The M/V Garland

There were at least two vessels in early Alaska trnsportation by the name of GARLAND. One was a steamship SS GARLAND built in Port Townsend in 1890, official number 86094, 97’ long and 18-1/2’ wide. It was originally part of a flotilla of steam ships owned by the Puget Sound Navigation Company known as the “Mosquito Fleet” that sailed the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca route between 1890 and 1903. The ship was built for towing and hauling freight and in 1900 was lengthened to 120 feet to accommodate passengers. In 1903 the company was consolidated with several others into the Alaska Steamship Company. The ship was reportedly operating on a Juneau to Sikta mailboat run in 1903. (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062035/1903-07-11/ed-1/seq-1.pdf, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Puget_Sound_steamboats.)

The second, photo above, was motorship MV GARLAND built in 1944 by Northwestern Shipbuilding Co. in Bellingham WA as FS-248 for the United States Army. After decommissioning she was issued official number 250431 and named MV GARLAND.

Sometime after WWII, the M/V Garland was bought by Heinie Berger, owner of Berger Transportation Company . Berger Transportation Company operated M/V Garland to and from Puget Sound ports and Alaska outports carrying mail, passengers and freight. When Heinie Berger died in 1954 his estate was sold off.

Many of Alaska’s best seamen got their start aboard the M/V Garland. Captain Richard Hofstad, who pioneered routes for the Alaska Marine Highway in its earlier years, learned those routes from his Chief Mate Jack V. Johnson who had sailed mail boat routes on the Garland.