Farewell, SS Cape Intrepid. You leave a ship-shaped hole in my heart | Opinion
A giant among us has gone away. And I mean giant.
The enormous SS Cape Intrepid has permanently moved away from Tacoma’s Commencement Bay, and awaits retirement in Texas.
I hope she likes it there. I’m going to miss her.
Cape Intrepid, the 685-foot roll-on, roll-off steam-powered cargo ship, has used many names since she was built in 1975. She started out as the SS Arizona, and after many other adventures, she took on the Intrepid moniker in 1986. That’s when she entered my life.
As part of the Ready Reserve Force maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, Cape Intrepid sat resolutely in Tacoma’s waters. I understood she was ready for duties at sea.
In the meantime, she looked extremely cool.
She was gray and austere like the mountains. She carried no guns, but sported a large retractable ramp that could load vehicles. She seemed to have towers stacked on towers toward the aft, and to the fore stood a crane.
What couldn’t she do? Even if I never in 39 years saw her do it, her capacity was dazzling.
Just sitting there fully loaded, she could displace 33,900 long tons of water. Again, not that I ever saw her fully loaded, that would be a lot of water.
I’ll grant that she wasn’t always a great neighbor. She was sometimes loud, and on at least one occasion was blamed for a coating of oily soot that fell on the Stadium District. Floating maritime machinery isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But no one can deny she had a presence.
The human mind has a way of taking a structure the size of a sideways skyscraper for granted. That’s especially true when that structure is central to the skyline of your childhood.
Scanning the horizon for snow clouds in winter. Watching the moon rise over Mount Rainier. Driving to and from the airport after leaving home. I always did these things with Cape Intrepid fixed in the scenery.
And by the way, has anyone checked in with SS Cape Island, Intrepid’s constant companion? The two sat side by side for decades in the harbor’s deep waters, marking the transition between Ruston Way and Schuster Parkway.
Cape Island remains in Commencement Bay as part of the Ready Reserve Force. She’ll always look lonely to me, until she, too, is retired.
Sure, Cape Intrepid was built to move, and not slowly. Her two steam turbines and propellers allowed her to travel at around 20 knots.
But I didn’t even know she was leaving. Perhaps when the time comes to retire Cape Island, we can give her a proper sendoff.
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
