STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Door County Maritime Museum celebrated the 100th birthday of the tugboat John Purves Wednesday.
“There’s always a story,” said Paul Graf, standing in the galley room of the John Purves, telling the same stories told to him by Bob Perlewitz, the boat’s one-time chief engineer.
If you climb aboard the large red tugboat you’re sure to hear a few of those stories too. Black-and-white photos show the men who once manned the 149-foot tugboat.
Graf tells FOX 11 the history is nothing short of amazing.
“There is a lot of water that has passed under the hall of this tug from the Atlantic to the Caribbean. The tug has been on Lake Superior, all of the Great Lakes. During World War II, the Army took it over.”
Then named Tugboat Butterfield, with just a 30-man crew, it once carried barges of war supplies during the war.
“You begin to live and breathe the spirit of it,” said Graf.
Inside the rooms where men once slept while out at sea, Graf says the beds are still pretty comfortable. Graf never lived aboard the tug, but he helped restore it with some who did.
“We did it as a testimony to all the crew members that sailed on this tug.”
Kevin Osgood, the museum’s executive director, tells FOX 11 the Purves is impressive.
“This tugboat captures 100 years of history on the maritime on the water in one vessel that you can walk on.”
As tug John Purves opened for the season Wednesday, it was celebrated by the museum and people throughout Door County.
“All year long we’re going to have what we call nuts-and-bolts tours,” said Osgood.
The nuts-and-bolts tour will be twice as long as the original one and show parts of the boat that have never been seen. The tour guides will share sea stories from those who lived and worked aboard the boat.
“There are lessons aboard this boat from stem to stern,” said Osgood.
Lessons that will now be shared with the thousands of people who board the tug John Purves from Sturgeon Bay and beyond.
