A crane hoisted the 23-ton Parthia into its permanent home beside the Olympia Farmers Market on Wednesday, Aug. 19, capping nearly a decade of volunteer restoration work on the 120-year-old tugboat.
The 50-foot vessel, built in 1906 on Bainbridge Island by shipwright James Hall of the Hall Brothers family, spent more than 40 years working Olympia's waterfront.
The boat hauled cargo and pushed barges for Delta V. Smyth Tugs & Barges starting in 1934, then for Foss Launch & Tug after 1961, before Foss sold her in 1975.
After passing through private owners, the Parthia became a fixture at the annual Olympia Harbor Days tugboat races, winning the Small Tug race in 2016. But following that festival, a new owner took her to Pleasant Harbor on Hood Canal, where she sank 25 feet in August 2017.
The South Sound Maritime Heritage Association stepped in.
The nonprofit, founded in 1974 and the originator of Harbor Days, arranged to salvage the tug and brought her to the Port of Olympia's Swantown Boatworks in November 2017. Volunteers repainted the hull to its mid-1950s Delta V. Smyth colors on the advice of the original owner's son.
"It's really gratifying to see all the people who've been involved and who are interested in preserving a tug," maritime historian and former SSMHA president Chuck Fowler told The Olympian on the day of the move. Fowler co-authored "Tugboats on Puget Sound" for Arcadia Publishing.
The Port of Olympia confirmed the installation on its official Facebook page, describing the project as a decade-long community collaboration. Partners include FORMA Construction and Thomas Architecture Studios, which helped design the exhibit site.
SSMHA president Dave Peeler said the group still needs donations to build a protective pavilion, educational panels and solar-powered lights around the tugboat. No timeline or fundraising target has been announced for that phase.
The Parthia originally was envisioned as part of a two-boat exhibit alongside the Sandman, a 1908 tugboat that served as Harbor Days' host vessel since 1975. That plan fell through after the Olympia Heritage Commission recommended delisting the Sandman from the city's Heritage Register on July 22, citing deterioration to more than 75 percent of its planks.
Residents can see the Parthia now at the waterfront near the Farmers Market. The tugboat is also a stop on the "Shaped By Water: A Maritime History Walking Tour," offered Saturday, Aug. 22, Saturday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 12, starting at 203 Columbia St. NW. Tours run under 1.5 hours on flat terrain.
Harbor Days, the free festival SSMHA founded, returns to Percival Landing Sept. 4–6.
