Construction
Fortuna was built in 1904 at a shipyard on the west side of Lake Washington two blocks south of Leschi Park. She was 106.9 feet in length overall, and rated at 81 tons. The vessel is reported to have been acquired by Anderson Steamboat Company at a cost $31,500 in December 1906.
Fortuna was built for Captain John Anderson to join his fleet of steamboats on Lake Washington, operating under the name of the Anderson Steamboat Company. Anderson at that point may have been operating in partnership with the Seattle Street Railway. Fortuna had compound engines that had been built at Seattle Machine Works. .
Fortuna was the Roman name for the goddess of fortune. Captain Anderson named his vessels after classical gods, starting with Xanthus and Cyrene.
Fortuna was known for her distinctive chime whistle, which had been personally prepared by Captain Anderson, filing away at the whistle’s pipe until the sound suited him. Later the whistle was transferred to another Anderson boat, the Sightseer, which became one of the last steamboats of the Mosquito Fleet to operate on Puget Sound.
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