TheTugboat Urger Ancient Mariner of the Barge Canal by Tom Prindle Not long ago, while rummaging through old files in the headquarters of the New York State Barge Canal, I stumbled across a dusty old theme tablet, faintly inscribed: "BOAT REGISTER."Opening the frayed cover I read : " YEAR 1922 REGISTER OF BoATs," written in a flouri shing antique hand. Turning the yellowed pages I read names like: Ellen Bushey, National, Twin Ports, Dixie, Thomas H. , Transco No. 4 , and Helen B. Moran . These were vessels registered for service on the New York Barge Canal System , which in 1922 was only in its fourth year of operation. * Over a thousand vessels were active on the Barge Canal System that season. *The Barge Canal improvement replaced the aged canals and towpaths of the 19th century with a modern and revolutionary system of inl and water tran sportati on. The Erie, Champlain , Oswego and Cay uga-Seneca canals were reconstructed and largely re-routed, increas ing a single vesse l's carrying capacity to 2,000 tons or nearl y ten times that of the old canal barges. The canal opened over 800 miles of inland navi gati on and maintained New York 's historic passage between the Great Lakes and the sea. Natural rivers , lakes and streams were "canal ized" and connected by 57 huge electrical mechani ca l locks and artificial channe ls often carved from solid rock.
Reading from name to name, I thought of all the boatmen those vessels represented. It is hard to envision from the quiet canal of today, the thriving commercial shipping industry that once existed. Like the mule teams which preceded them across the hills and valleys of New York State, towing cargoes from the tidal waters of the Hudson to Lake Erie and Ontario, so the great fleets of steam and steel have vanished into history. This was more than just a boat register-it was more like a roll call of the dead. In 1922, the State of New York was assembling a modem maintenance fleet for its brand new Barge Canal System. Among the vessels acquired that year by the Department of Public Works was a slender yet powerful steam tug named Urger. For sixty-four years the tug Urger served on the Erie Canal. Year after year as the ranks of tugboats dwindled around her, the Urger remained. Time eventually clouded the Urger's history, for she even outlived most of those who knew her true story. The first time I saw the Urger I was smitten by her graceful lines, her stately
pilothouse and handsome brass wheel. For years, little was known about the tugboat, other than that she had been around for as long as anyone could remember. Beguiling subtleties about the boat whetted the appetite for more knowledge, Legend had it that the boat hailed out of the west somewhere. Her deck bitts were inscribed: "Johnston Brothers-Ferrysburg, Michigan 1901." Not long after I contacted the Institute for Great Lakes Research a splendid chap named Jay Martin informed me that our Urger began life as the tug Henry J. Dornbos and was, indeed, constructed in Johnston Brothers Shipyard at Ferrysburg, Ml, near Grand Haven. A clipping from the Detroit Free Press written shortly after she slid down the ways on June 13 , 1901, reported that, "the steel fish tug H. J. Dornbos is the finest boat in the local fishing fleet. " Her namesake, Mr. Hemy J. Dornbos, was in 1901 the largest smoker of whitefish chubs in the United States. The Dornbos was registered on July 18, 1901 to a family named Verduin, which operated a commercial fishing business in Grand Haven. Three broth-
The tug Urger moves a barge along the Mohawk River in 1922, past a valley farm er working his field with a horse-drawn harrow.
SEA HISTORY 58, SUMMER 199 1
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