SAND MAN (Tug Boat)

About this property

Sand Man, also as Sandman, is a historic tugboat museum ship docked at Percival Landing, Olympia, Washington. The vessel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The tugboat was built in 1910 by Crawford and Reid in Tacoma, Washington from old-growth Douglas fir and measures 58.5 feet (17.8 m) in length and 21.5 feet (6.6 m) in height. The ship was originally used to transport sand and gravel scows throughout the Puget Sound during its first 15 years of service. From 1910 to 1987 Sand Man operated as a commercial tugboat and towboat in Puget Sound. Its home port was Olympia, Washington. In 1974, Sand Man ran the first race in Olympia's annual Labor Day tugboat races held at the inaugural Olympia Harbor Days Festival. The boat sank twice, once in 1998 from a rotting hull, and again on its way for reconstruction at Port Townsend. Over the next several years, approximately $500,000 (equivalent to $824,246 in 2025) was spent on repairs to the hull, deck and cabins. The hull restoration was completed in 2000 by PT Shipwrights Co-op, in Port Townsend, Washington. The cabins and engine restoration was completed in 2005 by Paul Deranleau and his crew of volunteers in Olympia, after being out of the water for 7 years for work at Swantown Marina. Sand Man originally it had copper sheathing to protect the hull, later this was replaced with ironbark wood sheathing. The ship, at the time, still contained the original Stanley Steamer engine used for the towing winch that is run by compressed air. Only a few of this type of tug remain. Under preservation and ownership by the non-profit Sandman Foundation, the boat was listed in July 2025 as impounded and up for auction at a starting bid of $10,000, to satisfy a rental and docking debt of $28,966 incurred by the foundation; no bids were received. The boat was considered to be in a "structurally compromised" condition due to dry docking since May 2023, posing a safety risk. As of 2026, the Sand Man has been moored at Swantown Marina at the Port of Olympia. The vessel was deemed as having "surpassed the point" of repairs due to the financial cost. Preservation options were presented, including salvaging artifacts and parts of the tugboat for historical displays at local businesses, museums, and parks. 1910 – 1925 Arthur J. Weston, owner of Olympia Sand & Gravel Company. used to tow barges of sand and gravel, thus the ships name. 1925 – 1955 Delta V. Smyth (a local lumberman) who owned of Delta Smyth Tug & Barge Company. 1955 – 1964 Fred Chadwick who owned Capitol City Towing Company. 1964 – 1987 Franz Schlottmann who owned Schlottmann Excavating & Towing

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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