Ferry Peralta (rebuilt as Kalakala) burns down on May 6, 1933.

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On May 6, 1933, fire breaks out at the ferry terminal in Oakland, California, destroying the ferry Peralta, whose hull will be used to build the renowned Puget Sound ferry Kalakala.

In the middle of the night, a fire broke out at the terminal building near the Key Ferry slip in Oakland. The ferry Peralta, which is moored there, can't leave her berth in time. Three Key System employees managed to break open a window and climb inside. They rescued the day's receipts of $8,000.

Her tie lines are cut in an attempt to save her, but she drifts away from shore, engulfed in flames. By morning, flames have gutted the Peralta, and her superstructure is melted and twisted. The Key System decides not to rebuild her.

Four months later, the Puget Sound Navigation Co. bought her hull for use in the construction of the ferry Kalakala.

Sources:
M[ary] S. Kline and G.A. Bayless, Ferryboats: A Legend on Puget Sound (Seattle: Bayless Books, 1983), 229-247.

By Alan J. Stein, November 10, 1998

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Burned wreckage of the ferry Peralta, San Francisco, May 1933

Burned hulk of the Peralta, San Francisco, May 7, 1933