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The Tug Hartville
by Leigh Cossey 2018
The Hartville on the Beach (Photo from the Leigh Cossey collection.)
The Nauticapedia states that "The Hartville was built in 1944 by Russel Bros. Ltd. at Owen Sound ON. In 1946 she was renamed as Portovan; then as Straits (1948); then as Davis Straits (1950); then Navvy Jack (1958). She was 11.28m x 3.26m x 1.13m (37.0' x 10.7' x 3.7') with a steel hull 12.23gt 8.32rt. She was employed as a Harbour Tug at Cornwallis NS. At the end of her career she was employed on Kinbasket Lake (near Golden BC). ".
In 1944 she was a Ville–class tug for the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1946–1953 she was owned by Straits Towing & Salvage Co. Ltd., Victoria BC. In 1953–1958 she was owned by Straits Towing Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1958–1960 she was owned by Deeks–McBride Ltd., Vancouver BC. In 1960–1967 she was owned by Simpson Brothers Logging Ltd., Stave Falls BC. In 1977 she was sold to Edward Carter, Britannia Beach, BC. In 1978–2007 she was owned by Robert B. Kerr, Squamish, BC.
This summer I located the Hartville at Kinbasket Lake near Golden BC and went to see her and take pictures. She has been laying abandoned for 11 years now. According to Russ Simpson, a son of one of the Simpson Brothers, while she was owned by Deeks–McBride she was overrun by the barge she was towing through the 2nd Narrows in Burrard Inlet, Vancouver and and was sunk with loss of life. When raised no one would work on her and Johnson Bros. bought her. I am still looking for newspaper articles for confirmation of this story.
The Hartville on the Beach (Photo from the Leigh Cossey collection.)
The Hartville on the Beach (Photo from the Leigh Cossey collection.)
At some time she had been re–powered with a Caterpillar engine. This engine threw a rod while on a trip on Stave Lake and was she was re–powered with a Volvo Penta which being an aluminum block was much lighter and boom chain was added for ballast. (Photo from the Leigh Cossey collection.)
To quote from this article please cite:
Cossey, Leigh (2018) The Tug Hartville. Nauticapedia.ca 2018. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Hartville.php
Site News: April 19, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,229 vessel histories (with 15,629 images and 13,195 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.