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UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD WOODEN HARBOR TUG PROGRAM, WORLD WAR I By: Rev. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. During World War I the United States Shipping Board placed orders for 100 wooden harbor tugs. Fifty-eight such tugs were actually built, and the remainder can- celled at the end of the war. Among the shipyards involved were four on the Great Lakes. A total of twenty-nine tugs were built in these yards and nine were can- celled. All of the World War I wooden harbor tugs were of design #1086, and had the follow- ing dimensions: 100 feet length overall, 94'10" between perpendiculars, 24' beam and 14'2" depth. Power was supplied by a single-ended scotch boiler feeding steam to a fore and aft compound engine, 17" and 38" diameter of cylinders and 26" stroke, with an indicated horsepower of 450. The list below shows the names of the thirty-eight tugs which were contracted for through Great Lakes shipyards. The list also gives the builder's name and the sub- sequent history of each unit. Hull dimensions and machinery are as indicated above. As will be seen, all thirty-eight went to saltwater immediately on completion and, to the best of our knowledge, none ever returned to the Great Lakes. ACTIVE (US. 218939) was built at Sturgeon Bay by Leathem and Smith Towing and Wrecking Company. Her engines were built by the Marine Iron Works, Chicago. ACTIVE was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1926 as USS. ACTIVE and served through World War II. In 1948 the tug was acquired by the Carroll Towing Company of New York and re- named RICHARD S. CARROLL. It was dismantled at New York in 1956. ALLOUEZ (US. 219390) was built at Green Bay, Wisconsin by Northwest Engineering Works. Her engines came from National Shipbuilding Company, Goderich, Ontario. ALLOUEZ was acquired from USSB. by Thomas J. Tracy and renamed HELEN L. TRACY. Ownership passed to Seaboard Towing Line of New York in 1949, without change of name. HELEN L. TRACY was abandoned and dis- mantled in 1953. ASHWAUBEMIE (US. 218493) was also built at Green Bay by Northwest, but her engines came from the Valley Iron Works, at nearby Appleton, Wisconsin. The Curtis Bay Towing Co., of Balti- more acquired ASHWAUBEMIE in 1921 and operated her in the local area until 1929 when it returned to New York as a unit of the George N. Barrett Towing Co. At this time the tug was renamed GRACE A. BARRETT. In her later years this tug was operated by Moran Towing & Trans- Moran colors. It was dismantled at New York in 1950. RICHARD S. CARROLL Author's Collection mae