Cold weather keeps me inside, where my fingers keep the keyboard warm. I’ll start by revisiting this foto I took a warm morning in 2010. That tugboat was 60 years old at that moment. The easiest name to read is Ocean King, but in raised metal letters on the port bow, you might make out some other letters,
here and
even clearer here on the starboard bow. And in between those two names, she also went by David McAllister.
The following three fotos come thanks to Allen Baker. The foto below shows Resolute in 1974 in Fells Point, when she was part of the Baker-Whitely Towing Company. Click here and here for posts I did in Fells Point and Baltimore back in 2010.
The foto below dates from 1980. Notice Grace McAllister to the left. At this point, McAllister had just purchased the B-W Towing Company.
The boat to the right I can’t identify. Notice Holland and Britannia also. Britannia was built as Thomas A. Meseck at Marvel in Newburgh NY in 1942.
It turns out that Ocean King aka Resolute was built at RTC Shipbuilding, the same yard in Philadelphia Camden as John B. Caddell, which I last saw, sold for scrap here.
Many thanks to Allen Baker for sharing these vintage fotos. And thanks to the folks at tugboatinformation.com, without whom I’d have a much harder time tracing back these names.
First three fotos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
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January 8, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Allen Baker
Thanks for posting those images Will. In her prime, Resolute was a sharp looking boat.
For the record:
The 1974 shot of Resolute was not taken by me. I am not sure who took it, but it might have been Bob Lewis.
In that shot, between the stern of Resolute and the bow of Holland, you can get a little peek at Curtis Bay Towing’s, 1936 built Carolyn laying across the end of the Recreation Pier.
The unidentified tug ahead of Britannia is her sister America. Also built by the Marvel yard.
Baker-Whiteley had some good looking, classic tugs.
January 9, 2014 at 10:35 am
sfdi1947
Doesn’t look like a British Dreadnaught.
January 10, 2014 at 8:33 am
HT
Wil a little more history on the Resolute,when she was owned by McAllister and still running a old Fairbanks engine.She suffered a crankcase explosion and unfortunately the engineer was killed.This occurred in the early 90’s,it was a sad day in the kills.
January 10, 2014 at 10:55 am
tugster
HT– sad, yes. but thanks for sharing that info.