ASHTABULA — A listing on eBay Motors for a tugboat in Algonac, Mich., has Bob Frisbie of the Ashtabula Marine Museum wishing there were an Easter Bunny.
Up for grabs this week was a 1913 steel tug, John Michael, allegedly built in Ashtabula by the Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW). The auction was scheduled to end early this morning and had a minimum bid of $15,000, plus a reserve.
“Wow, what a nice looking tug,” said Frisbie, the museum’s director, after visiting the online auction and looking at the photos.
“I wish our Dorthea (tugboat) looked just like that one. ... Even on its worst day, I wish it looked like that.”
The Dorthea M. Geary is a 40-foot tugboat that was built in Ashtabula in 1915 by Geary Boiler Works and Machine Shop. The tug was donated to the museum several years ago and is awaiting restoration.
The Geary is of great historic interest because it was the first electrically welded steel-hull ship in the world. Prior to the Geary, steel vessels were riveted, including the 1913 tug on eBay. Geary Boiler Works used Lincoln welders to build the tug, which was used as a service tug for boats with boiler or mechanical problems.
The vessel’s various uses — including as a Sea Scout training vessel known as Ugh the Tug — resulted in numerous modifications to its original design. A great deal of work will be required to restore the Geary to its 1915 splendor. The Marine Museum is looking for volunteers willing to tackle the physically demanding work and contribute materials to the project.
As for the tug on eBay, it would provide a contrast to the welded tug, as well as a local connection, if the description is accurate. GLEW was a significant player in the city’s maritime history. Based in Ecorse, Mich., the company added the Ashtabula yard to its operation in 1912 and built a variety of ships here through 1946. The company closed in 1960, and is best known for producing the hull of the Edmund Fitzgerald at its Ecorse works in 1959. The ship foundered on Lake Superior in 1975 with the loss of all hands, including two men from Ashtabula.
According to the Web site shipbuildinghistory.com GLEW built only two tugboats in 1915, the Birmco and Henry E. Gillen. The latter was scrapped 30 years ago. The Birmco, built in River Rouge, Mich., is located in Detroit.
While the eBay listing attributes the John Michael to GLEW’s Ashtabula yard, the Web site tugboatenthusiastssociety.com credits the Cowles Shipyard of Buffalo, not Ashtabula. Regardless of where it originated, it would be a nice addition to the Marine Museum’s collection.
“It is a riveted steel tug, so that would have been a perfect situation to have that next to the all-steel welded tug we have. It would have been really great to put the two of them side by side,” Frisbie said.
The reality, however, is that the museum doesn’t have that kind of money for acquisitions. But donations would be gladly accepted toward its purchase, or the restoration of the tug in hand.
“The price is nowhere near what we could afford to even think about it,” Frisbie said.
For those who wish to look at the listing or make an offer, the item number was 230335085510.
Local News
Ashtabula Marine Museum covets tugboat listed on eBay
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