IN 1912, WOODROW Wilson was elected the 28th president of the United States, the Model T was being produced at a furious pace by Ford Motor Co. and the largest passenger steamship of her day, Titanic, sunk on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.
It is also the year that the fledgling Victoria Tug Boat Co. across the Strait of Juan de Fuca acquired its first vessel, an 80-foot, steam-powered tug named Swell.
Michael Lever and Judith Fleming recently acquired Swell, and she’s now stowed in Port Angeles — in the Commander Building at Platypus Marine Inc. for the past few weeks.
By the end of February, she will be back in the water.
But for a few finishing touches to be handled in Vancouver, British Columbia, she will be ready to join her companion vessel, Nautilus Explorer, as Nautilus Swell and offer luxury live-aboard scuba diving excursions in the waters of British Columbia and Alaska.
The first 99-plus years Swell spent in the salt chucks of British Columbia saw the decline of wind as the propulsion of choice for merchant ships, steam-generating boilers give way to diesel-fired engines and nuclear reactors become the preeminent power plant for some of the largest ships in the world.
For her first 45 plus years of work life — which began by towing commercial sailing vessels in and out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca — she also towed limestone barges from Texada Island to a large cement plant on Vancouver Island as well as coal scows from the west coast of Vancouver Island to the mainland of British Columbia.
In 1955, her coal-fired steam boilers were removed in favor of a contemporary 400-horsepower diesel engine.
A fair amount of her decking and planking was also replaced with Douglas fir timbers that had been reclaimed from the discards of the Granville Street bridge in Vancouver, B.C., after it was demolished in February 1954.
For the next few years, she went through a series of commercial owners who, at differing times, had her towing barges from a copper mine in Alice Arm, working on dredging operations in Powell River and towing gravel barges to and from various locales along the Inside Passage.
She even suffered the indignity of running aground in Porlier Pass.
Ross Coburn purchased Swell in 2004 and spent nearly two years having her rebuilt, restored and repowered for use as a mother ship for his sportfishing business on B.C.’s central coast.
The hull was lengthened and reframed, the main deck house was extended 18 feet, a new stem was installed and her keel was rebuilt. The overall length of the vessel swelled to 92 feet.
Additionally, 65,000 board feet of Douglas Fir and yellow and red cedar were used in the reconstruction project.
Tim Courtier, who calls Salt Spring Island home, has been with the sister vessel, Nautilus Explorer — a 116-foot Millennium boat — for 4 years and is now the captain of Nautilus Swell.
Capt. Tim said that in addition to all the work being done by personnel at Platypus Marine, he and his crew have been putting in 60- and 70-hour weeks to get all the work accomplished that he has on his punch list.
Platypus personnel are installing a new cutlass bearing and adjusting the rudder.
They are also replacing a handful of planks on the hull that were damaged when the vessel ran through some sheet ice leaving Nanaimo as she headed to Port Angeles.
A hot tub is being installed on the upper deck along with a barbecue pit and a lifeboat that will straddle the stern rail.
Capt. Tim said their dive guests come from all over the world, and the one common language they share is that of the photograph.
To accommodate the shutterbugs, a custom camera station is being built on the upper deck.
An aluminum roof is being installed over a countertop that was affixed to the exterior bulkhead of the aft house.
Along the bulkhead, just above the counter, a dozen or so electrical plugs were installed that will accommodate both North American and European electrical power protocol.
The hull of Nautilus Swell received new caulking, and the process of applying a new finish to the decks will begin shortly.
Before the vessel leaves the Commander Building, she will have received a bold new coat of paint from stem to stern and from the masthead light to the keel.
The electronic systems in the wheelhouse have been upgraded including adding an additional radio system and installing the navigational safety tool and collision avoidance system known as AIS.
The berthing compartment that was once contiguous with the wheelhouse has been reconfigured and is now a stand-alone suite.
An inspector from the Marine Division of Transport Canada was at Platypus Marine recently and conducted a full inspection of Nautilus Swell and without reservation approved her for conducting charters in Canadian waters.
It is still going to be a little while before Capt. Tim and his crew get under way with their first boatload of enthusiastic divers.
When they leave Port Angeles, it will be off to Vancouver, B.C., to have an air compressor and Nitrox System installed for filling scuba tanks. And then there will be time required for outfitting and provisioning the boat.
Come springtime. Nautilus Swell will begin a new phase in her life’s journey — which I suspect will be more leisurely than she experienced in her first century.
A hundred years old and facing a fresh life with new adventures — we should all be so lucky.
Harbor filler-up
Last Sunday, Tesoro Petroleum in Port Angeles provided bunkers to Polar Resolution, an 895-foot crude oil tanker operated by Polar Tankers, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips.
Then Monday, Tesoro had its refueling barge alongside the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge, Commitment.
Tesoro on Friday provided bunkers to Coral Gem, a 623-foot cargo ship, and Ocean Colossus, a 646-foot cargo ship.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
E-mail dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.
