651 Years of Tugs

The Yahoo tugboat groups has recently hosted an interesting discussion on “oldest” tugs in the United States, North America, or US-built.  Here’s a batch I’ve seen in the past year.

Baltimore . . . 1906, afloat in Baltimore.

Rose . . . 1906,  afloat in Camden, NJ.

Jupiter . . . 1901, afloat in Philadelphia.

Pegasus . . . 1907,  afloat in Jersey City.

Urger . . . 1901, working near Albany.   I took this foto in Lyons in February.

New York Central No. 13 . . . 1887,  ashore on Staten Island.

I’d love to see recent fotos of the following:  Fanny J, 1874, probably in Haiti;  Tramp, 1874; Rustler, 1886; Jill Marie, 1889; and Spanky Paine, 1892.  Many boats much younger than all those mentioned here have been scrapped or left to linger in graveyards.

All fotos in this post by Will Van Dorp, taken in 2010.  Last time I had a batch adding up to 550 years.

Unrelated but a “must-see” is the current exhibit at Atlantic Gallery called “Water”  which features work by 75 artists including Pamela Talese and the peripatetic bowsprite.