❖ TUG RACING ❖ 1951

Most races are canceled for 2020 but we can pull from the historical archives and admire the old duffers huffing past to give their audience a thrill, then and now. Here is a report from 1951.
    

The tug WEDELL FOSS
(ex- R. M. Woodward)*
Built 1904
109' x 23'
Winner of Class A.
Foss Launch & Tug Company, Seattle, WA.
Click image to enlarge.
Photo by Williamson of Seattle from the
archives of the Saltwater People Log©

"The competition was so hot in the annual Maritime Day races on Elliott Bay, Seattle, that two tugs broke down in the four-mile sprints.
      Seattle boats won three of the races. A Navy tug from Alaska took the other.
      Thousands of persons onshore, on the Coast Guard cutter WACHUSETT, and on dozens of small boats watched the tugs plunge through the water in quest of the plaques awarded the winners.
      It was breezy and sunny, and the hard-working committees of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society and the Propeller Club, sponsors of the races couldn't have asked for better weather. [Web Anderson was the chairman of the event.]
      The Seattle tug ISKUM, owned by the Pioneer Towing Co and skippered by Don Houchen, took the honors in the first race when she beat out seven competitors in Class C, the race for busy little workboats of less than 273 horse-power. 

BEE
(ex-Nellie Pearson)
130900
Built 1901
59.4' x 15'
Washington Tug & Barge Co,
Otto Johnson, race day skipper.
Dated 1941 by professional Ray Krantz,
original from the archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Second place was won by the BEE, another Seattle boat, owned by the Washington Tug & Barge Co, with Otto Johnson as skipper. Third place was taken by the MAGNOLIA of Tacoma, owned by the Olson Tug Boat Co and handled by Bill Thompson. 
      After the starter came the closest race of the day, with three tugs in Class B, for harbor tugs, finishing within ten seconds.
      

FOSS 18
(ex-cannery tender ALICE)
Built 1892
69' x 19'
Inscribed with "525 HP Diesel"
Click image to enlarge.
Original undated photo by Ray Krantz no. 13236.
From the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society.©

The Foss Launch & Tug Co which had bad luck when the HAZEL FOSS developed engine trouble in the opening race, took first place in Class B. The FOSS No. 18 was the winner, followed closely by the LaBONNE, Vancouver, B.C., and the SWIFTSURE 11, from New Westminster, B.C. 
      Another Foss tug, the WEDELL FOSS, followed this with a victory in Class A, for the powerful ocean-going craft. In second place was the MACLAUFAY from Tacoma, and third was the ISLAND SOVEREIGN, from Victoria, B.C. 
      Honors in the military class, which topped the program, went to the ATA-242, a Military Sea Transportation Service tug from Kodiak, Alaska."
Jay Wells, Seattle Times, May 20 1951.
      
 *Further reading: Good life history on the WEDDELL FOSS and the FOSS 18 can be seen in Michael Skalley's Foss, Ninety Years of Towboating. Burbank, CA., Superior Pub. 1986.