Vacationland (ferry)
Vacationland pictured on a Tichnor Brothers postcard | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Ordered | 1949 |
| Builder | Great Lakes Engineering Works |
| Cost | $4,745,000 |
| Yard number | 296 |
| Launched | 1951 |
| Sponsored by | Barbara Ann Ziegler |
| Christened | 1951 |
| Completed | 1952 |
| Identification | IMO number: 5428568 |
| Fate | Sank under tow December 3, 1987 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Auto Ferry |
| Length | 360 ft (110 m) |
| Beam | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Draft | 16–18 ft (4.9–5.5 m) |
| Deck clearance | 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m) |
| Installed power | 4 × Nordberg direct drive diesel engines |
| Capacity | 150 automobiles, 600 passengers |
| Crew | 47 |
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Vacationland was an American double-ended automobile ferry, built by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Michigan State Highway Department. She was built to operate the route from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City through the Straits of Mackinac year-round, and was equipped with powerful engines and a reinforced hull to break through heavy ice. Vacationland was launched in 1951, and entered service in 1952. She was the final ferry built for the St. Ignace–Mackinaw City service, which was replaced by the Mackinac Bridge in 1957.
Following the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957, the Vacationland was laid up until 1960, when she was sold to a private operator on Lake Erie as the Jack Dalton. She was repossessed by the State of Michigan for nonpayment shortly afterwards, and in 1961 she began service on the St. Lawrence River as the Père Nouvel, inaugurating a popular route between Baie-Comeau and Pointe-au-Père, Quebec.
In 1967, she was sold to BC Ferries in British Columbia and renamed the Sunshine Coast Queen. She was the first double-ended ferry in the BC Ferries fleet, a design that the service adopted for all new ferries after her. High operating costs and rising fuel prices forced BC Ferries to retire the vessel, affectionately known as the "Susy Q," in 1977. A private firm purchased her and renamed her the Gulf Kanayak, hoping to use her as an oil drilling support ship in Alaska. The venture failed, and she was sold for scrap. On December 3, 1987, while under tow to a scrapyard in China, she sank in the Pacific Ocean with no loss of life.