Home 19th-Century Yards Shipyard Index

Johnston Brothers, Ferrysburg MI

Most recent update: April 27, 2012.

Little is known about this prolific builder of tugs and other small vessels.  If anyone can provide any information about this shipyard or about the boats they built, please e-mail me at timcolton@aol.com

Hull # Original Name Original Owner Vessel Type Tons Built Disposition
  C. J. Bos  William Ver Duin Fishing Tug 34 1898  Later I.J. Lyons 1942, out of documentation 1976
  Rowira   Fishing Tug 35 1900 Scrapped 1950
  Sea Bird   Tug 21 1900 Active
  Columbia  M. Sullivan Dredging Tug 114 1900 Scrapped 1960
  No. 35     420 1900  
  Henry J. Dornbos Ver Duin Bros. Fishing Tug 44 1901 Later Urger 1920; now museum in Waterford NY
  Dredge No. 7     826 1901  
  H. Ewig   Tug 62 1901 Later Col. N.L. Howard 1918, Helen H. Upham 1923, Dispatch 1943, scrapped 1973
  William H. Kinch  Frank L. Bapst  Tug 58 1902 Scrapped 1951
  Scow No. 15     427 1902  
  Scow No. 14     427 1902  
  Lightship (LV 75) U.S. Coast Guard Lightship 427 1902 Sold 1939, later St. Clair, abandoned 1977
  Bonita  Graham & Morton Transportation  Tug 58 1903 Later Chicago Harbor No. 4 1914, Eddie B. 1960, Seneca Queen 1969, Ludington 1970, Seneca Queen 1996
  No. 11     420 1904  
 21 Tessler Charles Tessler Fishing Tug 57 1905 Burned 26 June 1949, Upper Mississippi River
 22 Frank Perry Perry Lumber Tug 496 1905 Later Sipsey 1914, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Robert H. Rolfe 1942-1946, later Bisso 1946, scrapped 1975
 23 Chase S. Osborne Perry Lumber Tug 492 1906 To USN 1918 as SP-1121, later YT 41, sold 1921, later Guardian 1922, scrapped 1961
  Lightship (LV 77) U.S. Coast Guard Lightship 578 1906 Sold 1940
  James Edward  Great Lakes Dredge & Dock  Tug 82 1906 Later Terry E. Buchanan 1952
 25 J. P. Manning Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Tug 58 1906 Later B.E. West 1927, abandoned 1980
 26 Robert E. Johnston Walsma & Van Toll Towing Tug 22 1906 Abandoned 1974
  Destroyer     356 1907  
  No. 18     394 1907  
 27 Charles E. Williams Buffalo Dredging Tug 106 1907 Later Paul W. Dickinson 1935, scrapped 1958
 28 C. F. Bielman, Jr. Charles F. Bielman, Jr.   33 1907 Later Dove 1939, out of documentation 1962
  No. 16     451 1908  
 31 Herbert C. Molhagen Tug 55 1908 Later H. Ewig 1918, Roy R. Love 1939, Charlevoix 1968, Roy R. Love 1992
32 Francis B. Hackett  Hackett Wrecking Tug 194 1909 To USN 1917 as SP-1161, later YT 36, Shenandoah 1920, Choptank 1923, sold private 1947, later Gloria St. Philip 1969, Choptank 1979, Admiral 1989, scrapped 2006
 33 Forelle Tamms Bros. Fishing Tug 46 1908 Foundered on Lake Michigan 1923
 34 Castanet Ranney Fisheries Fishing Tug 46 1909 Later Donald Wells 1930, abandoned 1931
35 Mackinac Arnold Transit Ferry 350 1909 Later Woonsocket 1926, hulked as a training ship 1968, Claude “Sonny” Simmons 1969, scrapped 1994
  A. Fisher  A. Fisher’s Sons Fishing Tug 58 1909 Later Oscar F. Meyer 1912, scrapped 1951
39 Shearwater U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Tug 95 1909 To USCG 1940, sold private 1944, later Cindy K. 1961
  John E. Meyer     133 1910  
  Harvey    Fishing Tug 81 1910 Out of documentation 1951
  Scow No. 37     457 1911  
 45 Andrew H. Green Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Tug 115 1911 Scrapped 1957
 49 William J. McCarthy Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Tug 98 1912 Later Central 1924, Capt. Frank Becker 1957, Vixen 1968, Alice St. Philip 1972, scrapped 1977
 50 Oscar I New Aetna Portland Cement Tug   1911 Later Oscar
56 Handy Andy New Aetna Portland Cement Scow 51 1913 Abandoned 1977
58 Oscar II New Aetna Portland Cement Dredge 50 1913 Later G.L. 110 1960, scrapped 1978
  General Ludlow U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dredge 213 1904 Sold 1916, later Pointe Hennepin 1969
  Philip T. Dodge  International Paper Tug 68 1914 Later Eugene F. Moran 1919, Schenectedy 1920, Dauntless No. 5 1924, Cathleen E. Moran 1955, Mary D. 1964, Clayton P. Kehoe 1968, Dori 1971, Robert A. Bott
 63 Ottawa Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Railway Ferry 75 1914  
 64 American  American Construction Tug 88 1914 Later Fred W. Upham 1922, Lila Haden 1942, N.R. Coppedge 1961, scrapped 1977
 66 J. C. Stewart Stewart Co. Tug 113 1915 To U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. M.J. McDonough 1924, sold private 1946 as J.C. Stewart, scrapped 1965