Tugboat Roughneck

Photo by Cliff West

This tugboat was built by the Calumet Shipyard and Drydock Company of Chicago, Illinois, in 1944 as the United States Army’s LT-59. In 1947, it was acquired by Ocean Prince, Incorporated of Oakland, California, and renamed Ocean Prince. It retained that name as it moved to the Red Star Towing Company of New York, New York, in 1951, to the Smith Brothers Towing Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1955 and to the Gulf and Caribbean Towing Company of Lafitte, Louisiana, in 1961. In 1963 it was renamed Dauphin, and in 1974 it was renamed Beaumont. Eventually it was acquired by the Sause Brothers Ocean Towing Company and renamed Roughneck. It is 114.2 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a draft of 17.2 feet. My dad, Cliff West, photographed it on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon, in April or May of 2007.