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EASTERN TOWBOAT Coastal
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9 River Avenue, Revere, Mass. 02151
Dock: Mass Port Pier 1 East Boston Tel : 617-567-5299
Res : Douglas J . Della Porta Tel : 617-289-1321
The Boston Harbor Tugboat Muster b y W illiam P. Coughlin A pair of seagoing octogenarians, the handling the newly commissioned Boston-based tugs Saturn and J upiter, battleshi p USS New Jersey at the may hold mari ti me longevity records for Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . She also worki ng vessels sti ll hard at it, hauli ng piloted fre ighters through the Delaware barges , shovi ng and twisting shi ps and Chesapeake Canal.'' against res isting tides to dockside and , Jupiter's original ri veted iron hull was like yac hts, drawi ng glances fro m sailors rehulled with welded piates in 1950 . At and waterfront Caplog Charlies alike. the same time, her original oil-fired , triOwned by Captain Doug las De lla ple-expansion , 500hp steam engine was Porta, Pres ident of Eastern Towboat Cor- replaced with a General Motors l 250hp poration, and his wife Kathryn, the diesel plant. rakish green-hulled former steamboats The Saturn was built in 1907 for the will be among thirty or so towboats, old Reading Railroad and originally workboats, fire and policeboats, governnamed Bern . With her 11OOhp , triple exment vessels and pilot boats m ustering pansion plant-a mighty engine in her at Boston from ports as far afield as day-she hauled coal barges fro m Port Maine and Virg inia for the third annual Reading , New Jersey, on Kill Van Kull , Boston Harbor Tugboat Muster and up the Hudson to Albany, and along the Parade , 25 Jul y. coast to Boston. She was acquired by What began in 1985 as a fr iendly her Philadelphia owners in 1952 . In 1956 sailors' gam among working tugmen has she was repowered with a J700hp Genbecome an annual event in Bosto n's hi seral Motors diesel, and her bottom was toric harbor, and it attracts tho usands of partially rebuilt at the Mathis Shipyard spectators . After a blessing of the fl eet, in Camden, New Jersey, which had a the tugs parade down harbor to pass in reputation for building luxury yachts and rev iew by Castle Island before the beginwartime vessels. ning of inter-tug and inter-crew competSaturn and Jupiter were acquired by itions. The tugs will go bow-to- bow in the Della Portas' Eastern Towboat Corshovi ng matches, and the crews wi ll poration in 1980 and 1982 respecti vely compete on shore in looping dock bitts , fo r service in the new towing business . line spl icing, making monkey's fists on They retained the planetary names which heav ing lines and even in tugboat cookhad been given the tugs by their Philadelphia owners-names which also carry ery. Also at dockside, the thirty-yearold , I 05ft, ship-handling tug Karen Tibon a traditional Boston nomenclature. By betts of the Boston Fuel Tran sportation coincidence, the Boston Tow Boat ComCompany's red and buff fl eet will be pany (which closed its doors in 1985 after open for lands men to tour . 127 years in operation) had also named all its earl y tugs after planets. But fo r sheer grace of line, c leanliness and yesteryear elegance, Saturn a nd JupHow is it that these two celestial iter may be hard to beat. Both came off beauties are still working and in almost the ways of the old Neafie and Levy yacht-like shape? Shi pyard in Ph iladelphia. Launc hed as " We took excellent care of them," says Meyle. "Our crews were pro ud of the Socony Vacuum Oil Compa ny's tug Socony 14, Jupiter hauled barges all over their tugs and looked after the m well . the East Coast until joining the Phil adelAnd they are just as beautiful now under phi a Independent Towing Compa ny fl eet the Eastern Towboat fl ag as they were in the mid- I 930s. Kenneth M eyle, forwhen we had them. Doug and Kathy merl y president of the now defunct Della Porta have done a beautiful job of Philidelphia company, recall s her excelkeeping them up ." w lent wartime record at Phil adelphia. "S he was a big, powerful tug then and worked twenty-four hours a day. She Mr. Coughlin has helped organize the towed the stone to Bra nd yw ine Shoal, Boston Harbor Tugboat Muster since its where the government anchored its anti- inception . When not engaged in this and submarine net across the entra nce to Del- other maritime pursuits, he writes for aware Bay, and she later shared honors the Boston Globe . SEA HISTORY , SUMM ER 1987
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