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| Spirit of Algoma History
The 27-foot steam tugboat Spirit of Algoma has been sitting ashore in the corner of a Milwaukee, WI boatyard for many years now. Beyond the fact that the vessel appears to be quite old, very little is known at this time about her history. What we do know about this diminutive tug is that she has been in the Milwaukee area since the mid-1980’s, and was only given the name Spirit of Algoma in the 1990’s. Prior to that, according to her previous owner, she was unnamed. The closest thing to a former name that we have found to date is the story of two old cork life vests stenciled with the name Betty Jean. These were found on board by a previous owner when he purchased the tug and brought her to Milwaukee. The origin of the vests is unknown and it may be that there is no connection to the tug. However, at this point anything is possible. While we have yet to determine the true origin of this mysterious tug, our research so far has uncovered clues and rumors that point to several different possibilities. One story suggests that the vessel was built for a Chicago-area captain as a retirement “toy”, but perhaps the most likely suggestion is that she is an early Russel Brothers hull, or other commercially built logging tug. There are rumors that say the tug was used in the pulp trade on the Fox River, equipped with a cabin resembling a miniature G-tug. Others insist the tug is Canadian-built and would have originally been an open boat, again for the rafting trade. Among the evidence supporting the pulp trade theories are a steering wheel that, although unmarked, appears identical to the wheels used in other Russel-built “alligator” tugs, and a large steel “spoon” at the stern, which would have been used to protect the propeller and rudder when working in pulp rafts and shallow water. The dates are uncertain, but we have been able to roughly trace the vessel’s chain of ownership perhaps as far back as the 1960’s. At that time she was owned by a Mr. Paul Harvey who worked for the Chicago Sun-Times. He had purchased the tug for recreational use and moved her from Fond Du Lac, WI (the vessel’s purpose there is unknown). When he passed away, a party in Oshkosh bought the boat. She was then purchased by Charles Kean, who owned a Tool & Die shop in Madison. After he passed away the tug was sold to a party in Middleton, WI. Apparently upon delivery, the boat fell off the truck and suffered some structural damage. She is noted to have sat in a quarry in the Madison area for two years and then in a mobile home park for another six after that. The tug was then purchased by a man named O’Leary at Manawa, WI, and sat around several years before finally being purchased by Charles Clark of Milwaukee, in the mid-1980’s. With the exception of the time during Mr. Clark’s ownership, the vessel seems to have been used very little, if at all. However, her machinery had been maintained and kept in working order. Construction
The tug is made of fairly light gauge steel, probably 1/8” plate or so, with angle-iron ribs. It is entirely riveted, but this is not immediately obvious from the outside. It is said that the rivets were shot from the inside and countersunk, giving a false impression from the exterior that the hull had been doubled. Upon close inspection, there is no evidence of welding, with the exception of a few patches. The decks and gunwales are of welded construction, evidently having replaced the originals at some point in the boat’s history. When the vessel was purchased by Mr. Clark, she had a pilothouse and cabin made of light riveted steel. Due to its poor condition, this was removed in the 1980’s and replaced with a new wood superstructure similar in appearance to the old one, but raised 16 inches for more standing room inside. Where it now has portholes (added in the 1980’s) there used to be mobile home windows, a careless modification made to the tug’s cabin years earlier. Machinery The tug was obviously built for one-man operation, with the engine within reach of the steering wheel and the boiler aft of that, with the fire door facing forward. Her engine is a three-cylinder, triple-expansion type, an unusual choice of engine for a working vessel of this size. An old industry steam expert was asked years ago his opinion on the engine, which he recommended was “commercially built” within the 1910-1920 time period. It ran at about 150 RPM while cruising, but at that speed would use up steam faster than the boiler could produce it, as the boiler is somewhat undersized for this engine.
At some point during her recreational use, the tug had been converted from oil to coal firing, which of course sounds odd. It is not clear whether she was oil fired as built, or converted during her working career. The riveted oil tanks and hot well were still in there in the 1980’s, although the vessel was already converted to coal by then. They have since been removed. The boiler is a vertical firetube type with approximately 99 tubes, and is said to burn 20 pounds of coal per hour. Her Future While the Spirit of Algoma’s machinery is all in excellent condition and the engine turned over easily during a recent inspection, the thin steel hull and wooden superstructure are in very poor condition at this time. The tug will eventually be trucked to Duluth, but until we can determine her true history, no decision will be made on her long-term future. The options include a full restoration to original appearance if she is found to be of historical significance, or removing the steam machinery for re-use in another hull. We have exhausted all of the usual avenues of research, and yet the little tug with the triple-expansion engine remains a mystery. She was just recently (1990 or so) put into state registry but her prior history is untraceable from there. A build date of 1916 was given, but that date was fabricated by the previous owner in order to fill in a blank on the application. Beyond the modern registration number, she bears NO identifiable markings whatsoever, on either the engine, boiler, hull, or frames. Former owners or anyone with knowledge of this tug’s history are invited to contact us. Any additional information or leads would be very much appreciated. |
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