By Tom Wenstadt
The JOHN PURVES tug was built for the U.S. Shipping Board in 1919 at Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Elizabeth, NJ, as the BUTTERFIELD. It was 149 feet long, 28 feet wide, 15 feet deep and measured 436 gross tons. It was powered by an 850 horsepower, triple expansion Bethlehem steam engine. The tug’s first assignment was to the Bermuda Bunkering Co. in St. Georges Bermuda. The BUTTERFIELD, with its long range radio, was used as an oceangoing salvage tug for the balance of World War I.
In 1922, the BUTTERFIELD was sold to Newaygo Tug Line, a subsidiary of Consolidated Paper Co., in Milwaukee, WI. The following year the tug began a long career of towing large rafts of logs across Lake Superior. Log raft tows started from as far south as Sugar Loaf, Minnesota, to as far north as Nipigon, Ontario.
The destination for all tows was the Consolidated Paper loading facility in Ashland, WI. Due to the harsh weather on Lake Superior, trips were made only in the calmest months of June through August. Because of the massive drag from the enormous rafts of logs, average towing speed was about one knot. The towing trips took as little as three days and as long as over a week.
In 1942, the BUTTERFIELD was commissioned by the U.S. Army to serve as a supply barge tug in Alaska after it was renamed LT145, painted gray and armed with three 20mm guns. After the war, it was returned to Consolidated Paper for which it resumed towing rafts of logs across Lake Superior.
In 1956, the tug was sold to the Roen Steamship Co. in Sturgeon Bay. In 1957, the vessel was converted from a single screw steam to twin screw V12 900 horsepower 12-567 A EMD diesel engines by Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock and renamed JOHN PURVES. John Purves was business manager for Roen Steamship Co. The deckhouses were also converted from wood to steel. The conversion was made to reduce crew size (thirty-two to thirteen), increase towing speed, improve maneuverability and repair the deteriorating wood.
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Around 1960, the engines were upgraded to the 12-567 C model producing 1200 horsepower. This made the JOHN PURVES the most powerful tug on the Great Lakes.
After forty-five years of towing logs across Lake Superior, the logging ended in 1972 resulting in the sale of the JOHN PURVES to Clepro Marine of Cleveland. After repossession of the tug, it was sold to Eder Barge and Towing of Milwaukee in 1974, which in turn sold it to Engine and Leasing Co. of South Haven in 1978.
The tug was finally sold to Andrie Inc. of Muskegon in 1987. The JOHN PURVES performed several towing and salvage jobs until it was deemed too costly to maintain and was laid up in 2001. In 2003, Andrie announced that the tug would be sold for scrap. John Asher, grandson of Captain John Roen, arranged to have the tug donated to the Door County Maritime Museum to be restored and placed on permanent display under the direction of twenty-three year veteran Chief Engineer Bob Perlewitz.
The JOHN PURVES was towed from the Andrie dock in Muskegon to the Roen Salvage dock in Sturgeon Bay where the five and a half year, 32,000 volunteer man hour cosmetic restoration was done with $1 million in donated materials. Now in Roen Steamship colors, this beautiful 101 year old vessel is normally open daily for guided tours at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay from May through October.
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Photo: The image on this page shows the restored Tug JOHN PURVES docked at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, WI.
(Photo credit: Door County Maritime Museum)
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Door County Maritime Museum: the JOHN PURVES is closed for the 2020 season. Visitors will be welcomed aboard in 2021. For more information, call (920) 743-5958 or visit the museum’s website.
Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.
