Ship Details

Argus (I)

Vessel image

Photo Credit: S.C. Heal

 
 
Registry #1 192513 (Canada) Registry #2 254911 (US) Registry #3 YOL.2 (US Navy)
IMO# MMSI# VRN#
 
Name 1 1943 Y-30 (U.S.A.T.S.) Name 6 1954 Straits No. 12
Name 2 1944 YOL-2 (U.S.S.) Name 7 1967c Pacific Barge 12
Name 3 1944 Argo (U.S.S.) Name 8 1979c Rivtow 7
Name 4 1949 Argo (I) Name 9 2004 Browns 301
Name 5 1950 Argus (I) Name 10 (nk) Capco 200
 
Year Built 1943 Place Stockton Area CA Country USA
 
Designer (nk) Measurement (imp) 177.8' x 27.2' x 12.9'
Builder Kyle & Co. Inc. Measurement (metric) 54.2m x 8.3m x 3.9m
Hull Steel Displacement
Gross Tonnage 518.73 Type 1 Tanker
Registered Tonnage 512.02 Type 2 Barge, fuel
Engine diesel engine Engine Manufacture (nk)
Repower Propulsion Screw
Rebuilds In 1954 as a hulk she was converted to a transport barge by Straits Towing & Salvage Co. Call Sign KKIE
Pendant  # Y.30; YOL.2 Masters Captain Bill Boyce (1953);
 
Owner(s)
In 1943 she was owned by US Army Transportation Service. In 1944 she was owned by the United States Navy. She was sold to the Pacific Petroleum Co. In 1949 she was owned by Pacific Navigation & Trading Co. Seattle WA USA. In 1950 she was sold to Union Steamship Ltd., Vancouver BC Canada. In 1953 she was destroyed by fire at Ioco BC. In 1954 as a hulk she was converted to a transport barge by Straits Towing & Salvage Co., Vancouver BC Canada. In 1950 she was owned by Frank Waterhouse & Co., Vancouver BC Canada. In 1958-1961 she was owned by the Straits Towing Ltd., Vancouver BC Canada. In 1967 she was owned by the Vancouver Tug Boat Co. Ltd., Vancouver BC Canada. In 1979 she was owned by Rivtow Straits Ltd., Vancouver BC Canada. In 2003-2012 she was owned by Brown's Wastewater Ltd., Victoria BC Canada.
 
Fate Registry closed Date 2012-02-07
 
Named Features
Significance of Name
 
Anecdotes
This vessel is no longer registered in Canada.This vessel was originally employed in towing cargoes of herring and gasoline to Puget Sound ports. In 1950 this vessel was towing cargoes of caustic soda from Tacoma WA to pulp mills. On June 16, 1953 this vessel was severely damaged by fire while loading from the Imperial Oil Co. dock at Ioco BC while under command of Captain Bill Boyce. Hal Gibbard (Email to Nauticapedia 27/12/2021) stated "In the summer of 1952, we also carried whale oil from Coal Harbour to a location that I now have forgotten. That must have been one of the final years that Coal Harbour operated as a whaling station where oil was rendered. I can still imagine the smell of the oil. I was detailed to help the deck hands go down into the tanks, when they were emptied, to use a big hand tool to “squeegee” the last buckets of oil into the pump drains in the floor of the tanks. Imagine being dressed in heavy rainwear and gumboots and slopping around in a square tank the size of a bedroom and having the thick oil drool off the ceiling. It took several showers to get the smell out of one’s skin. However, it was rewarded with bonus “dirty pay” which, along with the overtime and “danger pay”, helped pay my way through the first year of University that Fall. One of the reasons for the danger pay was when we took on liquid caustic soda. Therein is the error in your description of the Argus: “in 1950 this vessel was towing cargoes of caustic soda from Tacoma WA to pulp mills”. This vessel hauled the liquid version in her holds, and perhaps also small drums as well [though that may have been on the Eastholme]."
 
References
Canada List of Shipping; Duddy, George (2016); Hal Gibbard (Email to Nauticapedia 27/12/2021); Vancouver Sun (Vancouver BC) Tuesday June 16, 1953 page 1;
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