MV Wickersham

Wickersham at the Prince Rupert terminal in 1970
History
Name:	Stena Britannica
Owner:	Stena Line
Route:	Kiel-Gothenburg
Builder:	A/S Langesunds Mek
Launched:	1967
Fate:	Sold to Alaska Marine Highway
Name:	Wickersham
Namesake:	James Wickersham
Owner:	Alaska Marine Highway System
Port of registry:	United States
Route:	Seattle (WA), Prince Rupert (BC), Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka
Acquired:	by purchase, April 1968
Commissioned:	1968
Decommissioned:	1974
Identification:	IMO number: 6717148
Fate:	Sold to Sally Line
Name:	Viking 6
Owner:	Sally Line
Operator:	Viking Line
Route:	-Helsinki
In service:	1974
Out of service:	1980
Name:	Goelo
Owner:	Sally Line
Operator:	Brittany Ferries
Route:	Portsmouth-St Malo
Commissioned:	1980
Decommissioned:	1982
Fate:	Sold to Sol Lines
Name:	Sol Olympia
Owner:	Sol Lines
Operator:	Sol Lines
Route:	Venice-Haifa
Commissioned:	1982
Decommissioned:	1985
Fate:	Reverted to AB Sally after Sol Lines bankruptcy
Name:	Sun Express
Owner:	Sally Line
Operator:	Viking Line
In service:	1985
Out of service:	1986
Renamed:	Viking 6
Name:	Moby Dream
Owner:	Moby Lines
In service:	1986
Out of service:	1994
Name:	Sardegna Bella
Owner:	Moby Lines
Operator:	Sardegna Lines
In service:	194
Fate:	Scrapped in 2001
General characteristics
Length:	363 ft (111 m)
Decks:	One vehicle deck
Ramps:	Bow
Ice class:	1B
Capacity:	1,300 passengers

MV Wickersham was a mainline ferry vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway.

Wickersham was the second vessel, after the MV Chilkat, in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet to not have been constructed specifically for AMHS, but was rather acquired for from the Stena Line, where it was known as the Stena Britannica and served the Kiel, Germany–Gothenburg, Sweden route. Constructed just one year prior to its purchase by AMHS in April 1968, her arrival and status as an "oceangoing" vessel allowed AMHS to expand the southern terminus of its route system south to Washington and the Port of Seattle.

Due to the Passenger Services Act and laws of cabotage, however, the Wickersham could only undergo its Washington-Alaska voyages with an intermediate stop in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Further complicating her service was her complicated bow unloading system which was only compatible with AMHS ports in Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka, in addition to the ports of Seattle and Prince Rupert. Her large size and draft which served her well in the turbulent waters of Dixon Entrance and other exposed portions of the Alaska-Washington voyage, were too great to slip through passages of water such as Peril Strait en route to Sitka, which forced her to approach Sitka from the outer coast of Baranof Island and through the Pacific Ocean.

With the debut of the Columbia, the marine highway's new flagship vessel, in 1974, the Wickersham was sold to the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally as the Viking 6, where she sailed from to Helsinki under the Viking Line brand.