History
Baltimore acted as a general-purpose harbor vessel, taking on roles as needed in her capacity as a representative of the city. The tug took on school tours, carried VIPs and attended ceremonies. On one occasion in 1922, a newly launched ship capsized onto Baltimore, damaging her pilothouse. The city took advantage of the repair period to replace Baltimore's boiler.
In her capacity as an official welcoming vessel for the City of Baltimore, Baltimore met the German unarmed merchant submarine Deutschland on her first voyage to America, prior to the United States' entry into World War I. Baltimore and the city quarantine tug Thomas F. Timmins patrolled the vicinity of Deutschland's berth to ensure American neutrality.
In 1956 the Baltimore Harbor Board was dissolved and its assets, including Baltimore, transferred to the Maryland Port Authority. In 1963 the state sold Baltimore to Alexander Luckton, Jr., owner of Baltimore's Poe Bookstore. Luckton proposed to use Baltimore as a tow vessel for a barge carrying 100,000 books bound for Puerto Rico. With the failure of Luckton's health the project was called off and Baltimore was sold to the Harbor Towing Company of Baltimore, which in turn sold her the same year to Samuel F. and Joanna J. DuPont, who had her repaired and certified as a steam yacht. In 1979 Baltimore sank at her dock on the Sassafras River in fifteen feet of water. In 1981 DuPont offered the tug to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. After several tries the tug was raised, and has been undergoing repair and conservation ever since. In 2009 the project was awarded federal funding for further restoration work, and additional funding in 2011 through a Maryland Heritage Areas Authority grant.
Read more about this topic: Baltimore (tug)
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