To the Rescue, Steam Tug PAUL JONES

oil, 24" x 36"

$15,500

Built in 1903, at that time the PAUL JONES was the largest steam tug on the Atlantic seaboard. Built by Riverside Shipyard of New London, Connecticut, as the PAUL JONES, for the Thames Towboat Company of New London, Connecticut, whose owner was F.H. Chappell, a coal magnate at the turn of the century- he had the coal options for New Haven, New London, CT and Providence, RI. She towed coal barges between East Coast ports, and also towed oil barges northward from the Gulf Coast. Among the barges hauling, there were also sailing ships converted into barges, and it happened that a barge could ‘break off’ in bad sea conditions, and then had to be caught, which was a feat unto itself on the water. Marek’s painting illustrates what could have happened - the tug PAUL JONES is approaching the side of a ‘broken’ barge/schooner to "connect.”

In 1916, PAUL JONES was sold to the French Government. Her current and final disposition is unknown. She was a single screw tug with 1,500 horsepower.