Thursday, December 12, 2024

Tugboat Charles P Greenough

 

This is a 1913 portrait of a newly lauunched tugboat in Portland Maine harbour. The Commercial Towboat Company of Boston commissioned the Portland Company to build a new 144 foot steam tug. It was named the “Greenough” to honor a Charles Pelham Greenough. Who was he? Charles Pelham Greenough (1844 - 1924) was a son of William W. Greenough who helped establish the Boston Public Library. Following a Harvard education and some Civil War service he worked in Boston as a lawyer and historian. There must have been some maritime connection...

On or about Halloween in 1913, the new "Greenough" steam tug fired up her first good head of steam, and sailed south to work in the Boston area. The "Greenough" developed an impressive 900 horsepower with its Hyde steam engine. The engine turned a single 4 bladed cast iron "wheel" (propeller) that stood nearly ten feet tall. 

No word on the life span of this boat but it was working at least into the late 1930s.

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