Aerospace, aviation, rail, and road transportation modes benefit from the evolution of technology. Maritime is no different. Modern vessel design has evolved in highly specialized directions depending on the purpose of the craft and the environment it will work in. Tugboats today come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and purposes. Pacific Maritime Group owns and operates a fleet of vessels that have been continually upgraded to meet ever-changing regulations and standards.
Occasionally, a vessel comes along that is timeless. The PMG tug “Blarney” is just such a vessel. Blarney was built in 1945 by the Gibbs Gas Engine Company in Jacksonville, Florida as the YTB-401 “Owachomo” for the United States Navy. She was a traditional single-screw conventional workhorse performing harbor work and occasional ocean towing. In 1962, the tug was redesignated as YTM-401, continuing her service to the Navy. In subsequent years, the tug went through various owners in the commercial sector.
In 1975, she was acquired by L.H. Clark of Tenakee, Alaska, where the tug was renamed as the Blarney. This name somehow fit the personality of the old tug and it stuck when she was later acquired by South Coast Incorporated of Ketchikan, Alaska. After more than three decades with South Coast the tug was acquired by Coastal Villages LLC of Anchorage, Alaska. By now, Blarney was well-known in the Pacific Northwest.
In 2006, Blarney acquired a new Captain with a passion for the old boat and the skills to match. Captain Doug Hilty commanded Blarney hauling aggregate, construction materials, equipment, and freight to villages all over western and southeast Alaska. He discovered that almost everywhere he went, people knew the boat or had a story about her to tell. From your hair standing on end when you walked between the generators, as a diesel electric, to running out of fuel at Port Angeles on a trip from Hawaii, losing all electronics in the process, and many more sea-stories enough to make Blarney a “Legend”!
Captain Doug realized the boat with its distinctive name and profile had touched the lives of hundreds of crew members, construction workers and regular folks, receiving supplies in outlying communities. If the name changed, all the history would have remained in people’s minds with the Blarney, not the old vessel with an unfamiliar name. Doug was determined to stay with the boat and continue her story.
In 2009, the tug was again sold, this time to Campbell Maritime Incorporated of Seattle, Washington, all the while keeping her name Blarney under Captain Doug’s watchful eye.
In 2016, she was acquired by Pacific Maritime Group, and homeported in San Diego, California. Once again, long-time Blarney Captain Doug Hilty lobbied hard for PMG to retain the name Blarney, which the new owners were more than happy to do. Captain Doug and his crew stayed with the boat and the new owners, doing shift work and longer tows as PMG put the tug into service performing coastal towing of PMG and customer equipment up and down the West Coast of the United States.
From 2016 to 2022 the boat was lavished with maintenance and minor upgrades, until late 2023 when a major refit commenced. Blarney headed to Portland, Oregon where under the supervision of PMG’s Port Captain Tom Ebner and Blarney’s Chief Engineer, Scott Wilson, she began the biggest overhaul of her long-life. Blarney was about to bring the 21st Century to her long, sleek lines. Captain Tom and his team performed a long list of work items to include: Main engine repower, inspected by ABS and USCG under Subchapter M, using a Tier 3 Mitsubishi S16R-Y3MPTAW Engine, delivering 1650 HP through a Reintjes WAF 773 reverse gear 7.0:1 ratio. While in dock, PMG took the opportunity to install integrated ABS/USCG approved 10,000 fuel tank sponsons resulting in increased fuel capacity from 22,000 to 32,000 and increased stability. Routine work to service the shaft, re-pitch and balance the main and thruster props, blast and re-coat the hull and other projects were also accomplished.
PMG was fortunate to have a team of respected experts contribute to the project. The fuel tank and sponson design/architecture were a collaboration between Mike Dockter Marine Design and Drafting and Fred Wahl Marine Construction using their naval architect, Kendall Blake. The stability project team consisted of Mike Docker Marine Design and Drafting, Fred Wahl Marine Construction, and Glosten Naval Architects. Karl Senner provided and installed the Reintjes gearbox for the new engine.
The boat now re-enters service with an ABS five-year load line, an ABS full incline stability test and Stability Letter, a USCG Subchapter M dry dock exam and COI renewal and new range and capabilities up-to 2,500 miles while towing with an estimated 25% reserve on board.
The Legend of Blarney will proudly continue to ply the Pacific waters she has called home for eight decades, with no signs of aging anytime soon!
A special thank you to Captain Douglas Hilty for providing us with some of the Blarney’s colorful history.