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The tug Equator started life as a 68-ton schooner (lop le ft}, built 1888 in Benicia, California. She ll'as charte red by Robert Louis Stevenson for several of his South Sea voyages: he re, hat in hand, he ll'aves goodbye as they cast off from Oceanic Wharf, Honolulu. A s a t11gboa1, the Equator (le/I) and the A litack toll'ed the Bal c lutha , the n named Star of Alaska into Chignak Bay, Alaska. Jn 1962 the San Fran cisco Maritim e Museu m sent the late Al Harmon north lO Everet/, Washingto n to repo rt on the stranded tug. At right, San Francisco Port Director Tom Soules looks her over. She is preserved, bu t f imds for restoration and a permanent home for her have not yet been found. Ph otos: San Francisco Maritime Museum.
Photo: Karl Kortum
SEA HI STORY, SUMMER 1977