Where’s the Cape Island? What we know about ship long docked along Ruston Way
The S.S. Cape Island, which usually is docked along Ruston Way in Tacoma, has been deployed on a mission.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, which manages the ship, told The News Tribune that the Cape Island is on a mission, but they were “not sure of the timeline.” The spokesperson also did not state where the ship is headed, what the mission entailed and when MARAD last deployed the ship.
The ship departed from Tacoma on Jan. 2 and arrived in Everett on Jan. 5, according to marinetraffic.com, which tracks maritime statistics and marine traffic around the world.
The Cape Island is part of the Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force, a fleet of ships that’s on hand to aid in “the rapid worldwide deployment of U.S. military forces.” According to the website of Maritime Administration, or MARAD, the program consists of 44 vessels which typically help transport equipment for the Army and Marine Corps. The ship, which is about 208 meters long, is classified as a cargo and logistics naval vessel. According to South Sound Mag, the Cape Island was built in 1976.
The Cape Island was until last July accompanied along Ruston Way by the S.S. Cape Intrepid. The two ships had been a fixture in the Tacoma landscape until MARAD relocated the Cape Intrepid to Beaumont, Texas in July and then retired it in October.
