Steam Tug Hercules Photo Gallery

High-resolution Photo Gallery of Steam Tug Hercules

The Only Remaining Steam Tug on the West Coast

A great subject for a historic ship model

Steam Tug Hercules

In 1907 the San Francisco firm The Shipowners and Merchants Towboat Company ordered two ocean-going tugboats from John Dialogue and Son of Camden, New Jersey, builders of tugs, pilot boats, and small steamers. At the turn of the century many harbor tugs were built with wooden hulls and powered by a compound two-cylinder steam engine of about 500 horsepower. Hercules and her sister Goliath instead were built with 150 foot riveted steel hulls and triple expansion three-cylinder 1000 horsepower steam engines.

The only remaining ocean-going steam tug on the West Coast, Hercules was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. She was was documented as part of the Historic American Engineering Record, a program of the National Park Service. 

Our photo gallery of steam tug Hercules features high-resolution photographs from that survey that are kept by the Library of Congress.

Also, check out our Free Ship Plans of Steam Tug Hercules.

Photo Gallery of Historic Lumber Schooner Wawona

Once Lumber Schooners Plied the Pacific in the Scores

After Breakup of Wawona Just One Historic Lumber Schooner Exists

Documentary Photos of Schooner Wawona

Lumber Schooner Wawona

From the scores of wooden three-masted schooners built in the 19th and early 20th centuries for service in the West Coast lumber trade, the schooner Wawona was one of only two known to be preserved when she was surveyed in 1986. She was dismantled in 2009. She and the one surviving lumber schooner, C.A. Thayer (National Maritime Museum, San Francisco), were built by Hans D. Bendixsen, who was well known in his time for the superior construction of his vessels.

Wawona was designed for the Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company of Eureka, California to transport more than 500,000 board feet of lumber per voyage from from the Pacific Northwest to ports further south on the coast. Like most ships in her day, Wawona’s hull was lofted from a carved wooden half model rather than a detailed set of engineering drawings.

Her official dimensions at launch were:
Length: 156.0 feet
Beam: 36.0 feet
Depth: 12.3 feet
Gross Tonnage: 468.42
Net Tonnage: 413.94
Wawona was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Our photo gallery offers documentary photos of Wawona taken during a survey for the Historic American Engineering Record.

Free Plans of Historic Lumber Schooner Wawona

A Subject for a Historic Ship Model

Wawona one of only two lumber schooners still preserved

Lumber Schooner Wawona

Scores of wooden three-masted schooners once plied the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. West Coast, bringing lumber from the Pacific Northwest to the growing cities of California. Two of them are all that remain of this vast fleet. Built in the 1897 for Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company of Eureka, California,   the schooner Wawona is one of the two known to be preserved. She and the other surviving lumber schooner, C.A. Thayer (National Maritime Museum, San Francisco), were built by Hans D. Bendixsen, who was well known in his time for the superior construction of his vessels.

Able to transport more than 500,000 board feet of lumber per voyage, like most ships in her day, Wawona’s hull was lofted from a carved wooden half model rather than a detailed set of engineering drawings. The free ships plans offered here are from a 1986 survey in preparation for a $2 million restoration.