Here are previous posts in this series. Other titles with the word hulls can be found here.
I’ve taken all these photos since the start of 2019. The one below is a leap forward: that’s my first view of the 1912 hull of the oft-mentioned tug I know as Grouper. This might be the year of destiny for this 107-year-old boat, although I’ve thought that many times before. If plans are to emerge from the foundry of all possibilities, this is the time to forge them.
A decade and a half younger at 90 years young, Kentucky illustrates the draft on these tugs.
Tender #1 will also be 90 years in service this year.
Fairchild is the youngster in this set . . . launched in 1953 at Roamer Boat in Holland. MI
And finally, I don’t believe this is the 1938 Kam. But what boat is this? And why are those square openings in the hull just above the waterline? And is this the Purvis scrapyard?
All photos by Will Van Dorp, in Lyons NY and the Soo.
tugster: a waterblog 
11 comments
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January 21, 2019 at 1:25 pm
William Lafferty
No, Will, that is the 1927 Kam. It was built then my the Midland Shipbuilding Coi., Ltd., at Midland as hull number 22, as North Shore Supply for the firm of that name, North Shore Supply Co., Ltd., of Fort William, Ontario, providing provisions and supply to vessels in the harbors of Port Arthur and Fort William. It became Kam, apparently, in 1987, and is in Canadian documentation, owned by Douglas and Valerie McLeod of the Canadian Soo. The tug Kam of 1938 is still listed as extent by the International Maritime Organization, although I have my severe doubts about that, registered in Panama as the passenger boat El Conquistador.
January 21, 2019 at 4:11 pm
tugster
William– Here’s that one in a 2002 new article: https://theworldlink.com/the-el-conquistador—-captain-seeks-smooth-sailing/article_5fed0907-7e0f-5e58-bb23-67364cc75b26.html
January 21, 2019 at 4:13 pm
tugster
and two years later: https://theworldlink.com/news/local/yacht-remains-abandoned-moored-in-coos-bay/article_844149b2-1eff-57d8-8975-34e63fd9011e.html
January 21, 2019 at 6:25 pm
William Lafferty
The El Conquistador sat at Coos Bay until sold by the Port of Coos Bay for moorage fees for $60,000 to a local who refurbished it into a yacht for charter, done in 2007. Its inspection history in Oregon on the Port Information website stops at 2010, but that site also claims it is still “active,”still registered at Panama, as doe Equasis. It cannot be operated commercially between American ports, so it may be lurking somewhere in the Caribbean as a charter yacht.
January 21, 2019 at 2:44 pm
High and Dry 10 — tugster: a waterblog https://tugster.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/high-and-dry-10/ – „Ingerii sunt spirite inaripate, prietene cu spiritul tau inaripat.“
[…] via High and Dry 10 — tugster: a waterblog […]
January 21, 2019 at 3:21 pm
Lee Rust
That particular Kam looks like she’s been prepped for ‘reefing’ with no propeller and the flooding ports cut in. All of us Grouper fans are particularly sensitive to that procedure.
January 22, 2019 at 11:18 am
George Schneider
As of last Fall, EL CONQUISTADOR was still at that same berth in Coos Bay. She had lights on at night, so perhaps is somebody’s houseboat.
January 22, 2019 at 11:19 am
tugster
Thx, George.
December 13, 2019 at 11:52 pm
tugboathunter
Supposedly the Kam at Purvis was sold in 2019 to an owner who plans to return it to the water. Not sure what will become of that.
November 14, 2020 at 8:57 am
Anonymous
El Conquistador is attempting to leave The Port of Coos Bay at this time and is currently grounded in the mud at the mercy of the tides. It is unfortunate and sad. Please raise an outcry as the whole situation is needing attention.
November 14, 2020 at 3:32 pm
tugster
I’m puzzled. There’s a USCG station in Coos Bay, and that would be the better place to express your concern. AIS also shows no shis by that name there.