A public pier in Ballard is expected to reopen after the City of Seattle won a lawsuit against the owner of a vessel that has occupied the site since 2020.
In an update to constituents, Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss said Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans successfully pursued legal action against the owner of the ship Albert, which has been illegally moored at the public pier on 24th Avenue NW along the Lake Washington Ship Canal since March 2020.
Albert has a long history that stretches back nearly a century. According to local researcher Chris Mills (of Sea Lion Radio fame), who is writing a book about the vessel, the ship was named in memory of Albert Thorvaldsson, a 25-year-old Icelandic fisherman who disappeared at sea in 1936 while tending fishing nets near the town of Olafsfjordur. After his death, his parents helped launch a fundraising campaign that ultimately led to the construction of Northern Iceland’s first rescue vessel. When the steel-hulled ship was built in Reykjavik and launched in 1956, it was named Albert in his honor.
Mills says the vessel spent its early years with the Icelandic Coast Guard, serving during the Cod Wars, conducting search-and-rescue missions, and supporting scientific research. After leaving Iceland in the late 1970s, the Albert took on a wide range of roles, including as a research vessel, diving charter boat, mail carrier in Costa Rica, and support vessel during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup in Alaska. Despite its many owners and changing purposes over the decades, the ship has retained the name Albert…