Local Tug Sold for Cross-Border Rivalry
A Port Townsend tugboat is sold to British Columbia interests to break the monopoly on regional towing business.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Negotiations have been concluded for the purchase of the American steam tug Mogul, of this port. R. P. Rithet & Co., of Victoria, will become the ostensible owners, although the real ones, it is said, are the Puget Sound Tug Boat Company, of this city. Of late a large number of vessels have been going to British Columbia for cargoes of coal, lumber and salmon, and the foreign tugs have exercised an exclusive lien of the towage. To compete for this business the Puget Sound Tugboat Company has concluded the purchase of another tugboat and will place her under the British flag and enter foreign territory for business. The purchase price agreed, it is said, is in the neighborhood of $12,000.
“To compete for this business the Puget Sound Tugboat Company has concluded the purchase of another tugboat and will place her under the British flag.”
This is a fascinating case of corporate 'flag-of-convenience' maneuvering occurring over a century ago in the Pacific Northwest. It highlights how local companies manipulated national borders to secure shipping monopolies, a precursor to modern maritime trade disputes.
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