The "Wm. H. McAllister" is a steel-hull Diesel tug built for the U.S. Army as ST-243. It's an 85' Army Standard Tug built in 1943 by Levingston Ship Building, TX, under design #257A. The keel was laid in February, 1942 and the tug was launched in September, 1942. Her papers describe her as "an oil screw vessel having one deck, two masts, a raked stem and elliptical stern". Her registered dimensions are: 80' long, 23' wide and 9' deep. Registered tonnage was 168 gross, 127 net. The tug had one 720 HP, four-cylinder, Diesel engine built by the Alco Sulzer Company, Auburn, New York. Cruising speed was 10 knots and cruising range was about 3,500 statute miles. Fuel capacity was 14,000 gallons with a daily fuel consumption of 880 gallons at cruising speed. The tug was in stateside serivce during WWII and after the war it was sold to McAllister Brothers Towing, NY, NY.
On November 17, 1963, while pushing an empty gasoline barge south from Plattsburgh, NY, the "McAllister" struck Schuyler Reef on the NY side of Lake Champlain. Efforts to beach the tug failed and the crew abandoned ship, taking refuge on the barge which had broken lose. The tug sank in 150 feet of water in a matter of minutes. First-hand accounts did not indicate how much Diesel may have been on-board, and no other information has been found to indicate how much fuel may have been on board.
After the sinking it was reported in the Burlington Free Press on November 21, 1963 that McAllister Brothers wanted to recover the wreck, then valued at $250,000. Subsequently, at least one examination of the tug was made and preliminary discussions considered the feasibility of raising it, however this never resulted in an actual attempt.
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, in Vergennes, VT (LCMM) located the wreck in 1988, and during a 1997 underwater lake survey the LCMM examined the wreck with a Remote Operated Vechicle (ROV) and side scanning radar and documented the condition and features of the wreck. The LCMM has occasionally observed an oil sheen on the surface of the lake above the location of the wreck.
A joint EPA-LCMM sponsored ROV dive on the wreck in June, 2010 revealed the vessel was in very good physical condition; red and white paint was clearly visible on the hull. The tug lies horizontally on the bottom and mud covers the hull almost up to the gunwhale. The top of the rudder and the tip of the propeller protrude from the sediment. The vessel’s name is visible on the stern, bow, and the pilot house. Along the upper edge of the pilot house is the number “4470,” which may be the boat’s registration number.
Diving on shipwrecks in Lake Champlain is regulated by the states of New York and Vermont and the National Historic Preservation Act. With the advice and guidance of the LCMM, during it's assessment of the wreck efforts wlll be taken by EPA to preserve the vessel as an archeological artifact and to protect the lake from invasive species of flora and fauna.
NOTE: The above photo is ST-246, the sister tug to the McAllister, built about a year after the McAllister.
