Balize (tug)

The Balize was a wooden hulled tugboat that operated on the Great Lakes in the United States and Canada. She was powered by a single cylinder steam powered Steeple engine and fueled by one coal-fired Scotch marine boiler. She had a length of 131.50 feet, a beam of 21.58 feet and height of 12 feet.[1]

Balize
The Balize underway
History
 United States
Name:
  • Mary Grandy 1863-1865
  • Bignonia 1865-1865 (U.S. Navy)
  • Balize 1865-1915
Operator:
  • H.J. Winslow
Port of registry:  United States,
Builder: Ira Lafrinier of Cleveland, Ohio
Yard number: 110
Identification: U.S. Registry #2714
Fate: Scrapped in 1915, in Midland, Ontario
General characteristics
Class and type: Tugboat
Tonnage: 321.10 gross tons
Length: 131.50 ft (40.08 m)
Beam: 21.58 ft (6.58 m)
Height: 12 ft (3.7 m)
Installed power: 1x Scotch marine boiler
Propulsion: Steeple engine
History
United States
Name: USS Bignonia
Ordered: as Mary Grandy
Laid down: date unknown
Launched: 1863 at Cleveland, Ohio
Acquired: August 2, 1864
Commissioned: September 14, 1864
Decommissioned: July 12, 1865
Fate: sold, July 12, 1865
General characteristics
Type: Tugboat
Displacement: 321 long tons (326 t)
Length: 131 ft (40 m)
Beam: 22 ft (6.7 m)
Draft: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement: 50
Armament:
  • 1 × 30-pounder rifle
  • 2 × 12-pounder smoothbore guns

History

The Balize was built in 1863 Cleveland, Ohio by Ira Lafrinier as the Mary Grandy. On August 2, 1864 she was purchased by the United States Navy, and was renamed USS Bignonia. She was commissioned on September 14, 1864, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant W.D. Roath in command. She was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. Until April 1865, the Bignonia served with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as a tug. She was reassigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in April 1865.

On 12 July 1865 she was sold to L. Burrows of Stonnington and renamed Balize. On September 22, 1871, the Balize grounded off Stony Point, she was later removed by the tug Vulcan. She was rebuilt with two 460-horsepower compound engines in Buffalo, New York. On June 11, 1881, the Balize was rebuilt in Detroit to haul logs across Lake Huron. On April 28, 1883, she was sold to the Detroit Tug & Transit Company of Detroit. In September 1883 the Balize had a collision with the steamer A.W. Coulton near Belle Isle Park on the Detroit River. She caught fire in Detroit in December that same year.

On November 7, 1900, the Balize and another tug the Wales freed the wooden freighter SS Kaliyuga after she ran aground Detroit River near Amherstburg, Ontario. The tugs were going to take the Kaliyuga to Erie, Pennsylvania, unfortunately they couldn't continue the trip because of a storm and problems with the Balize's engine. The Kaliyuga made it to Erie, Pennsylvania, when the Balize was replaced by the tug Harvey D. Goulder.[2] In 1902 she was purchased by Victoria Harbour Lumber Company of Virginia.[3][4]

Disposition

In November of 1915 the Balize was taken to Midland, Ontario, where she was dismantled. Her hull lies on the north side of Midland Bay.

See also

References
  1. "GRANDY MARY; 1863; Tug (Towboat); US2714". Great Lakes Maritime Database. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  2. Windsor Evening Record, Saturday November 10, 1900, pg 1
  3. "Grandy, Mary". Bowling State Green University. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  4. Windsor Evening Record, Saturday November 10, 1900, pg 1

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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