MV Wickersham

The M/V "Wickersham" was a mainline ferry vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway.

The M/V "Wickersham" was the second vessel, after the M/V "Chilkat", in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet to not have been constructed specifically for AMHS, but was rather acquired for from the Stena Line, where it was known as the "Stena Britannica" and served the Kiel, Germany-Gothenburg, Sweden route. Constructed just one year prior to its purchase by AMHS in April 1968, her arrival and status as an "oceangoing" vessel allowed AMHS to expand the southern terminus of its route system south to Washington and the Port of Seattle.

Due to the Jones Act and laws of cabotage, however, the "Wickersham" could only undergo its Washington-Alaska voyages with an intermediate stop in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Further complicating her service was her complicated bow unloading system which was only compatible with AMHS ports in Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka, in addition to the ports of Seattle and Prince Rupert. Her large size and draft which served her well in the turbulent waters of Dixon Entrance and other exposed portions of the Alaska-Washington voyage, were too great to slip through passages of water such as Peril Strait en route to Sitka, which forced her to approach Sitka from the outer coast of Baranof Island and through the Pacific Ocean.

With the debut of the M/V "Columbia", the marine highway's new flagship vessel, in 1974, the "Wickersham" was sold to the British Sally Line as the "Viking 6", where she sailed from Stockholm to Helsinki.

External links

*Sitnews.us: [http://www.sitnews.us/101106_wickersham.html "The "Wickersham" sailed on after leaving Alaska"]