USCGC Blueberry (WLI-65302)

Last updated
Blueberry, ex-Coast Guard buoy tender.jpg
Blueberry in 2025
History
Flag of the United States Coast Guard.svgUnited States Coast Guard
Name
  • CG 521, 1941
  • CG 65302-D, 1945
  • USCGC Blueberry, 1964
Launched22 November 1941
Identification Callsign: NLAX
FateSold 1976
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameBlueberry
Owner
  • Kenneth L. Michaelson, 1976
  • Peter P. Whittier, 1979
  • Herb Myers, 1990
  • Mark Freeman, 1994
Identification
General characteristics as built in 1941
Displacement68 tons
Length65 ft (20 m)
Beam14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
Draft4 ft (1.2 m)
Propulsion2 x Gray Marine Diesel engines
Speed12 knots
Complement6 enlisted

USCGC Blueberry (WLI-65302) was an inland buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard which was launched in 1941. She was the first Coast Guard vessel responsible for maintaining aids to navigation on the upper Columbia River, and the Snake River. She was sold by the Coast Guard in 1976.

Contents

Blueberry was converted into a yacht, but retained her basic configuration, including her deck crane and the square bow which enabled her to push a barge up her rivers. In 1994 she was purchased by the owner of the Fremont Tugboat Company and is now used once again as a tug in the waterways around Seattle.

Design and characteristics

As the economy of the inland northwest grew in the late 1930s, river traffic on the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers grew. In April 1940, 52,923 tons of cargo passed Bonneville Dam. Much of the upriver traffic was petroleum products, while the cargo coming from the interior was primarily agricultural and forest products. [1] What buoys existed on the rivers above Celilo Falls were maintained by the towing companies that used the waterways. Buoys were often empty gasoline drums anchored in the stream. [2] CG 521 was the first Coast Guard buoy tender assigned to the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers to regularize aids to navigation. [3]

Birchfield Boiler Company of Tacoma, Washington was the low bidder for the new inland buoy tender in January 1941. [4] The ship was launched on 22 November 1941. She was christened by Charles H. Roach, the 14-year old son of Coast Guard Captain Henry C. Roach. [3] The new ship underwent sea trials in Puget Sound in December 1941. [5] She was delivered to the Coast Guard on 8 January 1942. She was reported to have cost more than $65,000. [6]

The ship's hull was constructed of steel plates. She was 65 feet (20 m) long overall, with a beam of 14 feet 5 inches (4.39 m), and a draft of 4 feet (1.2 m). [7] She displaced 68 tons. [8] [9]

As originally constructed, she was propelled by two 165-horsepower Gray Marine Diesel engines. [5] These engines were replaced by two Detroit Diesel 6-71 engines, each of which produces 200 horsepower. These drive two 3-bladed bronze propellers which are 30 inches (0.76 m) in diameter. [10] [11] Her fuel tanks have capacity for 800 US gallons (3,000 L) which gives her an unrefueled range of 1,000 miles at 10 knots. Her maximum sustained speed in 12 knots. [8]

Her bow was squared-off and equipped with fenders so that she could push a barge containing buoys and their anchors, batteries, and other equipment for her aids to navigation work. [12] Her deck crane could lift 2,000 pounds (910 kg).

The ship's complement in 1942 was six enlisted personnel, led by a chief boatswain's mate. [5] Crew accomodations aboard were minimal. There was a small galley which had no stove. There was no hot water for bathing or shaving. There were six berths in the crew quarters. [12]

At the time of her launch, small Coast Guard vessels were not given names. She was referred to as CG 521. [6] By 1945, she was renumbered CG 65302-D. [13] [14] In 1964 she was named Blueberry, and designated an inland buoy tender, WLI, with the pennant number 65302. [15]

Coast Guard service (1942–1976)

After commissioning, CG 521 was assigned to the Dalles, Oregon, where the port commission had accommodations for her six crew. [5] The ship placed new buoys, [14] repositioned buoys which were off-station, repaired damaged buoys, and built new lights on the rivers' banks. Her crew replaced batteries and lightbulbs. She removed deadheads, floating logs, from her rivers. [12]

Ship's log of CG 65302-D from 17 February 1961 Ship's log of Coast Guard buoy tender 65302-D for 17 February 1961.png
Ship's log of CG 65302-D from 17 February 1961

When CG 521 began her work in 1942 there were no dams on the Snake River to the head of navigation at Lewiston, Idaho, and only the Bonneville Dam with its associated locks on the shipping lanes of the Columbia. [16] Much of these two rivers was free-flowing, with difficult rapids, shoals, and high currents. Navigation was difficult, so the buoys and lights CG 521 established and maintained were important to the barge traffic that traveled the rivers.

Over the course of her 34-year service, three dams and associated locks were built on the Columbia: the Dalles Dam, [17] the McNary Dam, [18] and the John Day Dam. Four dams and locks were built on the Snake River between the Columbia and Lewiston; the Lower Granite Dam, [19] the Little Goose Dam, [20] the Lower Monumental Dam, [21] the Ice Harbor dam. [22] The construction of the dams required multiple changes in the shipping lanes on the rivers, and these involved the buoy tender. For example, as the construction on the John Day Dam advanced, CG 65302-D updated the buoys through the dam site. When the navigation lock became operational she was the first vessel through. [23] [24] The dam created a pool 77 miles (124 km) long up the Columbia when it was completed in 1968. The water level behind the dam rose by as much as 100 feet (30 m), flooding a number of difficult rapids and eliminating swift currents. The 144 lights along the channel were reduced to 56. Blueberry removed the obsolete buoys from the river. [25] [26]

In February 1949, CG 65302-D struck a shoal at Scofield Rapids 15 miles (24 km) east of Celilo. She was heavily laden with buoys and anchors at the time. Her forward hold began to flood and a temporary patch had to be made before she could be pulled off the reef. [27]

In October 1962 the Coast Guard station at the Dalles, including CG 65302-D was moved to the newly-constructed Light Attendant Station on Clover Island at Kennewick, Washington. [28] [29]

The Coast Guard took bids for Blueberry, which was moored at the time at Kennewick, on 28 January 1976. [30] [31]

Private ownership (1976–present)

Blueberry was sold to Kenneth L. Michaelson, who changed her homeport to Juneau, Alaska. [32] Peter Whittier bought her in 1979 [33] and spent roughly ten years converting Blueberry into a yacht. He gutted the interior and replaced much of the wheelhouse. Herb Myers bought Blueberry in 1990 and also used her as a yacht. [10]

Mark Freeman bought her in 1994. He owned the Fremont Tugboat Company, Inc., which specialized in small towing and ship-assist jobs in Lake Washington and Lake Union. Freeman used Blueberry both as a cruising yacht and as a tugboat. [34] She remains part of the Fremont Tugboat fleet in 2025. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "River Traffic Sets Records". Sunday Oregonian. 5 May 1940. p. 18.
  2. ↑ "River Cutter Down Ways". Sunday Oregonian. 23 November 1941. p. 55.
  3. 1 2 "Down The Hatch". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 22 November 1941. p. 16.
  4. ↑ "Marine Shipping". Tacoma Times. 15 January 1941. p. 15.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Buoy Tender Being Tested". Oregonian. 26 December 1941. p. 21.
  6. 1 2 "Tacoma-Built Boat to Coast Guard". Tacoma Times. 10 January 1942. p. 3.
  7. ↑ "Coast Guard on patrol in local waters". Petersburg Pilot. May 19, 1994.
  8. 1 2 Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 156. ISBN   0-87021-719-4.
  9. ↑ Hearings Before The Committee On Merchant Marine And Fisheries. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1958. p. 147.
  10. 1 2 Bailey, John (8 October 1990). "Facade hides unique yacht". Tacoma News Tribune. p. 24.
  11. 1 2 "Blueberry". Fremont Tugboat Company. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  12. 1 2 3 Nowakowski, R. F. (10 January 1963). "Tri-City Coastguardsmen Are Diversified". Tri-City Herald. p. 26.
  13. ↑ Coast Guard Authorization. 1964. p. 72.
  14. 1 2 "Coast Guard Establishing Aids to Navigation in Middle Columbia". Courier-Herald. 14 June 1945. p. 1.
  15. ↑ Coast Guard Authorization. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1973. p. 27.
  16. ↑ "Bonneville Dam and Lake Bonneville". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-05-29. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  17. ↑ "The Dalles Dam and Lake Celilo". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-07-12. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  18. ↑ "McNary Dam and Lake Wallula". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-07-12. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  19. ↑ "Lower Granite Dam and Lake Lower Granite". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-05-29. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  20. ↑ "Little Goose Dam and Lake Bryan". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-05-29. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  21. ↑ "Lower Monumental Dam and Lake West". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-05-29. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  22. ↑ "Ice Harbor Dam and Lake Sacajawea". Northwestern Division. Archived from the original on 2025-08-09. Retrieved 2025-10-13.
  23. ↑ "John Day's Locks Due For Action". Spokesman Review. 17 July 1963. p. 8.
  24. ↑ "First Work Was On North Bank;Construction Schedule Tight One". Tri-City Herald. 26 September 1968. p. 117.
  25. ↑ McDonald, Lucile (21 April 1968). "The Rapidless Columbia". Seattle Times. pp. 193–194.
  26. ↑ Barber, Lawrence (14 April 1968). "High-Lift Shiplock On Columbia River To Begin Service This Week When Water Creates Pool At John Day Dam". Sunday Oregonian. p. 15.
  27. ↑ "72-Mile Gale Hits Columbia". Weekly Astorian. 25 February 1949. p. 1.
  28. ↑ "Water Skiers Cause Coastguardsmen Most Headaches". Tri-City Herald. 16 August 1962. p. 28.
  29. ↑ Ship's Log. October 1962.
  30. ↑ "Surplus Tender On Selling Block". Kitsap Sun. 14 January 1976. p. 27.
  31. ↑ "Used Coast Guard Vessel". Anchorage Daily News. 12 January 1976. p. 15.
  32. ↑ Merchant Vessels of the United States. U.S. Department of Transportation, United States Coast Guard. 1977. p. 2349.
  33. ↑ Merchant Vessels Of The United States. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1 January 1979. p. 192.
  34. ↑ "Captain Mark Freeman celebrates 50 years at Fremont Boat Company" (PDF). Tugs, Towing, and Offshore Newsletter. 10 (37): 6. 13 September 2009.
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