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San Francisco Maritime National Historical ParkAlcatraz, Hyde Street Pier and Balclutha at sunset on a stormy evening.
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San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Hercules
 
The steam tug Hercules, built in 1907, navigating on San Francisco Bay.
The steam tug Hercules, built in 1907, navigating on San Francisco Bay.
 

STATS

 

Length

151 feet

Fuel type

Bunker C

Beam

26 feet

Draft

18 feet aft, 10 feet forward

Gross tonnage

409

Engine

3 cylinder, triple expansion

Cylinders

17", 24", and 41" with 30" stroke. 500 Indicated Horsepower(ihp)

Boiler 

Scotch marine fire tube. 16' diameter, 11’9" long. Four, oil-burning furnaces



 
  • Hercules is a steam powered tug built for ocean towing
  • The 151-foot ship, of riveted steel construction, still contains her original triple expansion steam engine
  • Built on the East Coast in 1907, she towed her sister ship from Camden, New Jersey around South America to San Francisco
  • Hercules also towed sailing ships, disabled vessels, barges, log rafts, a cassion (a steel structure used for closing the entrance to locks) for a dry dock at Pearl Harbor, and a cassion to help build a Panama Canal lock
  • The tug usually carried a crew of three firemen, three oilmen, a chief and two assistant engineers, three deckhands, cook, two mates and a captain
 
 
The 1907 steam tug Hercules.
Hercules
1907 steam tug
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The exterior, brick front of the visitor center building.
The park visitor center
"The Labors of HERCULES" exhibit is open in the visitor center.
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The gangway to the tugboat Hercules.
Find out when the Hercules is open for boarding
Open hours for July 2008
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The Aquatic Park Bathhouse building located at the foot of Polk Street in San Francisco, CA.  

Did You Know?
The Aquatic Park Bathhouse building, a Depression-era, Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, was completed in 1939. The art deco building includes tile mosaics of fish, marble floors that resemble a sea chart, and interior walls painted with murals depicting strange creatures of the deep.
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Last Updated: August 01, 2007 at 12:37 EST