Puget Sound's mosquito fleet is making a comeback — at least in name.
Kitsap Transit's board of commissioners on Tuesday chose the names for six vessels in its burgeoning passenger-only fleet, several of which pay homage to the steamers that plied Puget Sound in the early 20th century.
The board chose the names Lady Swift, Illahee, Manette, Commander, Reliance, and Waterman from an extensive list that included old mosquito fleet names, locations around the Puget Sound and well-known community members.
"We have been talking about vessel names for quite a while and dependent upon who you ask, most everyone has an opinion,” Kitsap Transit executive director John Clauson said.
Kitsap Transit is in the process of building at least five more ferries: a 150-passenger hybrid-electric catamaran for the Bremerton-Port Orchard route, two additional Rich Passage-class ferries to serve on the Bremerton-Seattle route, and two bow-loaders, which will run from Kingston and Southworth to downtown Seattle.
The hybrid is under construction and expected to be delivered before the end of the year, according to Clauson. Both of the Rich Passage-class vessels have deadlines in early 2019. Kitsap Transit is planning to open proposals for the bow-loaders this month.
So far, only one vessel has an official name — board members overwhelmingly chose to name the local hybrid ferry "Waterman."
The community of Waterman was named after Delos Waterman, a homesteader, according to the Kitsap County Historical Society. In the early 1920s, its dock served as a pickup and drop-off point for mosquito fleet steamers.
The rest of the vessels will be assigned a name as they are completed, pending a background check. During the meeting, the subject of boat-naming taboos arose.
“You don’t want to ever name a boat after a boat that’s been sunk,” Poulsbo mayor and transit board member Becky Erickson said. “That’s a huge, huge superstition.”
To avoid any bad juju, Kitsap Transit staff will research the chosen names before assigning them to specific vessels.
"We're just going to look to make sure there's nothing we should be aware of," Clauson said.
Tuesday's meeting became a group exercise as board members used small stickers to pick their favorite names from a large list presented across several posters. The board generally shied away from naming the boats after community members, to avoid favoritism.
Instead, the names are a mix of mosquito fleet callbacks and Kitsap locales.
“The fast ferry was controversial enough, I think tying it in and resonating with our historic maritime past would create much greater affinity,” Poulsbo councilman and board member Ed Stern said.
In addition to Waterman, the chosen names hark back to the days of the mosquito fleet, when hundreds of steamboats carried passengers and cargo across the Puget Sound.
The original Illahee, originally named "Lake Tahoe," served in the Bay Area until 1940, when it was purchased by Puget Sound Navigation. The Illahee served throughout World War II and beyond on several different routes. The Illahee was sent to Mexico in 2009 to be scrapped.
According to local Bremerton historian Fredi Perry, the community of Manette took its name from a small steamer that served on the Port Orchard route in the early 1900s. It eventually was converted to a tug.
The Commander, a 750-passenger vessel, served on the Bremerton-Seattle route beginning in 1931. The vessel was retired and sold after Puget Sound Navigation took control of the company that owned the Commander in 1935.
Lady Swift was the name of an "auxiliary boat" that also served on the Port Orchard route in the early 1900s, according to Perry. It was one of several ferries owned by Vern Gorst, "the grandfather of United Airlines."
The Reliance, a steamer owned by Kitsap County Transportation Company, was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 9, 1926, while laid up on Lake Washington, according to Perry.
Clauson said he isn't sure yet how Kitsap Transit will decide which vessels get what names.
"If we go in order of the first boat out is going to have our most popular name, the first one would be Lady Swift," Clauson said.
In its request for proposals for the bow-loaders, Kitsap Transit has included an option for a third vessel. If Kitsap Transit moves forward with only two bow-loaders, one of the names may not be used.
