Shenandoah makes final voyage to museum

Fishing vessel moves into new location

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

The sky was still pitch black Saturday morning as electricians in glowing striped vests disconnected the traffic light stretched across Harborview Drive.

Up the street, the Shenandoah, a 65-foot purse seiner, sat perched on the back of a semi-truck, ready to make its final move to the new Harbor History Museum, where it will be on permanent display when the museum opens next spring.

Two concrete posts on each side of the entrance of the former property had to be hydraulically removed to allow the vessel to pass. The traffic lights at the intersection were lifted to allow the wheel house’s towering frame to slide underneath.

As the morning light slowly illuminated the scene, a crowd gathered to watch the historic vessel pass by and enter the double-gated opening to its new home.

“I wouldn’t have missed that for the world,” said Warren Balfany of the Coastal Heritage Alliance (CHA). “The move was highly anticipated and waited out by a lot of us. We were just tickled to death that the move went so well.”

Balfany got involved as a volunteer when he met Mike Vlahovich, founder of the CHA, three years ago. Volunteers prepared the boat for the move, which mostly consisted of gutting the boat to make it lighter, Balfany said.

“I’m an electrician, so I was in charge of removing all the electrical equipment,” he said. “It’s been sitting up there for several years. It wasn’t supposed to be moved.”

Balfany said the property where the boat was stored belonged to the museum and was originally the site planned for the new museum before it acquired waterfront property along North Harborview Drive.

The Shenandoah was built in 1925 and was donated to the museum in 2000 by its last owner, Tony Janovich. It is one of only two Skansie-built purse seiners left in Gig Harbor.

Gerry Dryer, a boat-building hobbyist, watched as it was pulled out of the water at the public boat dock in 2003.

“It was interesting because of the weight of that boat,” he said. “It weighed upward of 60 tons. They had to put heavy steel sheeting on the boat ramp to keep the concrete from cracking. It was never built to handle that kind of weight.”

A lofty section of the museum was constructed specifically to house the Shenandoah. Balfany said a special support is being designed for the vessel’s display.

“It will be supported by a cradle, just like it would be in a marina,” he said. “It looks exactly like it would be sitting in a marina undergoing repair and restoration.”

That’s exactly what will be happening to the Shenandoah when the museum opens its doors.

Vlahovich, a master shipwright, will oversee the project with several apprentices and volunteers, and the boat will become part of the museum’s ongoing interactive projects.

Visitors will be able to see how a boat is restored, do hands-on work and become a little piece of history themselves.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.