Mary A. Gagnon: The first lake tugboat built at Two Rivers
Postcard depicting the "River view from Mill bridge, Two Rivers, Wis". Postcard is dated 1913. MCHS 2009.65.945
After building nine schooners in Manitowoc, Jasper Hanson & Hans Scove moved their shipyard to Two Rivers in 1873. The site chosen was along the east side of the East Twin River. Today, the Rogers Street Fishing Village Museum on Jackson Street is located in this area, just south of the 22nd Street bridge.
From 1873 to 1876, the skilled Danish-born ship carpenters built four three-mast schooners (the Bertie Calkins, Granger, J. O. Thayer and John Schuette), two tugs and a large floating steam pile driver at the Two Rivers yard.
The Mary A. Gagnon, a fishing and towing tug, was built for the Gagnon brothers (Joseph, Jonas and Peter) in 1874. The boat was named in honor of their mother Marie Ann (Boisvert) Gagnon.
The wood-hulled tug had a keel length of 48.3 ft.; beam, 12 ft.; and depth of hold, 5.8 ft. The first lake tugboat out of Two Rivers was launched on July 21, 1874, less that nine weeks following its commission. After launching, the 18.5-ton tug was towed to Manitowoc to receive her engine, rudder and other gear at the Richards Iron Works.
According to The Manitowoc County Chronicle published in Two Rivers, the steam-powered tug enabled the local French-Canadian fishermen “to visit grounds more distant from land than was practical with nothing but the frail Mackinaws to bear them.” Sailing vessels were the standard for fishing on Lake Michigan at this time.
In April 1875, the Gagnon brothers made their first trip of the fishing season with the tug M. A. Gagnon. They went out about ten miles and set twenty nets. Considerable difficultly was experienced in setting the nets, owing to large cakes of floating ice. Some towered above the tug’s pilothouse.
Besides fishing, the M. A. Gagnon was used extensively for towing. In August 1874, while towing the steam barge Monitor down from the Wisconsin Leather Co. tannery on the East Twin River, the scow collided with the starboard bow of the schooner Evelyn, lying alongside the east harbor pier. The schooner’s bulwarks were crushed inward and the anchor carried away.
During its years on Lake Michigan, the M. A. Gagnon was often called on to transport people and for assistance. On Sunday, September 6, 1874, the tug brought several people from Two Rivers to attend the dedication of the new St. Mary’s Polish Catholic church on Marshall Street, Manitowoc.
In August 1875, the Gagnon was sent out on the lake to collect as many logs as possible from a boom of the Two Rivers Mfg. Co., that either broke loose or was left open, and to tow them back into the river. Later that year, the tug left with carpenters on board to build a life boat station on Beaver Island, Michigan.
During the winter of 1880, the Two Rivers tug was called to the frozen Manitowoc harbor to make a channel for the passage of the Andrew Johnson, a United States Revenue cutter being rebuilt by Jasper Hanson, who by this time had moved the shipbuilding business back to Manitowoc.
In 1882, the Gagnon brothers sold the Mary A. Gagnon to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s dredge department for $2,500. The tug’s name was changed to the Dione. For the next twelve years, it was used in towing the government dredge at Ahnapee (now Algoma), Oconto and other lake ports, and at the Sturgeon Bay ship canal in Door County.
In April 1894, the government tug was sold at public auction and returned to commercial use. By 1907, it was no longer considered seaworthy. After 35 years of service, the tugboat was abandoned in 1909, ending an important chapter in Two Rivers’ and Northeast Wisconsin’s early maritime history.
