Twice Downed, Still on Top: Schooner Days CCXCVII (297)

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FOUR tiny tug boats that once chugged and churned with cumbersome barges and sailing vessels in tow are moored in the old Welland Canal at Port Dalhousie, links connecting the present marine day of speedy Diesel-driven ships and huge steel hulked freighters with the picturesque towing era of a half-century ago. They are so much alike that the landsman can only tell them apart by their paint.

Yarns of this era are told and retold daily in the Harrigan Tug Lines' office here when veteran and retired skippers and sailors gather with John Harrigan to pass away the time.

"It's a wonder I have a tug left," comments Harrigan, as he recalls collisions and mishaps his fleet of tugs encountered. He himself as a lad of fifteen shipped before the mast, and knows much of the sailing days as well as towing.

The men who sailed these tugs were a hard working and hard living lot who seldom had any spare time from the opening to the closing of navigation. There was keen rivalry among the various captains to get business and this led to "cut throat" tactics, and the stage referred to as "running wild," which proved a very costly venture for the tug owners. The tugs subsequently organized, and though there were periodic outbreaks of competition the towing trade was generally run on sound principles in later years.

Prior to 1887, while the second Welland Canal was still in use, steam tugs made their appearance, replacing the teams of horses which for years had drawn the schooners and barges through the first and second canals.

The "Clara Carter," owned by the Carter Brothers of Port. Colborne, was one of the first tugs operating in the second canal.

Once introduced, the tug towing trade grew rapidly in the long 14-mile level between Thorold and Port Colborne, broken only by one lock at Port Robinson. The Carter Brothers, DeWitt and Charles, did not have this new venture to themselves long. Among some of the first tug owners were: Owen McMahon, John Gordon, S. Hopkins, Ned and D. Armstrong, J. Saurin, D. McLeod, John Matthews, J. McCoppen, of Port Colborne; Ross and Sons, of Port Robinson; Clarys, of Thorold; Conner Quackenbush, H. Neelon, and H. Julian, of Port Dalhousie.

In the three-mile level between, locks Two and One, at the Port Dalhousie terminus, tugging started. Business at this end was particularly good late Saturday when downbound skippers were anxious to clear the canal before the closing hour of midnight Sunday.

At both Port Colborne and Port Dalhousie harbors vessels were brought in and taken out to open water in the lakes by tugs. It was not an uncommon sight to see a sturdy little tug towing from two to four vessels in the levels and harbors and occasionally even six of the smaller schooners would be in tow of one tug.

The towing trade did not flourish on a large scale until the third and now de-watered canal was completed in 1887. Opening of this waterway saw the passing of the horse teams and the general use of tugs by craft without power. The length of the locks was increased about 120 feet and the width doubled and this gave ample room for the tugs to lock through with their tows, a factor which was not workable in the previous canal.

According to Capt. Powell, one of the Harrigan Tug Lines office visitors, there were 26 tugs working the canal when the third canal was put into use. Many schooners had their masts lifted out and were converted into barges. Usual towing charge was 20 cents a registered ton, and the average fee for a passage through the canal was approximately $60. Wages were low and the men worked long hours. The captain, the highest paid, received $60 monthly, and the other five members of the crew, the engineer, fireman, deck-hand, and cook were graded lower. Tugs in those days, cost their owners about four or five thousand dollars.

It was at this time, between 1885 and 1887, that competition became so keen that the owners and skippers let their tugs "run wild." Price cutting was introduced, and so expensive were the efforts to land a "fare," followed by under-bidding, that they lost money. They ultimately organized, with DeWitt Carter manager of the association. Under this agreement of set prices, the tugs took turns in picking up tows, at set rates.

During this wild spree the tugs, according to Capt. Tom McAvoy, are known to have raced down the lake ten miles past the Niagara River and twenty miles from port for an incoming vessel. Once a tug had taken the ship in tow the losers would lay-to in the lake and await the sighting of another ship and then the race would be renewed.

The Escort, now owned by Harrigan, and one of the last surviving veterans of the flourishing towing days, was sent to the bottom of Lake Ontario, between Port Weller and Niagara-on-the-Lake, around 1900 as a result of this zealous bidding for tows. The steamer Westmount was towing two barges when the Escort, hoping to get the handling of the tow through the canal, cut short directly in front of one of the barges and was rolled over. Two of the crew were lost in this collision. She was raised.

The Escort, built at Port Colborne in 1894 by the Carter Brothers, has a colorful history. She is 44 feet overall with a 15-foot beam and was built to tow the barge Minnedosa. She was later sold to the Canada Steamship Lines, and in March 1921, was purchased by Harrigan. In 1927 she was again rammed by a freighter near Welland, while towing a barge, and was sunk, this time with no loss of life. She was raised again. Today she is moored in the canal.

Another group of tug owners and captains are: Capt. McGrath, Port Dalhousie, who sailed the Augusta, and O'Brien; Capt. William Hand, Port Dalhousie, the Nellie Bly, Dorothy May, Mabel MacDonald, and Euphemia; Don and Tom Noble, John and Don McGrath, and William Julian, of Port Dalhousie; George and Robert Ross, of Port Robinson; Ed and John Armstrong, Frank and Spenny Carter, all of Port Colborne. The tug Inez was owned by the Armstrongs, of Port Colborne. The Ella Taylor was sailed by Capt. Leeson, of Merritton. The H. McMaugh was operated by Archie McMaugh, of St. Catharines. The Carters sailed the Alert, Escot, Ruth and Hector. The Munroe and Home Rule were owned by John Cloy, Thorold.

John Harrigan went into the tug business about 1916, first buying the steel-hulled tug, Cortland, now in use in New York Harbor. He later purchased the A. D. Cross, built by Carter Bros, in 1897, and rechristened it the Martin H. With these two tugs Harrigan was kept busy about two seasons towing the half-boats from Port Dalhousie to Montreal, and particularly from Ogdensburg to Montreal. The half-boats were large upper lakes freighters purchased by the United States Government and used to transport supplies overseas. These were too lengthy to pass through the canals and were cut in half at upper lakes ports and towed to Montreal, where they were rejoined.

Harrigan later purchased the Escort and Benning from the Canada Steamship Lines, the Chippawa, which was renamed the Alert, and the R. B. McNaughton, which was rechristened the Joseph H. The last two tugs he bought in 1927 were the Joe Goodwin and the Ethel, both of which had seen long service in the canal.

The gradual disappearance of barges combined with the opening of the Welland Ship Canal in 1930 rang the knell of towing, because the new locks are large enough for the biggest steamers to enter under their own steam. So, as with horse teams and schooners, tug days have passed on, to be revived only when gather to swap yarns.

THE ESCORT, twice sunk, trying to get a "fare" and still cheerful.