The Steam Ship Virginia V, is the last operating vessel of the famed Mosquito Fleet that plied the waters of Puget Sound delivering freight and passengers. A morning sun greets her at her current mooring located at Seattle's South Lake Union Center for Wooden Boats. The 125 foot ship was built in 1922 in Maplewood, Washington. (The steam engine that still powers her was built in Seattle in 1898!)
Long before the current state-run ferry system, transportation across the waterways of Puget Sound were left to private industry. The Virginia V was one small company's evolution of watercraft, each named Virginia. The Virginia V was a purpose-built craft of the small "West Pass Transportation Company". She did the Seattle to Tacoma run nearly every day until 1938, when she began working other routes. The West Pass Transportation Company went out of business in 1942, but the Viriginia V kept working in one capacity or another around Puget Sound. Since 1948 she was primarily used for excursions in the Seattle area. Nearly every summer camp season from 1922 to 1970, hundreds of Camp Fire girls took the "Virginia Vee" to and from Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. In 1973, she was placed on the National Registry of Historical Places.
In 1976, the Steamer Virginia V Foundation purchased her. She underwent a 6 year, $6.5 million refurbishment that was completed in 2002. Today she continues to provide public and private excursions in the region - a direct connection to the golden age of steam.
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