Hidden off the coast of Anderson Island a 189-foot, 50-car ferry sits tipped to its side, slowly rusting in Oro Bay. The old Ocean City ferry is a and an eyesore to some neighbors but ultimately a testament to one man’s lofty ambitions.
How did it get there? And what’s its story?
On Monday, The News Tribune went to the island to see the ship. Photojournalist Brian Hayes flew a drone through its rusted shell and this reporter spotted an otter exiting its maw. Its hull, once painted white and sporting American flags, has returned to the elements. Its exterior is streaked with mildew and rust. Barnacles coat the base and tree branches and moss rest where commuters once gathered.
The ship sits on private property, said Kelly Freeman, whose father Tom Palmer owns the ferry, in addition to another deteriorating ferry vessel () parked at his home on neighboring Ketron Island.
Palmer acquired the ferry in Jamestown, Virginia in the early 1980s and took a crew of friends on a 54-day 7,000-mile journey to Anderson Island, going around Cuba and through the Panama Canal, Freeman said. Palmer said the ship cost him about $100,000 at the time and an additional $100,000 to get it back to Washington. At one point the crew had to make an emergency stop in the Cayman Islands to get a new steering motor, Palmer said. The boat held weddings (including Freeman’s, in 1989) and carted private parties around Anderson Island in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He had a dream to use it as a floating RV park with excursions from Olympia to the San Juans.
Palmer was the captain of the Pierce County ferry to Anderson Island for many years and thought the vessel could serve as a backup ferry to cart passengers between the island and Steilacoom, Freeman said. Ultimately Pierce County passed on the offer, said local historian Chris Staudinger, who in 2024.
For two or three decades, the ferry has sat in the tidelands of Oro Bay after Palmer stopped using it. The Ocean City ferry didn’t break down there, it’s just fallen into disrepair, Freeman said. Some neighbors think it’s an eyesore, but there are no plans to remove it, as it’s on private property and not leaking anything detrimental to the environment, she said.
“It’s a shame to let it get any worse, but a lot of my ambitions and interests changed, and I haven’t gotten any younger,” said Palmer, 87.
Pierce County told The News Tribune the vessel would be considered a public nuisance . There’s no active code enforcement case at this time, which is initiated by a public complaint, said spokesperson Connor Davis.
“The County’s goal is to work with property owners to resolve violations voluntarily. If that does not occur, we could use enforcement tools such as ordering abatement, which allows the County to clean up the property at the owner’s expense,” Davis said. “Given the ferry’s size, age and condition, removal would likely be a complicated and expensive process, potentially costing millions of dollars. If the County were to pursue abatement, we would need to explore outside funding sources to cover the cost.”
Built in the 1920s, the Ocean City ferry was used by the Reading Railroad Co. and originally operated via steam engine before it was converted to diesel, according to an old Associated Press article about Palmer. The state of Virginia purchased it in the 1950s to run between Jamestown and Scotland Wharf before Palmer purchased it in 1984. Old photographs kept by the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, show the ship , with dozens of men standing on its bow. A photo of the trial run of the ferry that same year shows a .
Freeman said before her wedding the family had to scrub off old signs that marked segregated bathrooms, seating and water fountains. They later put in a new dance floor and dining area.
When asked about the significance of the ship still standing, Staudinger said, “I think it is a huge testament to the grandeur of the dream out here.”
“The fact that it was sailed all the way through the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and up the coast, you know, it’s not like, an ocean-going vessel. And so, I think it’s pretty remarkable that it got there,” he said. “I would love to see something happen to it.”