''Admiral Dewey'', also known as ''Georgetown'' and today as ''Helen McAllister'', is a tugboat built in 1900 at the Burlee Drydock in Port Richmond, New York. She was built with a triple expansion compound

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

which was replaced with a diesel engine after World War II. She towed coal barges to refuel ships in the harbor. In 1955, she was sold to a

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

tugboat company. In the 1980s, the McAllister tugboat company of New York purchased the company and brought the renamed ''Helen McAllister'' back to

New York harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

. She helped dock

tall ships A tall ship is a large, traditionally- rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or fe ...

during Op Sail 1992. After retirement, she was donated to the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan in 2000. In 2012, ''Helen McAllister'' was returned to McAllister Towing, and is currently in Mariners Harbor, Staten Island.

References

Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan South Street Seaport 1900 ships Tugboats of the United States Mariners Harbor, Staten Island {{Manhattan-NRHP-stub