Marine Greyhounds for the Sound
New patrol boats for the Revenue Cutter Service are to be built locally in Port Townsend to crack down on smuggling.
When Capt. D. F. Tozer of the United States cutter Grant was in Washington D.C., his perseverance and the influence of friends secured a promise that two new launches would be added to the fleet on Puget Sound for the suppression of illicit trafficking in Chinese and opium. The new vessels are to be of the most improved kind, capable of attaining a speed of no less than sixteen knots. They will be sixty-five feet long by eight or nine feet beam—in other words, regular marine greyhounds. The most interesting feature of this innovation is the fact that both launches will be constructed entirely at Port Townsend. From keel to smokestack rim, the intention is to have them entirely Port Townsend craft. Boatbuilder Frank Perrot has received an order for two boats from Capt. Tozer and will begin work on them early next week.
“From keel to smokestack rim, the intention is to have them entirely Port Townsend craft.”
In the 1890s, Puget Sound was a busy corridor for smuggling and customs enforcement. Today, the patrol of the Sound is handled by high-tech Coast Guard cutters and inter-agency coordination, yet the historic reliance on local boatbuilders remains a point of pride for our maritime heritage.
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