Jimmy L

Recently I was walking along the dockyard while attending the Door County Maritime Museum Classic and Wooden Boat Festival and a volunteer docent from the Maritime Museum commented-on my t-shirt.  Seems he was originally from Muscle Shoals Alabama  and we engaged in small talk about all of the music artists that found their way thru Fame Studios and the role that the session musicians - The Swampers - played in their recording success.   As we prepared to continue on our separate way he pointed to  this harbor tug tied-up in its berth and shared some maritime history that I was previously unaware-of.   

This large tug was built in 1939 by Defoe Shipbuilding as the WYTM-92 Naugatuck for the U.S. Coast Guard.

USCGC Naugatuck (WYT-92)

The Naugatuck spent 40 years with the Coast Guard as an ice-breaking harbor tug and was decommissioned in 1979. The following year, she was acquired by the Calumet Marine Towing Company and renamed Timmy B. 

In 1994, the Timmy B. was purchased by Selvick Marine Towing and renamed Jimmy L. Selvick Marine Towing became Sarter Marine Towing in 2019. 

This boat was the first USCG Cutter on the scene the day following the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Who knew?

 

Eighty-two years of continuous service is an impressive accomplishment.

 

Sure is a wealth of maritime history here in Sturgeon Bay and northeast Wisconsin