"The Workhorses of the Great Lakes"

These tugboats, along with 31 others, are owned and operated by the The Great Lakes Towing Company, which was founded in 1899. They're the "largest & most experienced US-flag tugboat fleet on the Great Lakes, & can be found in over 40 U.S. Great Lakes' ports. Their area of service extends over 8,300 miles of shoreline, encompassing a water surface area of roughly 100,000 square miles & their duties include ship assistance, cargo transportation, ice breaking and emergency assistance to every kind of vessel, barge and marine structure". Most of the tugs were built before WWI, and slowly but surely are being replaced with more modern counterparts. Here you can see the "Louisiana" and the "North Dakota", fleetmates that are based in Milwaukee. They can frequently be seen guiding ships into the Milwaukee harbor, or assisting barges down the river. The Louisiana was built in 1917 and the North Dakota in 1910. All the tugs in their fleet are named after U.S. States, & I love the story of the "Wisconsin". Built in 1897, it is the oldest workboat on the Great Lakes, was originally named the "America" but was re-named "Wisconsin" after it was purchased by the tug company in 1899.  It sank twice while helping grounded ships, once in 1941, resulting in the loss of lives of some of the crew & once in 1946. Both times it was raised and repaired. In 1979, while docked in Detroit, arsonists broke into the tug, doused it in gasoline and set in on fire. The fire was put out, but the second night the arsonists again broke in and set it on fire. It sat at the port in Detroit for 6 months while the owners decided if they should scrap it, but they decided to restore the tug and return it to service. The current crew says there have been occasional "eerie" happenings on the boat, but that if there are ghosts they seem to be friendly. The year the "Wisconsin"  was launched, Grover Cleveland was in the White House, Mark Twain was alive, and the Klondike Gold Rush was under way. The "Wisconsin" worked for many years in the Port of Milwaukee, & is currently based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Against all odds, the "Wisconsin" endures, as do many of these other tugs--not as museum pieces--but as working crafts. :))