Fish Tugs of the Greatest Lake

ESTHER

ESTHER 36 ft. x 10 ft., built at Marinette, Wis., in 1936, by boat-builders, Ole Knudsen and Knute Olson. The boat was bought by Henry Johnson, Sr., Bayfield, in the early 1940s. Equipped with a Buick car engine, Johnson fished chubs and herring with her for a few years, selling the boat to Orville Powers, Bayfield, in the mid 1940s. Powers installed a Chrysler Crown engine, removed the stern pilot house, and built a pilot house mid-ship. Some time in the mid 1950s the stern was again enclosed, and the mid-ship house removed. In the mid 1960s Powers sold to Earl Russell, Bayfield. In 1998 the boat was junked, after sitting ashore at Bodin Fisheries, for at least 10 years.