Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Blob, here is a link with history, pictures and current owner of the American Girl. Regards, Sean.


http://www.stjamesmarine.com/american-girl/

The [i]American Girl[/i] was built by Defoe in 1922 for the Searfoss family of Benton Harbor, MI, for use in the fruit trade between St. Joseph and Chicago and Milwaukee. Defoe also built the [i]Mary Margaret[/i] for the same trade in 1923. When that trade succumbed to trucks, the [i]American Girl[/i] was converted to a fish tug in the late '20s, operating mostly out of Waukegan and Chicago, if I recollect correctly. In the late '40s she was reconverted to a freight boat for the Washington Island trade. She is still in service at Beaver Island.

In fishtug Gallery it shows the MV. [i]American Girl[/i] and says she was originally a fishtug. While working on the [i]Wilfred Sykes[/i], I often saw this boat. Several times she was pushing barges filled with logs. To me she looks more substantial to have been an average fishtug. Steel-plate hull and steel upperworks, as opposed to the wood hull covered with sheet-steel and wooden upperworks construction of many fishtugs I have seen. Could someone provide the dimensions and history of the [i]American Girl[/i]? Thank you.