S.G. Simpson (sternwheeler)
Encyclopedia
Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet
The Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock...
. This vessel was later renamed E.G. English.
Construction
S.G. Simpson was designed by Capt. Ed Gustafson and built in 1907 at Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
by the shipyard of Crawford and Reid
Crawford and Reid (shipbuilders)
The firm of Crawford and Reid was a ship building company that had a shipyard at Tacoma Washington in the first half of the 1900s. Vessels constructed by the yard included the passenger steamships Daring, Dix, Monticello 2, the sternwheeler S.G. Simpson, and the steam tugs Echo and USS Locust...
for the Shelton Transportation Company, to replace City of Shelton
City of Shelton (sternwheeler)
The steamboat City of Shelton operated in the 1890s and early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet-Construction:City of Shelton was built in 1895 at Shelton, Washington, to replace Willie on the Olympia-Shelton route. She was 99.8 feet long, 20.5 on the beam, with 6' depth of hold, and...
on the Olympia-Shelton route. She was a sternwheeler, 115.2 feet long, 26.3' on the beam, with 6.1' depth of hold, and rated at 190 tons. S.G. Simpson was named after Solomon Grout Simpson, a prominent man in the logging business in Shelton and Mason County. S.G. Simpson was launched into the water not fully complete, as some sternwheelers, such as Bailey Gatzert
Bailey Gatzert (sternwheeler)
The Bailey Gatzert was a famous sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. She was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle...
had been, but with only her hull completed, with her upper works and paddlewheel added later. S.G. Simpson made 15 miles an hour on her trial run.
Operations
S.G. Simpson ran on the Olympia-Shelton route for many years. Her first master was Ed Gustafson, who served until his death. Later captains were George Melville and John Jones.Exceptional skill was required to navigate the tricky waters of Hammersley Inlet
Hammersley Inlet
Hammersley Inlet, in southwestern Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington, is an arm of water leading to Shelton, Washington and Oakland Bay. Hammersley Inlet is also known as Big Skookum.-Description:...
leading to Shelton. S.G. Simpson’s nickname was Sol G and she was the last of the sternwheelers to run on the Shelton route, outlasting many other steamboats of the Mosquito Fleet.
In 1923, S.G. Simpson was chartered by Puget Sound Freight Lines to replace their new motor freighter Rubaiyat, which had capsized and sunk in Tacoma harbor in late September after taking on a load of gypsum, killing four of her crew. In 1926 Puget Sound Freight Lines purchased S.G. Simpson outright, keeping on her officers, George Melville, master, John Jones, mate, John Leslie, Chief Engineer, and George Foss, purser.
In about 1927, Puget Sound Freight Lines sold S.G. Simpson to the Foss Company, replacing her with Skookum Chief (ex K.L. Ames ), a former sternwheeler rebuilt into a diesel propeller craft. Foss later sold S.G. Simpson to Martin Tjerne, of Stanwood who renamed her E.G. English, removed her passenger cabin, and placed her on the Skagit River
Skagit River
The Skagit River is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi long...
service as a towboat.
Disposition
By the early 1940s, the former S.G. Simpson had been abandoned on a beach. Hearing of this, officials of the Simpson Lumber Company began to make plans to return her to Shelton and restore her as a museum. Before this could happen, the Army Corps of Engineers dragged the hull off the beach, filled it with rocks, and sank it to form part of a breakwater. This was unfortunate, as S.G. Simpson had been the last surviving sternwheeler to operate on Puget Sound. Her paddle wheel was visible on the beach where she'd been abandoned as late as 1960.See also
- City of Shelton (sternwheeler)City of Shelton (sternwheeler)The steamboat City of Shelton operated in the 1890s and early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet-Construction:City of Shelton was built in 1895 at Shelton, Washington, to replace Willie on the Olympia-Shelton route. She was 99.8 feet long, 20.5 on the beam, with 6' depth of hold, and...
- Mason County, Washington