National Register of Historic Places Inventory
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Cr 'Forr,, No TO-306 (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOWTO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS _______TYPE ALL ENTRIES - COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS______ NAME HISTORIC TUGBOAT HERCULES AND/OR COMMON HERCULES LOCATION MARITIME UNIT, HYDE STREET PIER STREET & NUMBER NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM N/A " ' —NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT SAN FRANCISCO N/A. VICINITY OF FIFTH STATE CODE COUNTY CODE CALIFORNIA 06 SAN FRANCISCO 075 QCLASSIFI CATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE __DISTRICT X.PUBLIC —OCCUPIED —AGRICULTURE ^.MUSEUM — BUILDINGtS) _PRIVATE X_UNOCCUPIED —COMMERCIAL —PARK —STRUCTURE _BOTH —WORK IN PROGRESS _ EDUCATIONAL _ PRIVATE RESIDENCE —SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE —ENTERTAINMENT —RELIGIOUS X.OBJECT _IN PROCESS X-YES: RESTRICTED —GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED — YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION —NO —MILITARY —OTHER: AGENCY REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS: IH*ppiicttl*l NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, WESTERN REGIONAL OFFICE STREETS, NUMBER 1*50 GOLDEN GATE AVENUE CITY. TOWN STATE RAN FRANCISCO N^A_ VICINITY OF CALIFORNIA 91*102 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA STREET & NUMBER FORT MASON, BUILDING 201 CITY. TOWN STATE SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE X_FEDERAL —STATE —COUNTY —LOCAL 1/17/1975 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CITY. TOWN STATE WASHINGTON D.C. DESCRIPTION CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE —EXCELLENT —DETERIORATED X-UNALTERED ^ORIGINAL SITE _3g3OOD _RUINS _ALTERED —MOVED DATF n / a _FAIR _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE The tug Hercules presently is moored at the Hyde Street Pier, the center of the collection of turn-of-the-century historic ships administered by the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco. She is a large steel-hull, single-screw, steam tugboat built for long hauls in the open ocean. She is a rare surviving link with the era of steam power, and represents the finest of American maritime industrial technology as found in the first decade of the twentieth century. In the words of noted marine historian Howard I. Chapelle, written at the time of the campaign to acquire her as a museum ship, Hercules is, "an important artifact; once a common type of commercial steamer, I fear no replacement will be available, and (if she is not preserved) a valuable technical exhibit lost". (1) Hercules was built in 1907 in the Camden, New Jersey, shipyard of John H. Dialogue & Son. Hercules and her sister tug Goliah were: constructed of steel throughout, with complete steel decks, steel bulkheads for oil tanks (with necessary subdivisions), high coamings, and steel deckhouses. Both boats have, in addition to the transverse oil tight bulkheads, longitudinal bulkheads to prevent the movement of the oil, the stern as well as the after bitts being especially constructed for this particular service (i.e. towing). They are completed with railing all around the upper deck as well as around the roof of the pilothouse. The deck house is arranged so that it will be possible to go from one end of the boat to another without going outside. The crew's accommodations are, as usual, located in the forecastle, with a special dining room for their use, the senior officers being located in the forward end of the deck house, and the junior officers housed just behind the fireroom. The fact that this statement from the Nautical Gazette of February 6, 1908, is still an accurate description of the vessel is powerful evidence of the tug's physical integrity. In fact, the only changes to her original appearance are the removal of the foremast she once carried just forward of the deckhouse, the heightening of the original wheelhouse in 1941, and alterations to the interior layout of the fo'c's'le. All of these changes occurred during the course of her historically functioning as a tug, and all are within the scope of her historical significance, and thus not a type of later alteration that would in any way impair her integrity. Otherwise Hercules remains as completed SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE - CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW —PREHISTORIC —ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE —RELIGION — 140O-1499 —ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION —LAW _SCIENCE — 1500-1599 —AGRICULTURE —ECONOMICS —LITERATURE —SCULPTURE — 16OO-1699 —ARCHITECTURE _EDUCATION —MILITARY —SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN — 1700-1799 —ART ^ENGINEERING _MUSIC —THEATER —1800-1899 ^.COMMERCE —EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY ^.TRANSPORTATION Z-1900- _COMMUNICATIONS ^INDUSTRY —POLITICS/GOVERNMENT X-OTHEH (SPEOev —INVENTION Technology SPECIFIC DATES 1907-1962 BUILDER/ARCHITECT JOHN H. DIALOGDS & SONS STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The 78-year old steel, steam-powered ocean-going Tugboat. Hercyl.es is o-f national significance under National Historic Landmark Theme 7blb (commerce distribution), in terms of its long career in towing ships carrying cargoes, in tawing cargoes themselves (rafts made of logs), and in towing ferry boats carrying railroad cars loaded with freight, including several record towing jobs (ranging from local to regional, national, and interoceanic/international commerce. Hercyl.es also is nationally significant under Theme 7b2a (manufacturing in the specific form of the shipbuilding industry), as the sole surviving product of a nationally important shipbuilding firm. She is furthermore significant, at the national level under Theme 7f2 (the engineering of transportation systems), with respect to her outstanding design, establishing in its day a new level of excellence in the marine architecture of ocean-going steam tugboats. She is also nationally significant under Theme 7dlb (water-borne transportation), as the outstanding, sole-surviving representative of that whole class of tugboats and their role in waterborne transportation. In terms of National Register areas of significance, the tug Hercul.es is of national significance in the fields of commerce, transportation, industry, technology, and engineering. She is one of a handful of steam tugs in existence; she was considered the finest kind of tugboat at the time of building and she is the only large oceangoing tug in the United States in a good enough state of preservation to be able to steam again. Furthermore, Hercules had an eventful career which reflects broad and changing patterns significant to the maritime commerce and trade of the United States as a whole. Constructed in the yard of a renowned shipbuilder who once was honored by being given the Job of rebuilding "Old Ironsides" herself, Hercules is the sole surviving product of that yard. She broke more than one towing record throughout her service life, starting with her epic maiden voyage from East Coast to West, via the dangerous Straits of Magellan. She helped build the Panama Canal, and used that shortcut herself in service to the East Coast. Hercules towed windjammers up the Pacific Coast in the waning MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES L. Lang & P. Spectre; On the Hawser: A Tugboat Album; Down East Publications, 1980. Martin, Wallace, E. Comp.; Sail and Steam on the Northern California Coast, 1900 - 1950; National Maritime Museum Association; San Francisco, not yet published. (continued on Continuation Sheet) ^GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY ____ UTM REFERENCES A|1.0J I5I5. OI9.6.0I PMI8JH 7.2.0) Bl . I || . I . f I . I . I . I ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING C| i I I I . I , , I D! . i I I . I . I I . I . I . I VERBAL BOUNDARY OESCRIPTIOr COMMENCING AT THE EXTREME BOW OF THE VESSEL AT THE WATERKQJE, AND THENCE EXTENDING ENTIRELY AROUND THE HERCULES AT HER WATERLINE, ENCOMPASSING ALL OF THE SHIP OUTLINED BY HER MAXIMUM BEAM, LENGTH, AND DEPTH OF HOLD. LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE N/A CODE N/A COUNTY N/A CODE N/A STATE CODE COUNTY CODE N/A N/A N/A N/A FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE STEPHEN HALLER, ACTING PARK HISTORIAN ORGANIZATION DATE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, GOLDEN GATE NAT'L REG. AREA_____11/27/81* STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE FORT MASON. BUILDING 201 556-950^ CITY OR TOWN STATE SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA CERTIFICATION OF NOMINATION STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION YES——— NO___ NONE___ STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE In compliance with Executive Order 11593.1 hereby nominate this property to the National Register, certifying that the State Historic Preservation Officer has been allowed 9O days in which to present the nomination to the State Review Board and to evaluate its significance. The evaluated level of significance is __National __State __Local. FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE SIGNATURE TITLE DATE .tffi^ OF ARGMEOLOGY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION i OPO Form No. 10-300* |H«V 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FOR NFS USE ONLT NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER t PAGE in .1.908, with all of her principal propulsion equipment and its aux i11i ar i es i nt act. She is 150 feet long overall, 134 feet 9 inches at. the waterline, with a breadth of 26 feet 1 inch, and a depth of hold of 15 feet 5 inches. Hercul.es has a gross tonnage of 409 and a net tonnage of 221. Drawing slightly over 16 feet of water, she was a steady tawing platform in high seas, taut with her low freeboard she was a wet one. The tugboat has a high bow and a marked sheer, but nevertheless "shipped it. green" when the long ocean swells broke over her deck. This made it a necessity to provide a covered deckhouse, pierced by portholes, from the fo'c's'le in the bow to the towing bitts at the stern. Deckhouse and hull are constructed of rivetted steel plates over steel beam framing. Now many welds exist where deckplates have been replaced over the years.