Tugboat Halle Foss

Photo by Cliff West

My dad, Cliff West, photographed the Foss tugboat Halle Foss on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, in April 2006. This tugboat was built in 1970 by Quality Shipyard Incorporated of Houma, Louisiana, as the Gulf Stream for Gulf Mississippi Marine Incorporated of Houston, Texas. In 1976, it was acquired by Defelice Marine Towing Company of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and renamed the Demarco XII. In 1979 it was purchased by the Knappton Towboat Company of Astoria, Oregon, and was renamed the Astoria. It retained its name when the Knappton Towboat Company became the Brix Maritime Company of Seattle, Washington, in 1988. In 1993 Brix was acquired by the Foss Maritime Company of Seattle, Washington, and the tugboat was renamed the Halle Foss. The Halle Foss is 86 feet long with a hull 27.9 feet wide and 9.4 feet deep. Rated at 2,000 horsepower, it is powered by two Caterpillar D398 12-cylinder diesel engines turning two cast steel fixed pitch propellers.