USS YONAGUSKA YTM-195

Harbor tug duty considered by some as the best duty  in the Navy. We were more of a professional operation than a military operation. We never attended the Naval Station Inspections. As a shore duty assignment , we did not have meal privileges the the Naval Station galley. Instead, we were given COMRATS , or commute rations which meant that we received $77.10 per month and had to furnish our own meals. Each member of the eight man crew chipped in $30.00 per month. One of the engine room members had an old hearse and that was used for our monthly trips to the Naval Station commissary to re-supply our food stores. Our cook was the Electrician Mate 1st class who's name I don't recall. But, he was an excellent chef and we had great meals of first class quality.

The 195 was probably the best maintained tug in the service craft fleet. We kept her looking like a yacht. Our skipper, E.M. Rodriques, a Boatswain Mate 1st class, was a stickler for keeping the boat looking good. As a Seaman (E3) deckhand, I spent many hours polishing the brass on deck and touching up the paint work. In 1963 we were dispatched to Honolulu to assist in taking the Falls of Clyde sailing ship when it was towed into Honolulu to become a museum ship. We might have been one of the very few harbor tugs that ventured outside the confines of Pearl Harbor.

Rodriques, the skipper, or Craft Master as the Navy definition, had a dog named Lady who lived on board. She didn't have much to do with crew except Rodriques. When Rodriques came to work each day on his Vespa motor scooter, Lady knew about the time he was to arrive and she would scramble up to the dock and meet him down at the end of the pier. She would jump on the back of the scooter and ride back to the boat.

I learned much about the art and science of deck seamanship during this tour of duty and I will never lose my affection for the tug's.

All dressed up for Christmas.

The following photo is from the Naval archives. I am not sure of the year but it was prior to my duty aboard.

The only name I know is Rodriques on the left. There you see 'Lady' at attention.