Arthur Foss

Arthur Foss, now the oldest of its kind, is a classic Pacific Northwest tugboat built for long-distance towing. Built as the steam tug Wallowa in Portland, Oregon in 1889, the same year Washington became a state, it towed sailing ships over the dangerous Columbia River bar into port. When the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1898, Wallowa was put to work towing ships and cargos to Alaska. Returning to the Puget Sound area, the tug worked for the timber industry, pulling rafts of logs to sawmills. In 1929 Wallowa was purchased by Foss Launch & Tug Company, now Foss Maritime, and leased to MGM Studios to star in the 1933 film "Tugboat Annie" as Annie’s Narcissus. Afterwards, Foss rebuilt the tug from the main deck up, installed a 700 BHP Washington Iron Works diesel engine, and renamed it Arthur Foss after the company president. As the new company flagship, Arthur Foss rescued crippled freighters, helped build the floating bridge across Lake Washington, and won contracts towing barges to Hawaii and Wake Island, where it narrowly escaped a Japanese invasion force in December 1941. After U.S. Navy service during World War II, Arthur Foss returned to the Pacific Northwest and resumed towing log booms and rafts, remaining in service until July 1968. In June 1970 it was donated to Northwest Seaport and later became a National Historic Landmark and Washington State Heritage Flagship on its 100th birthday in 1989. Retired from commercial service, Arthur Foss represents the first 100 years of the tug industry and now serves as a floating museum.

Seattle, Washington · United States