HERCULES tugboat 1907
Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 8:53 pm
By this stamp is given: San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, California.
A photograph of an iconic three-masted sailing ship is featured on the stamp for the San Francisco Maritime Historic National Park. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. It is sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, its name before 1978, when the collections were acquired by the National Park Service.
Authorized as a National Park in 1988, it is located near Fisherman's Wharf, and offers the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Pacific Coast maritime history. The stamp image is from a photograph of the 1886 square-rigger, BALCLUTHA, by Tim Campbell of San Francisco. Just visible to the right of the deep waterman/salmon packet sailing vessel is the 1907 steam tugboat HERCULES.
Built as a tug under yard no 421 by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden, NJ for the Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Company, San Francisco.
Launched as the HERCULES.
Tonnage 409 gt, net 221 ton, dim. 46 x 7.9 x 3.4m (draught).
Propulsion: Scotch marine fire tube boiler, 4 × oil-burning furnaces. 1 × 1,000 hp (746 kW) 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine. Speed: 10 knots.
Crew 15.
December 1907 completed.
In 1907 a San Francisco firm called The Shipowners and Merchants Towboat Company ordered a pair of ocean-going tugs from John Dialogue and Son of Camden, New Jersey. They were builders of high-quality tugs, pilot boats, and small government 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. However, with the HERCULES and her sister GOLIAH, they were built with a 150 foot long riveted
steel hull that was powered by a triple expansion (three-cylinder) steam engine of 1000
horsepower. In addition, the vessel was equipped with a steam-powered deck capstan,
a steam anchor windlass, and a steam towing winch designed to handle 1200 feet of 1 3/4 inch steel wire towing cable.
Completed in 1907, HERCULES started her career with a record-setting tow by steaming to San Francisco, by way of the Strait of Magellan with her sister, GOLIAH in tow.
They made one stop at Punta Arenas for fuel, water, and provisions. The ocean-going period for the tug lasted until 1922.
1921 Was she sold to Moore Shipbuilding Co., San Francisco
HERCULES towed thereafter oil tank barges, rafts of lumber from the Columbia River, disabled steamers into port and sailing vessels out to sea. She towed lock gates during the
building of the Panama Canal and even steamed through the canal to deliver the dredge SAN DIEGO to Jacksonville, Florida. This was her only voyage to the East Coast.
1924 Sold to Rolp Nav. & Coal Comp., San Francisco but later that year already sold to Western Pacific Railroad Co. San Francisco
HERCULES was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1924 for harbor towing around San Francisco. She was used to push car floats around the Bay to the various railroad freight terminals. This work lasted until 1962 when the tugs and barges were replaced by a Diesel-powered rail car ferry.
In 1947, she and the tugboat MONARCH were given the task of towing the hulk of the battleship OKLAHOMA from Pearl Harbour to San Francisco Bay to be scrapped. However, 500 miles from Hawaii, they were struck by a powerful storm and Oklahoma began taking on water and sinking, threatening to drag the two tugs along with her. While the MONARCH managed to release her lines, HERCULES could not get free until the last moment, narrowly avoiding being dragged into the deep by Oklahoma.
1962 Sold to Thomas & Brown Shipbuilding Inc., San Francisco
After languishing for some years in the Oakland Estuary, HERCULES was bought by the San Francisco Maritime Museum and joined the historic fleet at the Hyde Street Pier in 1975. Since that time a workforce composed of staff and volunteers have brought the steam plant back to full operation and restored other parts of the vessel.
Today the HERCULES is operated several times a year by a volunteer crew. She is the only oceangoing steam tug on the West Coast and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
2020 Still owned by the Museum.
United States 2016 Forever stamp sg?, scott? (The sailing ship is the BALCLUTHA) viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8771&p=16397&hilit=balclutha#p16397
Source: Wikipedia, Miramar and Internet.
A photograph of an iconic three-masted sailing ship is featured on the stamp for the San Francisco Maritime Historic National Park. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. It is sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, its name before 1978, when the collections were acquired by the National Park Service.
Authorized as a National Park in 1988, it is located near Fisherman's Wharf, and offers the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Pacific Coast maritime history. The stamp image is from a photograph of the 1886 square-rigger, BALCLUTHA, by Tim Campbell of San Francisco. Just visible to the right of the deep waterman/salmon packet sailing vessel is the 1907 steam tugboat HERCULES.
Built as a tug under yard no 421 by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden, NJ for the Shipowners and Merchants Tugboat Company, San Francisco.
Launched as the HERCULES.
Tonnage 409 gt, net 221 ton, dim. 46 x 7.9 x 3.4m (draught).
Propulsion: Scotch marine fire tube boiler, 4 × oil-burning furnaces. 1 × 1,000 hp (746 kW) 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine. Speed: 10 knots.
Crew 15.
December 1907 completed.
In 1907 a San Francisco firm called The Shipowners and Merchants Towboat Company ordered a pair of ocean-going tugs from John Dialogue and Son of Camden, New Jersey. They were builders of high-quality tugs, pilot boats, and small government 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. However, with the HERCULES and her sister GOLIAH, they were built with a 150 foot long riveted
steel hull that was powered by a triple expansion (three-cylinder) steam engine of 1000
horsepower. In addition, the vessel was equipped with a steam-powered deck capstan,
a steam anchor windlass, and a steam towing winch designed to handle 1200 feet of 1 3/4 inch steel wire towing cable.
Completed in 1907, HERCULES started her career with a record-setting tow by steaming to San Francisco, by way of the Strait of Magellan with her sister, GOLIAH in tow.
They made one stop at Punta Arenas for fuel, water, and provisions. The ocean-going period for the tug lasted until 1922.
1921 Was she sold to Moore Shipbuilding Co., San Francisco
HERCULES towed thereafter oil tank barges, rafts of lumber from the Columbia River, disabled steamers into port and sailing vessels out to sea. She towed lock gates during the
building of the Panama Canal and even steamed through the canal to deliver the dredge SAN DIEGO to Jacksonville, Florida. This was her only voyage to the East Coast.
1924 Sold to Rolp Nav. & Coal Comp., San Francisco but later that year already sold to Western Pacific Railroad Co. San Francisco
HERCULES was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1924 for harbor towing around San Francisco. She was used to push car floats around the Bay to the various railroad freight terminals. This work lasted until 1962 when the tugs and barges were replaced by a Diesel-powered rail car ferry.
In 1947, she and the tugboat MONARCH were given the task of towing the hulk of the battleship OKLAHOMA from Pearl Harbour to San Francisco Bay to be scrapped. However, 500 miles from Hawaii, they were struck by a powerful storm and Oklahoma began taking on water and sinking, threatening to drag the two tugs along with her. While the MONARCH managed to release her lines, HERCULES could not get free until the last moment, narrowly avoiding being dragged into the deep by Oklahoma.
1962 Sold to Thomas & Brown Shipbuilding Inc., San Francisco
After languishing for some years in the Oakland Estuary, HERCULES was bought by the San Francisco Maritime Museum and joined the historic fleet at the Hyde Street Pier in 1975. Since that time a workforce composed of staff and volunteers have brought the steam plant back to full operation and restored other parts of the vessel.
Today the HERCULES is operated several times a year by a volunteer crew. She is the only oceangoing steam tug on the West Coast and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
2020 Still owned by the Museum.
United States 2016 Forever stamp sg?, scott? (The sailing ship is the BALCLUTHA) viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8771&p=16397&hilit=balclutha#p16397
Source: Wikipedia, Miramar and Internet.