Echo (steam tug)
Encyclopedia
The steam tug Echo operated in the early 1900s on Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

.

Construction

Echo was built at Tacoma in 1906 by Crawford and Reid
Crawford and Reid (shipbuilders)
The firm of Crawford and Reid was a ship building company that had a shipyard at Tacoma Washington in the first half of the 1900s. Vessels constructed by the yard included the passenger steamships Daring, Dix, Monticello 2, the sternwheeler S.G. Simpson, and the steam tugs Echo and USS Locust...

 for Captain O. G. Olson. Echo was propeller-driven and 66.5' long.

Operation

On August 16, 1906, the Foss gasoline-powered launch Lion caught fire in Commencement Bay
Commencement Bay
Commencement Bay is a bay of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. The city of Tacoma is located on the bay, with the Port of Tacoma occupying the southeastern end. A line drawn from Point Defiance in the southwest to Browns Point in the northeast serves to mark the generally accepted...

, when a fuel valve mistakenly left open had spilled 30 gallons of gasoline into her bilges, which was ignited by the engine backfiring. Echo pumped water on board Lion until the fire was out, while a boat from the cutter Grant took off her crew and passengers.

Purchase by Foss Launch & Tug Co.

In 1916 Foss Launch and Tug Company
Foss Launch and Tug Company
Foss Launch and Tug Company was founded in 1889 by Thea Foss and her husband Andrew Foss. The company, now known as Foss Maritime, is now the largest tug and towing concern on the west coast of the United States.-Course of business:...

bought Captain O.G. Olson’s Tacoma towing business, including the steam tugs Echo, Elf, and Olympian. In 1921, Perry Moore became Echo ‘s chief engineer.

Historic images from the on-line collections of the University of Washington

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