Tug Chancellor

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tug Chancellor was built in 1938 by the Ira S. Bushey & Sons Shipyard in Brooklyn, NY. One of 15 canal tugboats – or “canallers” - built by Bushey between 1935 and 1938 with the distinctive “double-stack” design, the Chancellor is today one of only two such vessels remaining operationally intact.

The Chancellor is 77’ long and carries a working draft of 9.5’. She is powered by a direct-reversing, two-stroke, air-started 1937 D14 Fairbanks Morse diesel engine, rated for 525 horsepower at 275 RPM. The cylinders of this massive engine are 14 inches in diameter, and the engine extends into the upper engine room level on the main deck. Auxiliary power is supplied by the original 1936 A4 Fairbanks Morse two-cylinder diesel engine. The Chancellor carried a crew of eight, double-berthing in four, two-bunk cabins at the after end of the vessel on both sides.

After her launching in 1938, the Chancellor operated for Bushey primarily on the Great Lakes, Barge Canal, Hudson River, and New York Harbor transporting petroleum products, molasses, and caustic soda, among other things. In 1962, the Chancellor was sold to Martin Kehoe and went into service transporting jet fuel to the Plattsburgh Air Force Base via the Champlain Canal as the James J. Kehoe. In 1963, her pilothouse was modified to a telescoping configuration on a hydraulic ram, allowing the better visibility over light barges. (By this time, new “canallers” being constructed were all equipped with telescoping pilothouses, and so conversion with older vessels was not uncommon).

In the late 70s the James J. Kehoe was sold to Kosnac Floating Derrick in Staten Island, NY and renamed Chancellor. In 1988 the tug was sold to Oswego River Towing Line, a company founded by John and Theresa McHugh, descendants of the renowned Coyne Family, long time operators of tugs and barges on New York’s Canal System. Under new ownership and retaining her original name, the Chancellor returned to service on the Canal moving project cargo, petroleum products, and liquid calcium chloride.

In 2001, the Chancellor was donated to the North River Tugboat Museum in Kingston, NY. In 2004, the Waterford Maritime Historical Society (WMHS) was formed and assumed stewardship of the Tug Chancellor. The WMHS received its charter from the NYS Board of Regents in 2005 and continues to pursue the full restoration and preservation of this magnificent vessel.

Click here to volunteer aboard the Tug Chancellor.