''Hector'' was a small steam vessel built in Roche Harbor, Washington in 1897. The vessel was worked as a

cannery tender A cannery tender was a type of commercial fishing vessel operated by salmon canneries in the early to mid- 20th century. Most commonly used in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, cannery tenders transported fish from cannery-owned fish traps to ...

and a tug boat in the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

and on

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 ...

from 1897 to 1913.

Career

''Hector'' was built for the brothers Capt. Thomas Gawley and Engineer Hector Gawley of

Lopez Island Lopez Island is the third largest of the San Juan Islands and an unincorporated town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. Lopez Island is in land area. The 2000 census population was 2,177, though the population swells in the summer, ...

. The vessel was used for some years as a chartered fish-trap tender in the

. Later ''Hector'' was sold and transferred to Tacoma where it was operated as a tug.

Explosion and fire

In April 1913, ''Hector'', making the first trip after having refitted with a new boiler was raising steam off Purdy Spit when an apparent coal gas explosion occurred. Harold Lanning was able to rescue the crew with his motor vessel. The burned hull of ''Hector'' was towed to the shore, where beachcombers eventually removed everything usable from the hulk.

Notes

References

* Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (1966)
United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Bureau of Statistics, Annual list of merchant vessels of the United States (1912)
{{1913 shipwrecks Ships built in Washington (state) 1897 ships Steamboats of Washington (state) Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) Steam tugs Steam tugs of Washington (state) Maritime incidents in 1913 Ship fires Shipwrecks of the Washington coast