❖ TUGBOAT STUBBY born on Orcas Island in 1950 ❖

"Mississippi" Toler
With STUBBY working in the San Juan Islands,
Date between 1950 & 1982.
Courtesy of Deer Harbor's Cliff Thompson and 
Mark Freeman, Seattle.

STUBBY was built by boatbuilder, Chet North, in Deer Harbor, Orcas Island, for Bill "Mississippi" Toler. She was put in the lumber trade in the San Juan Islands as a boom boat in 1950. STUBBY had 1 1/8" fir planking covered with 3/4" Ironbark.
      In 1982 STUBBY was purchased by the Fremont Tugboat Company of Seattle. According to Wooden Boat magazine, she was renamed SPANNER and added to the company's growing fleet. SPANNER was recaulked, refastened and repowered with a 60-HP Gray Lugger, that turned a 22 x 21" propeller through a 3:1 reduction gear. A new house was installed. Designer for the rebuilding was Lewis B. Nasmyth, mechanical work was done by Bill Francis, and the shipwright was Steve Humphries.
      The tug was in dry storage in Anacortes, prior to her recent purchase and a survey revealed that no planking or frames had to be removed because of dry rot, although the rest of the vessel had deteriorated beyond repair. The 24-ft workboat joined five other tugs in the fleet of Fremont Tugboat Company.
Source of text data: Wooden Boat magazine, date of publishing unknown.