Tuff-E-Nuff, originally known as Thomas Cunningham Sr., was a late 19th-century tugboat which had a remarkable 112-year commercial career. She was still operating as a working tugboat as recently as May 2007. She was sunk as an artificial reef in January 2011.[3][4]
After 45 years of service, Thomas Cunningham Sr. was sent to Newport News for the annual inspection where she was placed into "durance vile"—meaning the vessel was considered unsafe to operate.[5] Her papers were seized and she was suspended from duty until repairs were made. The main complaint was deck issues.[6] The Richmond City Council quickly approved the budget extension for $8,000 to get the repairs completed[7] and get their tug back.
Starting in late 1948, Thomas Cunningham Sr. finally got a much needed major refit. The wooden pilot house and deck were replaced with steel versions, and a 500 horsepower (370kW) Cleveland 8-268A diesel engine was installed to replace the original steam engine. The entire cost of the project, including sending two maintenance people to the Cleveland factory for training, was $65,927.02.[1] Out of the nine bidders for the work, Dunn's Marine Railway, Inc. of West Norfolk won the bid and completed the work approximately $11,000 under budget.[8]
In 1977 the vessel was sold into private hands,[9] and reportedly became a salvage tug in Florida.[4] In May 2007, the tug was placed on the market by her owners, a salvage company, who were hoping to sell her to restorers. As of 2008, she was registered as a recreational vessel according to the United States Coast Guard's Port State Information eXchange.[10]
As of September 2010, Tuff-E-Nuff was on a sandbar in Georgia the organization Think It Sink It Reef It was working to sink the tug as an artificial reef.[11][12]
On 17 January 2011, Tuff-E-Nuff was placed off St. Lucie, Florida as the Kyle Conrad Memorial Reef.[13]
Mariners Museum collection
In 1951, the ship's original engine was acquired by the Mariners' Museum at Newport News, Virginia. The engine has since been restored to working order—albeit powered by electricity rather than steam—and was recently taken off exhibition and put into storage at the museum.[14]
The engine is a two-cylindercompound type with an 18-inch (46cm)stroke, and 206 indicated horsepower (154kW). The high-pressure cylinder is 12+1⁄2 inches (32cm) in diameter and the low-pressure cylinder is 24 inches (61cm). The engine weighs approximately 14tons and stands 10feet 1+1⁄2inches (3.086m) high.[14]
In addition to the engine, the museum also has on display a handcrafted 1:24 scale cutaway model of Thomas Cunningham Sr.,[9] as well as the original builder's plate for the engine.[2]
Gallery of museum model
Model of Thomas Cunningham Sr. – port side
Starboard side of model with cutaway
Model of the ship's original compound steam engine
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such as in crowded harbors or narrow canals, or cannot move at all, such as barges, disabled ships, log rafts, or oil platforms. Some are ocean-going, and some are icebreakers or salvage tugs. Early models were powered by steam engines, which were later superseded by diesel engines. Many have deluge gun water jets, which help in firefighting, especially in harbours.
Ned Hanlan is a steam-powered tugboat that operated in Toronto Harbour in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The tugboat entered service in 1932 and was retired in 1967. She was then put on display at Exhibition Place. She was moved in 2012 to Hanlan's Point on the Toronto Islands; she is named after champion rower Ned Hanlan.
Carnival Sunrise is a Destiny-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. As she and her three younger sisters are each a redesigned version of the lead ship in the class, she is sometimes referred to as the first of the Triumph class of cruise ships. Carnival Sunrise is homeported in Miami, Florida.
Neafie, Levy & Co., commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shipbuilding and engineering firm that existed from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Described as America's "first specialist marine engineers", Neafie & Levy was probably the first company in the United States to combine the building of iron ships with the manufacture of steam engines to power them. The company was also the largest supplier of screw propellers to other North American shipbuilding firms in its early years, and at its peak in the early 1870s was Philadelphia's busiest and most heavily capitalized shipbuilder.
Yankee is an early-20th-century steel hulled ferry which is registered as a historic vessel with the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2006 it was berthed in Hoboken, New Jersey. In mid-2013, the ferry was moved to the Henry Street pier in the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
USNS Apache (T-ATF-172) was a U.S. Navy Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboat that was operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) from 1981 to 2022. She spent the bulk of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Edna G is a tugboat which worked the Great Lakes and is now preserved as a museum ship. Edna G was built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in 1896 for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at a cost $35,397.50. She was named for the daughter of J. L. Greatsinger, president of the railroad.
USNS Mohawk (T-ATF-170) was a United States Navy Powhatan-class tugboat operated by the Military Sealift Command from 1980 to 2005.
The Mary D. Hume was a steamer built at Gold Beach, Oregon in 1881, by R. D. Hume, a pioneer and early businessman in that area. Gold Beach was then called Ellensburg. The Hume had a long career, first hauling goods between Oregon and San Francisco, then as a whaler in Alaska, as a service vessel in the Alaskan cannery trade, then as a tugboat. She was retired in 1977 and returned to Gold Beach. In 1985 she sank in the Rogue River and has remained there ever since as a derelict vessel on the shoreline. The Hume is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Santa Fe Railroad tugboats were used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to barge rail cars across the San Francisco Bay for much of the 20th century, as there is no direct rail link to the San Francisco peninsula. In the post World War II period, a fleet of three tugs moved the barges: the Paul P. Hastings, the Edward J. Engel, and the John R. Hayden. After cross-bay float service had ended and the tugs had been sold, the Hastings sank off Point Arena, California in 1992, in water too deep to raise. The Engel sank off Alameda, California in 2007 and was raised and scrapped in the winter of 2013-14. The Hayden remains afloat and in service in Oregon.
USS Lykens (SP-876/AT-56) was a steam tugboat purchased from the Reading Company by the United States Navy in 1917. Because she was privately built, she was not of a ship class. She was the only U.S. Navy ship of this name.
Baltimore is a preserved steam-powered tugboat, built in 1906 by the Skinner Shipbuilding Company of Baltimore, Maryland. She is formerly the oldest operating steam tugboat in the United States, but at present does not hold an operating license issued by the US Coast Guard, so is unable to leave her dock at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Key Highway, Baltimore. Her hull is not capable of operating on open water. Baltimore was built and operated as a harbor inspection tug, capable of acting as a municipal tugboat for city barges, as well as an official welcoming vessel and VIP launch, an auxiliary fireboat, and as a light icebreaker.
USNS Powhatan (T-ATF-166) was the lead ship of the United States Navy Powhatan-class fleet ocean tugboats. She was in service with the U.S. Navy from 1979 to 1999, and then was leased to a private towing and salvage company. At the end of the lease in 2008, the ship was sold to the Turkish Navy which recommissioned her as TCG Inebolu.
Argobeam was a 7,130 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1945 as Empire Calshot for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). In 1946 she was sold and renamed Derrycunihy. A further sale in 1952 saw her renamed Argobeam. In August 1955 an engine room fire left her listing 40° to port and she was abandoned. She was salvaged, repaired and sold, being renamed Parkgate. In 1960 she was sold to Panama and renamed Panagos, serving until scrapped in 1968.
MV Imperial Transport was an oil tanker built in the early 1930s for the Houlder Line. During World War II, the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine in early 1940 and broke in half. The stern section was saved and a new forward half was built and mated to the ship, which returned to service in 1941. Imperial Transport was torpedoed again in early 1942, but her crew was able to get her back to port. She was repaired in the United States and was back in service by early 1943. The ship was sold to a Norwegian company in 1947, sold again two years later and finally scrapped, in 1958.
The Type V ship is a United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) designation for World War II tugboats. Type V was used in World War II, Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Type V ships were used to move ships and barges. Type V tugboats were made of either steel or wood hulls. There were four types of tugboats ordered for World War II. The largest type V design was the sea worthy 186-foot (57 m) long steel hull, V4-M-A1. The V4-M-A1 design was used by a number of manufacturers; a total of 49 were built. A smaller steel hull tugboat was the 94-foot (29 m) V2-ME-A1; 26 were built. The largest wooden hull was the 148-foot (45 m) V3-S-AH2, of which 14 were built. The smaller wooden hull was the 58-foot (18 m) V2-M-AL1, which 35 were built. Most V2-M-AL1 tugboats were sent to the United Kingdom for the war efforts under the lend-lease act. The Type V tugs served across the globe during World War II including: Pacific War, European theatre, and in the United States. SS Farallon, and other Type V tugs, were used to help built Normandy ports, including Mulberry harbour, on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and made nine round trips to Normandy to deliver Phoenix breakwaters.
SS S.C. Baldwin was a wooden-hulled steam barge built in 1871, that capsized in a storm on August 26, 1908, on Lake Michigan, off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, United States, with the loss of one life. On August 22, 2016 the remnants of S.C. Baldwin were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as reference number 16000565.
Essayons was a tugboat of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Her mission with the Corps was to support the installation of breakwaters and piers, and the dredging of harbors on Lake Superior. She was built in 1908 and served with the Army until 1949, when she was sold to the Zenith Dredge Company. Essayons continued her support of port construction and maintenance under her new owner until the mid 1960s. In 1994 she was sold again, this time to a local businessman, who hoped to convert her into a floating Bed and Breakfast. This plan never came to fruition and she sank at her moorings in Duluth Harbor in 2009.
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