Asbury Park was a high-speed coastal steamer built in Philadelphia, and intended to transport well-to-do persons from New York to summer homes on the New Jersey shore. This vessel was sold to West Coast interests in 1918, and later converted to an automobile ferry, serving on various routes in the San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound and British Columbia. This vessel was known by a number of other names, including City of Sacramento, Kahloke, Langdale Queen, and Lady Grace. She was retired as a ferryboat in 1976. The superstructure was removed in 1988 after being damaged, and Asbury Park operated as a barge until being abandoned sometime after 2004; she sank in 2008.
Asbury Park had a number of owners over her long career. These included, among others, the Jersey Central Railroad (1903-1918) Monticello Steamship Co. (1918-1917); Golden Gate Ferry Co. (1918-1927), Southern Pacific Railroad, (1927-1941), Puget Sound Navigation Company, (1941-1952), Black Ball Line, Ltd, (1951-1961), and BC Ferries (1961-1976).
Engineering
As built, the mechanical plant of Asbury Park consisted of twin four-cylinder, triple expansion steam engines, compound steam engine; cylinder bores 23 in, 37 in and 2x 43 in; stroke 30 in, generating 5,900 horsepower, with each engine driving a propeller shaft. Steam was generated by nine coal-fired boilers, which ventilated through twin smoke stacks. This drove the vessel at speeds in excess of 20 kn.[1]