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The Derelict Tug J.S. Polhemus
by John Buchanan 2017
The J.S. Polhemus in 2013. (Photo from the John Buchanan collection. )
In 1939 she was owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers having been built in Washington State by R.B. Bivens to a design by O.A. Seigley. She was named for J.S. Polhemus who was an administrator of U.S. Lighthouses.
The J.S. Polhemus in 1939. (Photo from the December 1939 issue of Pacific Motor Boat Magazine. )
She was a tug boat 78.6’ x 21.6’ x 5’ powered by a 350hp DMG–26 diesel engine by Enterprise Engine & Foundry Co., San Francisco CA.
The builders of the J.S. Polhemus in 1939. From l to r: R.B. Bivens (builder); O.A. Seigley (designer and supervisor of construction); Bill Porter (Enterprise Engine Co.); M.C. Bray (Superintendent of plant for the engineers); George Nickum (consultant naval architect). (Photo from the December 1939 issue of Pacific Motor Boat Magazine. )
The J.S. Polhemus in the Derelict Boat Flotilla at Darrell Bay BC in 2016 (Photo from the John Buchanan collection. )
The J.S. Polhemus is part of a group of boats that over the last 5 years or so has been reduced by 6 because one by one they have sunk mostly from lack of maintenance. The group of boats in question was in the Squamish Harbor last year and was ordered to move. The boats were then moved just outside the harbor to a small bay called Darrell Bay in Howe Sound B.C. There they sit where already two have sunk and can be seen at low tide. My interest in these boats is both the environmental impact they present, and my love of their history. Sadly the J.S. Polhemus will also probably sink there one day too.
To quote from this article please cite:
Buchanan, John (2017) The Derelict Tug J.S. Polhemus. Nauticapedia.ca 2017. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/JS_Polhemus.php
Site News: November 20, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,591 vessel histories (with 16,203 images and 13,900 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 40,000 processed so far this year.
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into 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 continues (almost every day for the last couple of years) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.