the Dawn was used as a party boat for entertainment purposes.
According to Gordon Newell, the Dawn was dismantled in 1938 and her engine and boiler were removed. Presumably her hull was intentionally scuttled sometime thereafter.
The Dawn Today
Scret divers visited the Dawn in November 2001 - Kevin Connell and Mark Tourtellot on November 11, 2001, and Walter Jaccard and Brett Peck on November 24, 2001.
The Dawn’s hull presently sits upright on the bottom in 110 FFW at the south end of Lake Washington. The ship is generally intact. The bow is narrow with a very fine entry. The main deck is intact from bow to stern, along with a cabin roof/top deck that runs the entire length of the vessel, from bow to stern (the perfect “northwest boat”). The main cabin on the starboard side leans outward and has collapsed approximately one third of the distance back from the bow. There are many rectangular windows along the port side of the cabin. There is an intact staircase at the stern on the starboard side, which provides access from the main deck to the cabin roof/top deck. The railing hardware for the top deck is missing. In the center of the stern deck is a square access hole approximately 2 feet square that allows access to what appears to be a gearbox of some sort.
There is little structure inside the cabin, although there are the remains of wooden seats along the port cabin wall. There is a shaft in the center of the vessel that runs from the stern approximately 2/3 of the way to the bow. This shaft was probably connected to the propulsion system/engine, which is missing. There is a hole in the roof where the funnel would have been.