Tuesday saw us at another maritime museum in Sturgeon Bay on the canal between the bridges. The highlight was getting to explore an actual tug boat. Built in 1919, it started out as steam driven but was later converted to diesel. The owner, John Roen, was quite a wheeler dealer and loved this ship. If you want more info, Google John Purves tugboat. It has quite a history.
One of Roen’s claims to fame was the raising of a freighter in the Mackinac Straits that no one else wanted to try and raise. He recovered all of the iron ore, refurbished the ship after it was brought up from the depths, and used the tug we saw today to bring it to port. This was an amazing feat that no other boat owner wanted even to try! The engineering skills required to raise the freighter was amazing to read about—all without computers.
For those of you who like the engine rooms, here you go.
