Cottonwood (Towboat/Cutter, 1942-1947)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat/Cutter (also called government buoy and beacon tender)
• BUILT: 1915 at Grafton, Illinois as the U.S. Engineering Department towboat, Le Claire; renamed in 1942
• FORMERLY: Le Claire
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Sold in April 1947 to E.R. Barnewolt of Peoria, Illinois
• OWNERS: U.S. Coast Guard
• OFFICERS & CREW: Lt. Jg. Robert Saunderson (1943); Julius O. Smith (pilot, 1943)
• RIVERS: Mississippi River; Tennessee River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T0516; She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard at St. Louis, Missouri in 1939, thereafter classed as a "cutter". She was the first boat through the Fort Loudon pool on the Tennessee River placing channel markers in August 1943. On this same occasion she went through to Knoxville. The Cottonwood was turned in to the U.S. Maritime Commission and sold in April 1947. The new owner planned to make a derrick boat out of her