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The Tug Sooke Prince
by John MacFarlane and Chad Giesbrecht 2016
Sooke Prince in Sharcott Towing Ltd. livery (Photo from the Les Sharcott collection. )
In 1974 she was built in Victoria BC by United Engineering Works Ltd. She was 9.63m x 4.21m x 1.28m steel hulled 9.44gt 6.42rt powered by a 340bhp diesel engine.
Sooke Prince in Rapid Towing Co. Ltd. livery (Photo from the Chad Giesbrecht collection. )
In 1974–1986 she was owned by Sooke Towing (1972) Ltd. (Robbie Robinson), Victoria BC. In 1987–1993 she was owned by Douglas A. MacFarlane, Sooke BC. In 1994–2001 she was owned by 433727 B.C. Ltd., Oona river BC. In 2003–2004 she was owned by Sharcott Towing Ltd., Nanaimo BC. In 2011–2014 she was owned by Cable Bay Marine Towing Ltd., Nanaimo BC. In 2015–2016 she was owned by Rapid Towing Co. Ltd., Nanaimo BC.
Sooke Prince in Rapid Towing Co. Ltd. livery (Photo from the Chad Giesbrecht collection. )
In her early days she towed out of Sooke harbour in support of Lamford Mill. Then she moved up to operate in Prince Rupert BC. Since 2003 she has been based in Nanaimo BC.
Sooke Prince in Rapid Towing Co. Ltd. livery (Photo from the Chad Giesbrecht collection. )
Note the lovely sheer line. She has a 12–71 engine for power pushing past a 45" steering nozzle.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John M. and Chad Giesbrecht (2016) The Tug Sooke Prince. Nauticapedia.ca 2016. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Sooke_Prince.php
Site News: April 21, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,266 vessel histories (with 15,629 images and 13,259 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.