The steam tug HERCULES, built in 1907, navigating on San Francisco Bay.
NPS Photo
HERCULES Statistics
Length
151 feet
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)
Fuel Type
Bunker C oil
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 caisson 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
