There is a wheeled amphibious vehicle called a DUKW designed and built from 1942 through 1945. It is amphibious and has six all-wheel-drive tires so it can go almost anywhere. Many of these units are now used for tourism in marine environments. Seattle being one such place. Unfortunatley, the Ride The Ducks company suffered a bad fatal accident in 2015 and had a general downturn of business prompting them to issue the following statement:
Statement from Ride the Ducks of Seattle
Late last week we made the very difficult decision to close Ride the Ducks of Seattle. We’ve been working hard to rebuild our business over the past few years and had been making great progress, showcasing our beautiful city through our iconic tours. In reality, the legal issues surrounding the tragic crash in 2015 were simply too much for our company to overcome. We’ve been working to hold the manufacturer of the vehicle that we believe caused the tragedy accountable, and while we believe we will be successful, it will come too late for Ride the Ducks of Seattle. While the COVID-19 situation certainly accelerated our decision, we were faced with a set of financial realities that were inescapable.
We have many people to thank for making Ride the Ducks of Seattle a part of our city’s landscape, including the millions of guests we’ve welcomed aboard and the local business community that has supported us. Most important, though, we want to share our profound gratitude to our wonderful team of employees who worked to make Ride the Ducks of Seattle the most popular tourist activity year after year. We could not have come as far as we did without their dedication and hard work.
Sad as they were a major part of the waterfront and a popular tour.
That being said, now is your chance to own a bit of history - their assets are being auctioned off by the James G. Murphy auction company
Now is your chance to own a bit of history:
Yes, it would be fun to have one and go out for coffee in it but...
There is also a very interesting connection between one of the designers of this vehicle and me and my parents. In 1992, we were all on board a wonderful voyage to Antarctica - I have a picture Dennis painted hanging on my living room wall. The ship we were on sunk fifteen years later in 2007. No losses.
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