Fish Tugs Of The Greatest Lake

Fishing Vessels of the Great Lakes

Compiled by Harvey Hadland

G . MINOR 223439 Built at Marinette, Wis. in 1922, a 56 ft. x 13 ft. steam powered fish tug. Owned by Green Bay fisherman, Garfield A. Minor in 1938.

G. H. HELLER . 227376 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1928 for Hugo W. Heller, Two Rivers, Wis. The 57 ft. x 14 ft. wood hulled fish tug was equipped with a 100-120 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. Later owned by Ernisse Fish Co., Sheboygan, Wis., she was renamed RESOLUTE. Still later owned by several different construction companies, the boat was dismantled in 1964.

G. L. DORNBOS A 50 ft. x 14 ft. wood hulled fish tug, owned by Willis Cross, Charlevoix, Mich., in the late 1930s. Boat was equipped with a 45-54 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. Builder is unknown.

G.W. FALCON See LILLIE B.

G-4 ..Built by Paasch Marine Service, Erie, Penn. in 1947, for Herbert W. Gloff Sons, Dunkirk, N.Y. The all-steel fish tug was 57 ft. in length, and equipped with a GM 6-71 diesel engine.

GALE 248916 Built at Bayfield in the mid 1940s by Frank Muhlke, the 34 ft. fish boat was owned by Evald Heinonen, Cornucopia, Wis. until being sold to Clyde Olson, Ellison Bay, Wis. in the 1960s. The boat is presently laying on the beach there, at Sand Bay, broken up.

GAMBLER ..Built by T.D. Vinette, Escanaba, Mich. in the early 1970s, for Paul Oplund, Big Traverse Bay, Mich. The 32 ft steel hulled boat was equipped with a diesel engine. Boat was sold to Tom Eckles, Grand Marais, Minn. Some time in the early 1980s, and was again sold back to an owner in Michigan.

GARY 247461 .Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1945, for William Yauger, Jr., Algoma, Wis. The 40 ft. x 11 ft. steel hulled fish tug was equipped with a 45-54 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. The cabin was of wood, over steel frames, with pilot house mid-ship. Yauger was owner until 1951, when she was sold to Canadian owners, and renamed BARRY MCKAY. In 1962 the boat came back to the U.S., retained her original name, and was owned by William Heward, Rogers City, Mich., until 1969. Bought by Gilmore Peterson, Bayfield, the Kahlenberg was removed, and a Cummins diesel installed. The wood cabin was replaced with steel, and the pilot house moved to the stern. Gilmore sold the boat to his nephew, Michael Peterson, who still has ownership.

GEM Built by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works, the 37 ft. gas powered fish tug was owned by Glen H. Weborg, and operated out of Kenosha, Wis. by Weborg Hanson Fishery during the 1940s. The boat has been sitting ashore at Sand Bay, in Door County, for many years.

GENEVIEVE Owned by Lloyd Miller, Petoskey, Mich. in 1931. Size not known.

GEORGE 3rd. Owned by Charles H. Anderson, Munising, Mich. in 1929.

GEORGE EDWARD .206828 A 75 ft. x 16 ft. steel hulled, steam powered fish tug, built in Buffalo, NY in 1909. Owned by Jacob Reger and John Werner, Lorain, OH from 1909 to 1949. The tug was then sold, converted to a tow tug with diesel power. In July 1966 she foundered at Houston, Texas.

GEORGE F. . Built at Grand Haven, Mich. in 1947, by George Ver Duin, the 46 ft. x 13 ft. all-steel boat was equipped with a Model D13000 Caterpillar diesel. After fishing the boat for a few years Ver Duin sold her to Consolidated Paper, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. The new owner converted the boat to a tow tug, re-named the boat TIMBERLAND, and employed her tending pulp rafts across Lake Superior from the Minnesota north shore to Ashland, Wis.

GEORGE VAN HALL .Built by Hugh Lee Iron Works, Saginaw, Mich. in 1945, for Geo. Van Hall, Saugatuck, Mich. The 38 ft. all-steel vessel was equipped with a gas engine, was fully enclosed, with pilot house over the engine space. A later owner, in Door County, renamed the boat SUZIE, and replaced the gas engine with a Volvo diesel. As of 2013, she was fishing out of Bayfield, Wisconsin, under the name KASSIE K.

GEORON Built in the 1940s by Kewaunee Shipbuilding, for George Johnson, Waukegan, Ill., from a design by marine architect, Walter W. Haertel, the all-steel boat was equipped with a GM 6-71 diesel. The boat was fished out of Waukegan for a number of years. In 1965 the boat was owned by Francis Thill, Marquette, Mich., who later sold it to Richard Eichler, Racine, Wis. Around the spring of 1990, it was purchased by Robert Casey, of Garden, Mich. Casey took the 671 out, and replaced it with a Cummins diesel. He described the GEORON as "a good little perch boat," adding, "The Haertel designed-bow made it a good boat running into a head sea." Casey sold it in 1995 and reports that it was scrapped about ten years later. VIEW PICTURE

GERALD Owned by Albert Willett, Pinconning, Mich. in 1931. Size not known.

GERRY W. . Built by Marinette Marine Corp. in 1945, a 35 ft. x 11 ft. all-steel fish tug, originally owned by Hermenson Fishery, Houghton, Mich., and equipped with a Model D318 Caterpillar diesel. In 1967 the boat was owned by Donald Carpenter, Grand Marais, Mich., and was at Alpena, Mich.

GERVASE A. 40 ft. gas powered fish boat owned by Allie Brothers Fishery, Two Rivers, Wis. in 1933.

GLADYS Fish tug based in Manistee, Mich.; no other information available.

GLOBE A 50 ft. x 12 ft. fish tug, equipped with a 45-54 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine, operated in the 1930s by Platz Wenzel Fish Co., Alpena, Mich.

GLORIA ..Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1929, for Hanson Brothers Fishery, Washington Island, Wis. The wood hulled fish tug was equipped with a 45-54 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine.

GLORIA 249025 A 42 ft. all steel gillnet tug with 13 ft. beam, built by Burger Boat Co., Manitowoc,WI in 1945, for Edward Grimm and Walter Meyer of Two Rivers, WI Originally equipped with a 4 cyl. Model D8800 Caterpillar diesel, the boat was later repowered with a 4 cyl. 60-70 h.p. Kahlenberg oil engine, after experiencing some problems with the Caterpillar. Meyer is listed as owner from 1946-1956, Joseph W. Koss, Milwaukee, 1957-1959, Nicholas Propsom, Sturgeon Bay, 1960-1965, Wayne Wachter, Marquette, 1968-1960, Donald Schuetter, Manistique, 1981-1989, Darryl Schuetter, Manistique, 1994-1998. The Schuetters re-powered with a 250 hp. Cummins diesel. The boat is still at Manistique.

GLORIANA 211059 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1913, for Emil G. Endress, Grand Marais, Mich. 62 ft. x 14 ft., the boat was originally steam powered. Later owned by Ludlow A. White, Alpena, Mich., the boat was equipped with a 60-70 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine.

GOLDEN GIRL 224148 Built by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works in 1921 for Alfred Weborg, Ellison Bay, WI, and owned by him until 1944. Howard Weborg, Ellison Bay, was the owner during 1944 and 1945, when the boat was sold to Edward Berkowitz, Kewaunee, WI. There were several owners up until 1966, when the boat was abandoned in April of that year. The 43 ft. boat was equipped with a Faibanks Morse diesel for most of its useful life.

GOLDIE W. 211830 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1913, for Daniel F. Coffey, Jr., Escanaba, Mich., the 58 ft. x 13 ft. vessel was equipped with a 75-90 Kahlenberg oil engine.

GOOD WILL 242076 A 36 ft. gas powered fish boat built at Omena, Mich. in 1942. The boat was owned by Lester W. Carlson, Leland, Mich., in 1944.

GOODWILL 262733 Built by Marinette Marine Corp. in 1947 for William Lasanen, Big Traverse Bay, Mich. The all-steel boat was square sterned and had the pilothouse mid-ship, and was equipped with a Buda diesel. Earl Killoran, Ontonagon, MI bought the boat in 1957, replaced the Buda with a Model D8800 Caterpillar diesel. In 1970 George McDonald, Racine, WI bought the boat, and changed the name to G.D. McDONALD. In 1972 Ronald Tornovish, Spring Lake, MI bought her, changed the name to ANNTONY and operated out of Burns Harbor, IN. Tornovish sold to an operator at Vermilion, OH in 1978. At present the boat is at Whitefish Point, and owned by Michael Weston, Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

GORDON T. 35 ft. gas powered fish boat owned by Walter Kreshefske, Pensaukee, Wis. in 1929.

GORILLA ..248540 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1902, a gas powered fish boat 34 ft. x 9 ft. Early ownership not known. Owned by John Lain, Jr., Kewaunee, 1914, R.C. Eaton, South Haven, Mich., 1917-1921. Not listed after 1918. Power was listed as being a Kahlenberg gas engine of 12 hp.

GOTHAM 240182 Built at Saugatuck, Mich., in 1940, by Lewis Gotham and his sons, Sam and Fred. 64 ft. x 15 ft., the all-steel tug was equipped with a 100-120 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. On Dec. 11, 1943 the boat was overcome by huge seas just off the piers at Saugatuck. Everyone aboard drowned. The boat was located 1000 feet off the pier, and raised the following spring. Everyone was of the opinion she had hit a sand bar and the stern doors, of wood, were smashed in by a following sea.

GOTLAND 204206 A 34 ft. gas powered fish boat, built at Manitowoc, Wis. in 1906. Early history of the boat is not known, but in 1926 John Jacobson, Frankfort, Mich. is listed as owner. From 1927 to 1934 William Bohnow, Frankfort, Mich., is the owner. From 1934 to 1942 Thomas Jacobson, Frankfort, is the owner, and during 1942 and 1943 Virginia Griswold, Muskegon, Mich. is owner. The boat was abandoned in 1943.

GRACE 225305 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1925, for Ole Olson, Frankfort, Mich. The 55 ft. x 13 footer was equipped with a 100-120 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine.

GRACE H. 228549 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1929, for John M. Hanrath, Frankfort, Mich. 57 ft. x 14 ft., and equipped with a 75-90 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine.

GRACE L. Owned by Archie W. Snyder, Munising, Mich. in 1938. Size of boat is not known.

GRACE V. 30 ft. gill-net tug owned by Philip Van Landschoot, Munising, Mich.in the 1940s the boat was equipped with a Caterpillar diesel engine.

GRAY FOX A steel hulled fish tug, approximately 43 ft. x 9 ft. Originally a 35 foot trapnet boat, she was lengthened 8 ft., but not widened. Early history is uncertain, but it is rumored she was named MERRY WIDOW at an earlier time. Wilfred Peterson bought the boat at Naubinway, Michigan some time in the late 1980s, and had it trucked to Bayfield. After repowering with a diesel engine, and rebuilding the cabin, his grandsons, Shawn and Troy Hanson operated with her for a time. After sitting ashore for a number of years, she was returned to active service in the fall of 2002. VIEW PICTURE

GRAYLING 55 ft. steam powered fish tug owned by Charles M. Anderson, Frankfort, Mich. in 1928

GROVER BROS. ..Built at the Barteau Yard on the east side of White Lake, Montaque, Mich. in 1935. The 45 ft. tug was equipped with a 45-54 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. Operated by the Grovers for a number of years, the boat was later at Milwaukee. In 1965, having been converted to trawling, and now equipped with a Cummins diesel, she was at Kenosha, owned by Matt Jensen.

GROVER BROS. II 247655 Built by Burger Boat Co. in 1945 for James and Floyd Grover, Montaque, Mich., the all-steel 55 ft. x 14 ft. tug was equipped with a 100-120 hp. Kahlenberg oil engine. Wesley Lasanen bought the boat in 1965, changed the name to FLOSSIE, and replaced the Kahlenberg with a smaller size Caterpillar diesel. In 1972 Lasanen sold to John LeClair, Grand Marais, Mich. LeClair renamed the boat LECLAIR BROS. and installed a V8 Cummins Model 903 diesel. After operating with the boat for a number of years LeClair sold to Lawrence Schweig, Chicago, and the boat was once again renamed, this time becoming the SPIRIT. The boat is presently owned by Cecil Peterson, Bayfield, Wis.

GULL 86493 A 56 ft. x 13 ft. wood hulled fishing vessel, built at Lorain, Ohio in 1900 by Henry Root. Nothing is known about ownership. She was abandoned in 1917.

GULL Owned by W.R. Schuler, Muskegon, Mich. in 1942. Size of the boat is not known.

GWA-GO-LI A 30 ft. gas powered fish boat owned by Allen Jensen, Marinette, Wis., in 1929.

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