Tealrock 

Winter, 1961

As the story goes, the previous owner, Fred Filbert, turned her over to the skipper and his 14 year old deckhand to run from Bellingham to East Sound on Orcas Island to pick up a raft of logs; a trip of about 30 miles through the San Juan Islands.  The skipper promptly went below and went to sleep.  The deckhand made it to the entrance of East Sound before he went to sleep.

The Teal circled around and drove up on the beach at the Southeast end of the Sound and stopped on a little tiny sand bar.  Sand bars are very rare in the San Juans.  It's there, but you can't see the sand from this side; also, she's not resting against the rocks on this side. There's about 2 feet between the hull and the rocks.  She sat between a big rock and the rock cliff on this side.  All by herself, as the tide was going out, at about 8 knots.  For a tug, that's about like 60 on the freeway.  About a foot of her keel is on the sand and about a foot of the guard (just behind the deckhand's left foot) settled  against the rocks as the tide went out.  So, 3 feet to the right and she would have sat on the big rock and when the tide went out, she would have rolled over into 45 feet of water and sank.  2 feet to the left and she would have run head long into the rock wall and smashed herself to bits.  They radioed the owner, who arrived in his speedboat after the tide had finished going out.  He took a couple of pictures and when the tide came back in he took her into East Sound, picked up the logs, tied the speedboat to them, and went home.  The "skipper" and his deck hand went home on the ferry. 

So how's that for a "two point landing" and balancing act?  I wish I had the picture of the other side; it's really amazing to see the prop, rudder and everything just hanging there in thin air.

Epilog:  For those with questions;  The Teal was designed by Ed Monk and drawn be Loren Garden.  She was built by Alaska Packers Association in 1949 to tow their gear around and she lived in and around the Bearing Sea until 1960 when they brought back to Blaine, Washington.  Fred Filbert bought her in 1960, replacing the original 90 HP Atlas diesel with a Caterpillar D343TA in 1962 (another story in itself.)  The Cat is still giving out plenty of "smash" and is running great.  Mr. Filbert towed logs in and out of Bellingham, Washington, all over Puget Sound and Canada with her until we bought her in 1978.   We sold her in 1992 to a fellow who took her back to Alaska and beat her up badly for 2 years and then she brought him back to Tacoma.  Pat (Patricia) (but don't call her that if you know what's good for you) and John Kent bought Teal in 1995 and had her rebuilt by Mike Vlahovich, (probably one of the very best shipwrights in the world.)  They still own her and have no intentions of selling and are now running her.  Teal is currently one of the best, (I think, the best) kept and best looking tug in Puget Sound or anywhere.  Don't you just love a story with a happy ending?  Especially when it's true.

Ok already; the other story:

In the Summer of 1962, Fred, in the Teal, still running the original 90 horse Atlas, and Old Cap Simmons in the Chief running a 600 horse Atlas were towing a big raft of logs through Sammamish Slew against a 1 or 2 knot current, making about half a knot headway when the Teal plugged a fuel filter and quit.  They tied the Teal off to the raft and proceeded to get her running again when they realized that they were still making a half a knot.  That Fall, Fred went to the Commercial Fish Boat Show in Seattle and bought the 343 Caterpillar right off the Coliseum floor.  (It's serial number 533.)  He told me "She never had that problem again."  Several times she's been seen pulling 47 sections of bundled cedar logs; a feat not accomplished by some tugs twice her size.