Why do well call them "fish tugs?"

Because the motorized craft evolved from steam-powered tugboats, which originally were used for anything but fishing.

THE FEARLESS, an early steam fish tug, was built by
Burger and Burger at Manitowoc, Wis., in 1893 and
the 65-foot commercial fishing craft’s “tug” origins
are readily apparent in this photo. Company founder
Henry Burger started out during the Civil War, by
building 20- to 30-foot wooden Mackinaw boats
for commercial fishing. Although Burger is still known
as the builder of fine yachts, the construction of
motor-powered gill-net fish tugs kept the company
afloat during the Great Depression of the 1930s,
when the sales of pleasure craft fell.

Tugboats, designed to assist both sailing ships and other powered vessels, made their debut in the 19th century and soon had an appearance – certainly by the Civil War – that we find familiar right down to the present day.

A typical tug, probably at least 60 feet long but possibly much larger, has cabins on the main deck that can be walked around in any direction. Machinery is placed amidships, so a funnel typically appears behind the pilothouse, which is either in front of, or on top of, the cabins.

The craft were particularly useful on the Great Lakes, where they could tow sailing ships through restricted areas, such as the Detroit River.

And it was found they could be useful in commercial fishing activity, although years passed before they became truly ubiquitous on the Great Lakes. The fish tugs didn’t really proliferate until the internal combustion engine became sufficiently economical and reliable.

Even in the early years of the 20th century, Mackinaw boats were commonly used in commercial fishing and old pictures of “Fishtown” at Leland show such vessels – instead of fish tugs – docked near the mouth of the river at the lakefront.

The Mackinaw boats were double-ended sailing craft, typically carrying two masts. Hundreds of them were scattered about the Great Lakes, in Canadian as well as American waters.

Prior to the advent of the fish tug, they were your standard commercial fishing vessel.
The first project of the Maritime Heritage Alliance, which operates the replica schooner, Madeline, out of Greilickville, was the construction of an authentic Mackinaw boat, the Gracie L. The alliance later acquired the replica sloop, Welcome, to round off the fleet.
Although there was no fuel cost, sailing vessels could not compete with powered ones, and the once common Mackinaw boat gradually disappeared from the scene.
As the 20th century progressed, the fishing “fleet” at the mouth of the Leland River evolved into a powered one.

Some of the new powered wooden vessels, such as the Nu Deal, were built locally. The wooden tugs were tough craft, but winter ice conditions could be even tougher.

Fifty years ago, the ice got the better of two fish tugs when they became trapped in “an ice mass” outside the Leland harbor.

In late October, 1958, United Press International shared the story that the famed “fishtown” fleet had been augmented with two steel-hulled vessels, the Janice Sue and the Mary Ann.

It was reported in Michigan newspapers that the new boats would “replace the Etta and the Helen S. which received heavy damage to their hulls while icebound overnight” the previous winter.

Around the Great Lakes, the older wooden tugs had already been replaced, to a great degree, by newer steel ones. These newer, rugged craft represented the pinnacle in the development of the fish tug.

A few of the older, wooden tugs, were put to other uses, including the battered Helen S., which was acquired by Traverse City radio and television pioneer Les Biederman.
Over the course of several years, he converted the former fish tug into a yacht. Biederman was an early officer of the Grand Traverse Yacht Club, chartered in 1959 and headquartered in Greilickville. His Ho-Maid served as an officials’ boat in sailboat races on Lake Michigan.

“The Ho-Maid accompanied forty-seven consecutive yacht races during a ten-year period,” Beiderman relates in his autobiography, Happy Days. “I relayed radio reports on races to Northport, Manitou Island, and other ports of call where Grand Traverse region sailors were competing for yacht race trophies.”

In one instance, adverse weather forced him to dock the boat at Leland and it was reported in the Enterprise because it was seen as a sort of “homecoming” for the old fish tug.

There was no apparent limit to the varied work that a “fish tug” could do.

The wooden Manitou Island mailboat, Smilin’ Thru, looked like an ordinary fish tug when viewed from the bow, but the stern was open.

And the large wooden Tramp also looked like an everyday fish tug, but it was put to use for work in South Fox Island lumbering operations.

Over 40 years ago, the sterns of a few steel fish tugs were “opened up” and trawling apparatus was installed. The boats, originally built to handle gill nets, then set about catching alewives, or “shad,” and literally caught them by the ton.

A freezer plant was built at Saugatuck to handle the fish, for which the fisherman received $1 for a 50-pound bag.

The fish ended up as pet food.

Today, even the newer, steel fish tugs are an “endangered species,” and as their number continues to steadily dwindle, many a lake port is no longer home to even one of them.

But the lowly, hard working fish tug will never be forgotten at Leland.

It was an essential component of colorful, historic Fishtown.