Historic ship runs aground

ORCAS ISLAND -- Washington state ferries Sealth and Evergreen State helped remove 27 people from a 133-foot historic sailboat that ran aground at Orcas Island on Monday, the Coast Guard said.

No injuries were reported when the 95-year-old schooner Adventuress ran aground at about noon in Wasp Passage between Orcas and Shaw islands in the San Juan Islands while sailing on a school trip. The ship was scheduled to participate in the Victoria, B.C., Tall Ships festival Thursday through Sunday and at the Tacoma Tall Ships festival July 3-7, where it also would celebrate its 95th birthday.

The Sealth was loading cars and passengers at the Orcas Island terminal when the Coast Guard asked it to assist the grounded vessel.

The Evergreen State also was asked to assist as it was heading to Orcas with a full load of vehicles and passengers. Both ferries launched rescue boats to assist the vessel, and five passengers from the Adventuress were taken onto the Sealth.

The ship was floated off the rocks during high tide Monday night and towed to Friday Harbor, where it will be inspected for damage, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard was investigating the cause of the grounding, said Petty Officer Tara Molle.

"She's a tough old ship," said Catherine Collins, executive director of Sound Experience, the Port Townsend company that sails the two-masted schooner.

Collins said the sailboat previously had run aground in the 1960s and came out of the experience without a scratch.

The sailboat had 15 passengers and a crew of 12 on board when it went aground, Collins said.

According to the company's Web site, the wooden sailboat was built as a pleasure yacht in 1913 but was quickly transformed into a working boat, serving as the pilot boat for San Francisco Bay for 35 years. The Coast Guard used the boat to patrol off San Francisco during World War II.

After years of neglect sitting on the beach near Sausalito, Calif., the ship was brought to Seattle by new owners, participated in several youth-education programs and eventually was bought by the nonprofit Sound Experience for educational and other trips in Washington's marine waters.

Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this story.