''Rabboni'' was a steam tug that operated on the west coast of the United States starting in 1865.

Career

''Rabboni'' was built in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and launched on April 9, 1865. The tug was brought north to the mouth of the Columbia river, arriving in July 1865, and reaching

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

on July 29, 1865. The vessel was commanded by Capt. Paul Corno, who was also its main owner. En route ''Rabboni'' had stopped at

Coos Bay Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abou ...

and procured a three-month supply of coal, and picked up 18,000

board feet The board foot or board-foot is a unit of measurement for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It equals the volume of a length of a board, one foot wide and thick. Board foot can be abbreviated as FBM (for "foot, board measure" ...

of lumber. On August 10, 1865, ''Rabboni'' towed in the bark ''Almatia'', which became the first vessel towed across the Columbia bar by a regular tug.Wright, ed. ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History'', at 138, 147, 397. ''Rabboni'' was considered a good tug for the time, but ran into opposition at the Columbia from the bar pilots and prejudice among sailing ship owners against steam craft of any kind. In March, 1866 ''Rabboni'' proving unable to win sufficient business, was returned to San Francisco. After many years out of the area, ''Rabboni'' was returned to the Pacific Northwest, this time to the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

, in an effort to pick up tow work from inbound ships headed for ports in

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

. This placed ''Rabboni'' in opposition to the powerful Puget Sound Tug Company, and again ''Rabboni'' proved unable to compete. There was thereafter no steam tug on the Columbia river bar until 1869. In 1890, ''Rabboni'' came under the ownership of F.B. Cornwall. By 1898 ''Rabboni'' had been laid up for some time at the Stetson and Post

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in Seattle. The Klondike gold rush created a great demand for shipping, which resulted, as one historian as written, in “large number of old vessels pulled off the mudflats and out of backwater sloughs from Oakland Creek to British Columbia."Newell, ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History'', at 31. ''Rabboni'' was one of these vessels, and was refitted for tow work in Alaska, but proved to be unsuccessful.

Reconstruction

In 1900, ''Rabboni'', still owned by F.B. Cornwall, was rebuilt, and a new compound steeple-type steam engine was installed. ''Rabboni'' was last used in service for the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company, whose lumber mills were controlled by Cornwall.

Notes

References

* Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (1966) *
Harte, Bret, “Evolution of Ship-Building and Shipping in California”, ''Overland Monthly, and Out West Magazine'', Volume 25, at page 285 (1895)
{{California Steamboats 1865 ships Steamboats of Washington (state) Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) Steamboats of Oregon Steamboats of California Steamboats of the Columbia River Ships built in San Francisco Steam tugs Steam tugs of Washington (state)