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Lake Washington Projects

Coal Cars

In January 1875, the sternwheel, steamer Chehalis was pulling a barge containing 18 wooden coal cars across Lake Washington. As the Chehalis was rounding the northwest point of Mercer Island, a gale blowing from the south struck the steamer and barge. The wind tipped the barge and sent the 18 coal cars plunging to the bottom of the lake.

Dawn

The Dawn was a pretty, toy-like little steamer that was built at the Houghton shipyard in Kirkland, Washington in 1914.

Falcon

The Falcon was designed by L. H. Coolidge, and was built at the time when coal powered steam engines had been replaced by gas, but diesels had not yet come to the ships on Puget Sound. She was one of the smaller boats in the much fabled Mosquito Fleet.

Healy

On October 18, 2001, a team of divers from SCRET visited a mystery motor vessel sitting on the bottom of Lake Washington in 200 FFW. Based on the unique stern and the dual screws and rudders, we now believe this vessel is the remains of the motor vessel Healy, a converted YMS-type wooden minesweeper.

Lake Washington Steamers

Once parts of the Mosquito Fleet, the remains of the passenger steamers Elfin, Urania and Acme or L.T. Haas have been located in various parts of Lake Washington. These are classic examples of the old steamers.

P4Y-2 Privateer

In July 1956, PB4Y-2 BuNo 59695 stationed at Sand Point was flown to Hawaii on a two-week training mission. On August 25, 1956, the aircraft was flown on an uneventful training flight. The following day, on August 26, 1956, the aircraft crashed into the Lake shortly after take-off on a routine training flight.

PV-2 Harpoon

On September 4, 1947, Ensign Richard Donelson and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Raymond Soelter, ditched a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon roughly 1,000 yards north of the end of the runway at Sand Point. The aircraft sank in about 140 feet of water, and now sits almost completely vertically.

S.L. Dowell

The S. L. Dowell is a 45-foot wooden tugboat that was built at Friday Harbor in 1899 as the steamer Griffin. In 1912, the tug was fitted with a 50-horsepower Corliss gas engine. The S. L. Dowell struck a snag off Mercer Island in Lake Washington on October 11, 1922 and sank immediately in 200 feet of water. George Wahl, master, and William Holslar, engineer, leaped to a gravel scow the tug was towing and narrowly escaped drowning.

Valiant SNV-2

Lieutenant (jg) Perry and his instructor were flying Vultee SNV-2 Valiant BuNo 52067 when they ran into trouble over Lake Washington on February 29, 1944. The pilot came in high on an emergency landing due to incipient engine failure and overshot the runway. The engine cut out entirely, forcing the pilot to land the plane on the water. The pilot and his instructor escaped from the plane unharmed. The airplane and engine sank immediately and were not recovered.

YMS-359

The YMS-359 minesweeper is located in the middle of the lake straight out from Carillon Point. The wooden hull is completely intact. It is still Navy gray and has the numbers “359” on either side of the bow. The hinge plates for the acoustic “hammer box" are on either side of the bow near the bottom of the hull. The “hammer box’ devices were used to detonate some types of mines.