#arthur foss

[historicwharf]

“ TRIVIA TUESDAY: In July 1934 the 45-year old ARTHUR FOSS (ex-WALLOWA) emerged from the Foss Tacoma shipyard as a rebuilt, modern diesel-powered tug. With her new direct-drive 700-HP Washington Iron Works engine and new deckhouse, she became the most powerful tug on the west coast until World War II, and one of the fastest and most comfortable. During that time she was used for coastal and oceanic tows and was long referred to by Foss employees as "the yacht"! In this photo ARTHUR FOSS is undergoing speed trials. Maximum speed is 12.5 knots. “

From Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page

[historicwharf]

“ For a brief time at the end of her 80-year working life, our historic tug ARTHUR FOSS (1889) carried the name THEODORE FOSS. This was during her last few seasons stationed at Port Angeles as part of Foss's log-towing division. (An ex-Army tug built in 1944 was given the venerable ARTHUR FOSS name in 1964.) This photo shows THEODORE at Port Angeles in 1966 upon arrival of the brand-new MYRTLE FOSS. “

from Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page

[historicwharf]

“ Our historic tug ARTHUR FOSS (1889) had an 80-year service life, mostly based in the Puget Sound region. Her tremendous pulling power was utilized mostly for towing barges of raw materials or timber, and log cribs and rafts, between ports up and down the west coast. In this photo dated May 6, 1940, ARTHUR tows the giant lumber barge NISQUALLY out of Aberdeen, WA. The barge could easily carry 1 million board feet of lumber. “

From Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page

[historicwharf]

“ TRIVIA TUESDAY: Tugboats have hard lives, but there aren't many in the world today which have had as long and hard a life as our historic ARTHUR FOSS (1889). In this November 1935 photo she is on fire and partially sunk in Discovery Bay as other Foss tugs work to extinguish the blaze. Spoiler alert: they did, and ARTHUR was back in service within 6 months. At other times in her career, she was also blown ashore, suffered at least 2 other fires, and was even knocked over in a drydock. ARTHUR was retired after nearly 80 years of service in 1968. We estimate she has traveled over 1 million miles in her 130-year life, and efforts are underway to restore her to cruising condition in the next 10 years.”

From Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page

[historicwharf]

In honor of the final closing of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, have a photo of two of our historic vessels along the Seattle Waterfront with the Viaduct. This photograph of the tugboat Arthur Foss and Lightship no. 83 was taken July 24th, 1970, the day that Arthur Foss was donated to become a museum ship. 

The Viaduct will soon be gone, but our museum ships live on!

From Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page

[historicwharf]

bonaevoluntatis

“Was Arthur Foss any relation to Thea Foss?  Tacoma’s waterfront has a section named for Thea.”

Thea Foss is the woman who founded the Foss tugboat company. A Norwegian immigrant, her and her husband Andrew settled in the new city of Tacoma in the late 1800′s. In the summer of 1889, While Andrew was away doing carpentry jobs, Thea bought a rowboat and started renting it out to hunters and sightseers. She then bought several more rowboats to rent out, and was making so much money that Andrew decided to start building boats to support her burgeoning business.

Soon, they had progressed to steam-powered vessels and moved from rental boats to tugboating. Thea and Andrew’s sons, Arthur, Wedell, and Henry, were brought into the business. Foss tugboats were often named after the family, hence why there was an Arthur Foss tugboat (and a Wedell Foss, and a Henry Foss, and a number of others.) These days, Foss Maritime is no longer family owned, but it has grown into one of the largest tugboat companies on the west coast. 

The Thea Foss waterway in Tacoma, of course, was named after the Foss company founder. 

Thea Foss (source)

The Foss Company Yacht (a gorgeous 1930 motor yacht) is also named after her 

[source]

[historicwharf]

“ Hurrah! Congratulations to the 1889 tugboat Arthur Foss! 50 years ago today, July 26th, 1968, Arthur Foss completed her last commercial tow and retired from active service after almost 80 years on the job. Chugging along with barges, log rafts, and entire ships in tow, she roamed from the Columbia River north to Seattle, Skagway, and the Bering Sea, south to San Francisco, and west to Honolulu, the French Frigate Shoals, and all the way to Wake Island. Chugging along at 4 to 6 knots, this grand old tug covered over 1 million miles in her career. And she's still going. You can keep her shipshape by making your contribution at www.nwseaport.org today. Thank you to everyone who has helped this floating legend survive! “

From the Northwest Seaport Facebook page

[historicwharf]

“THROWBACK THURSDAY: Between 1948 and 1968 our historic tugboat ARTHUR FOSS kept busy towing log rafts on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She was based out of Port Angeles and mostly operated between Neah Bay, Sekiu, Pysht, Port Crescent, and Bellingham. ARTHUR was retired in July 1968 and still holds the record for the longest uninterrupted towing service on the Strait. “

From Northwest Seaport’s Facebook Page