Tug Comanche

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Jared
Posts: 798
Joined: December 6, 2014, 4:51 pm

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by Jared »

I just talked to a friend over there. He did a dive on her a few years ago. She sits in 115ft of water and apparently her pilothouse and cabin are gone and nothing remains on the wreck itself in terms of artifacts. That's a real bummer.
William Lafferty
Posts: 1491
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by William Lafferty »

Gives me something to look for next spring then.
That close to shore most, though not all, of the basin between the Sables is pure sand, with a few anomalies. After 30 years it should show up on side scan fairly prominently, I'd think. I know of nobody who has looked for it. The station logs at the NARA at Chicago should refer to a more accurate sinking position I'd think, since the 44 cut the line when it was obvious the Comanche was foundering. I've said all I know about that.
Jared
Posts: 798
Joined: December 6, 2014, 4:51 pm

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by Jared »

Gives me something to look for next spring then.
William Lafferty
Posts: 1491
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by William Lafferty »

Is she still on the bottom? If so has she been located?
I assume so, but I don't know if anybody has bothered to locate it. It was an 85 year old hull with a 54 year old engine and no pilothouse when it sank in around 110 feet off the pumped storage plant. I have no idea why PSIX says it existed until 2014 on the West Coast. My guess is it was confused with the commercial fishing boat Commanche (note spelling at PSIX) of Portland, Oregon, built 1935 at Santa Monica. The Coast Guard online registry has misspelled the name of the tug Comanche as Commanche since it began.
Attachments
Comanche PSIX.png
Jared
Posts: 798
Joined: December 6, 2014, 4:51 pm

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by Jared »

Is she still on the bottom? If so has she been located?
William Lafferty
Posts: 1491
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by William Lafferty »

It was never renamed Dan Hayes officially. Oddly, the PSIX website believes it was a fishing vessel in the Seattle area until 2014. I rather suspect that's an error!
Guest

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by Guest »

Great information guys! According the newspaper clipping and the BGSU database the Comanche was renamed Don Hayes. Was that ever made official?
William Lafferty
Posts: 1491
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by William Lafferty »

What timing. Just yesterday while cataloguing my photo collection I came across a photo of the Dan Hayes at Ludington on that trip. Lakeshore Contractors at Muskegon, run by John Bultema's son, I think, bought the tug and brought it (gingerly) to Muskegon. As I recall the Comanche was sold to owners at Kenosha to replace the rather under-powered Morelli there (back when salties were frequent at Kenosha loading and unloading for Chrysler's big plant there). On its delivery trip it caught fire at De Tour on 28 May 1982. It was towed back to the Soo by the Chippewa on 14 June 1982. Lakeshore bought it soon after with the intention of doing something with it but never did. James Roussin and Ron Walters of Ludington bought it in late 1985 to be resurrected as an icebreaking tug to help Walters's fish tug Judy Ann in and out of Pere Marquette Lake in the winter and for Roussin to use in marine construction the rest of the year. In tow of the Judy Ann the tug left Muskegon the morning of 11 December 1985 but encountered heavy seas near Little Point Sable. The Ludington CG's 44 took the tug in tow that night, but it sank the next morning around 7 AM off the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. It was originally the Richard Caswell launched 9 July 1900 at Baltimore by the Columbian Iron Works for the U. S. Army Engineering Department.
BigRiver
Posts: 1090
Joined: April 28, 2010, 6:37 pm

Re: Tug Comanche

Unread post by BigRiver »

Hope this is readable. From the Soo paper, no date on the clipping
Attachments
Comanche tug fire.jpg
Comanche2.jpg
Guest

Tug Comanche

Unread post by Guest »

The tug Comanche burned in the St. Marys River back in 1982. Does anyone have information on its final disposition?
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