Hercules (ship, 1907)
.JPG) The Hercules in the museum harbor
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The Hercules is a seaworthy tug built in 1907 . The steamship, built at the John H. Dialogue and Sons shipyard , was mainly used in San Francisco , where it still sails as a museum ship today . The vehicle has been a National Historic Landmark since 1986 and is located in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park .
history
The builder, John H. Dialogue and Sons from Camden, New Jersey , built the tug for the Shipowners 'and Merchants' Tugboat Company from San Francisco in 1907 together with a sister ship named Goliah . Both vehicles have moved on their own keel from the US east coast to the west coast, while the Hercules towed her sister, loaded with water, fuel and other supplies, through the Magellan Strait to the planned home port, San Francisco.
For the first owner of the tractor until 1922 in use to was lightweight , large wooden rafts and disadvantaged through difficult winds tall ships on the open sea to various US ports in the Pacific coast and also to Hawaii to tow. The ship was also used to transport a caisson during the construction of the Panama Canal .
A second owner, Moore Drydock Co. , operated the tug for a further two years with a comparable operational profile until the company Western Pacific Railroad bought the vehicle in 1924 . The rest of the service time, the Hercules ran as a towing vehicle from railroad tracks for the crossing of the Bay of San Francisco . With the expiry of the boiler operating permit, the tractor was taken out of service in 1962 after 55 years of service.
A special facet of the Hercules' service life is the 1947 order to tow the wreck of the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. The battleship's hull leaked in a storm and sank, almost dragging the Hercules under the surface of the water. The tow rope could be released just in time.
After the decommissioning, the Hercules was not scrapped. The California State Park Foundation acquired it in 1975 for the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park . The National Park Service commissioned a restoration in 1977. Since 1986 the tug has been a roadworthy technical monument ( National Historic Landmark ), which has been regularly driving the bay , manned by volunteers .
Technical specifications
- Length Overall : 151 feet (ft.)
- Width: 26 ft.
- Draft: 10 ft. At bow, 18 ft. Aft
- Measurement: 409 GRT
- Machine system: compound steam engine with 3 cylinders and one shaft;
- fed from a shell boiler with 4 oil burners
- Top speed: 10 kn
- Fuel supply 85,400 gallons of oil (→ 323.274 m² or 323.274 liters)
- for a sea endurance of 21 days
- Crew: accommodations for 18 men
- with supplies for 30 days
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c National Park Service - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park ( EN ) Archived from the original on June 21, 2005. Accessed July 25, 2020th
- ↑ a b c Western Pacific Online - Marine Operations and Equipment ( Memento from February 9, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Gordon Newell: Pacific tugboats . Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA, 1957, p. 39.