Elliott Bay

Coordinates: 47°36′11″N 122°22′23″W / 47.603°N 122.373°W / 47.603; -122.373

Elliott Bay as viewed from Queen Anne Hill. Alki is seen across the water

Elliott Bay with a ferry out on the water

Elliott Bay and the Seattle waterfront, looking north from the Pacific Coast Co. dock, ca. 1907

Elliott Bay, looking southwest from Columbia Center. Washington State Ferries terminal is in the foreground

Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound. Part of Washington's inland sea Puget Sound, it is home to the Port of Seattle, which, in 2002, was the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic and the 46th busiest in the world.^[1]

It is unclear for whom the bay is named: candidates include Jared Elliott, ship's chaplain; George Elliott, ship's boy; and Midshipman Samuel Elliott; all of the Wilkes expedition. The latter has been deemed the most likely namesake.^[2]

Elliott Bay is also home to Colman Dock, the main Seattle terminal of the state's ferry system, the largest in the country. Sailings regularly depart from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton.

May through September, a small passenger ferry known as the Elliott Bay Water Taxi^[3] runs across the bay, connecting downtown Seattle with West Seattle (Seacrest Dock).

The Duwamish Waterway is the main freshwater stream emptying into the bay.

The fictional Elliott Bay Towers, home of Frasier Crane on the TV series Frasier, are named after the bay, as is the quite real Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle's Pioneer Square.

The last remaining model of the Boeing 307 crashed here in 2002 during its final flight to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

References

1. ^ http://www.aapa-ports.org/industryinfo/statistics.htm
2. ^ http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5226
3. ^ http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/oto/water_taxi.html

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