Portland (1875 tugboat)

History
NamePortland, Clayoquat, Phoenix
RouteColumbia River, Puget Sound, coastal British Columbia
LaunchedApril 9, 1875[1]
General characteristics
TypeSteam tug, inland steamboat, cannery tender[2]
Length75.7 ft (23.07 m)[2]
Beam16 ft (4.88 m)[2]
Depth6 ft (1.83 m)[2]
Installed powercompound steam engine[2]
Propulsionpropeller

Portland was a steam tug built in Portland, Oregon, United States. This vessel was also known as Clayoquat and Phoenix.

Career

Portland was launched on April 9, 1875 in Portland, Oregon. The vessel was operated for 15 years on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, and then was transferred to Puget Sound.[1] From 1891 to 1895, Portland operated out of Everett, Washington, piloted by Captain James Hastings.

Drift and recovery

In 1897, Portland was hauled out at Ballard, Washington, for repairs. Somehow she broke free from the shipway and floated off unoccupied. Eventually, Portland drifted north into Canadian waters, where she was recovered as a derelict by the B.C. Salvage Company. She came under the control of R.P. Rithet and Company, a prominent British Columbia shipping concern that re-purposed her to a passenger steamer. She was renamed Clayoquat and ran on passenger routes out of Port Renfrew, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Clayoquat later passed to the H.Bell-Irving Company, and was used by them as a cannery tender under the name Phoenix.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Wright, E.W. (1895). Lewis & Dryden's Marine history of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, OR: Lewis & Dryden Printing Co. pp. 233–234. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e Newell, Gordon R., ed. (1966). H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: Superior Publishing Co. p. 20.