Yvonne St. Philip

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#555555" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U>YVONNE ST. PHILIP LEAVING SAN JUAN</U></B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=170 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Harriet Moran Schippersgracht"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rukert Terminals"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Color Prints Matted for 14 x 18 or"><U><B><IMG SRC="00d0d1d0.gif" border=0 width="13" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water Color Prints Matted for 14 x 18 or"><U><B>Return to Water Color & Oil page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="3ea96640.gif" border=0 width="150" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#6699CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div>   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT>           </div> <div>    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>                                                                      </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>        </B></div> <div> <B>Yvonne St. Philip</B><B> was built by the Navy in 1940 in Charleston, South Carolina.  Originally built as the </B><B>Heekon</B><B>, the 94 foot  2610 h.p. harbor  tugboat served the Navy in her early years.  Around 1963 she was acquired by the Steers Sand & Gravel Corporation in New York working as the </B><B>Philip Steers</B><B>.</B><B>  She was later sold again and renamed </B><B>Venture</B><B> before coming to A. P. St. Philip, Inc. of Tampa, Florida in 1974.  Renamed </B><B>Yvonne St. Philip</B><B>, she was converted for off shore work with her 1000 h.p. diesel- electric power being replaced with a 2500 h.p. Alco (it is also likely that her elevated pilot house was also added at this time).   She operated in the Caribbean for many years with regular runs between Miami and Jacksonville, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico.   Yvonne St. Philip was one of three tug boats used by St. Philip for the San Juan operation; the other two being Edna St. Philip and Euwin St. Philip.  The five barges utilized for the operation were WWII LSTs which were well suited to carry their cargo of semi-trailers.  Each LST could carry 37 of the highway semi-trailers.  Loaded trailers were towed South to San Juan and empties bought back on the return North.</B></div> <div> <B>  </B></div> <div> <B>In the 16</B><B>th</B><B> Century Spain was a dominate force in the Carribean.  Originally attracted to the Island by gold, it was not long before gold sources dwindled and Mexico and South America became the primary source of gold and other treasure.  In Puerto Rico, sugar was quickly recognized as the source of another valuable trade commodity and the Spaniards began making rum.  In addition, the protected harbor at San Juan provided an ideal safe stopping point for treasure ships sailing from Mexico and South America back to Spain.  The strategic and economic value of the Island quickly prompted Spain to provide for adequate defense of the valuable harbor and a large fortress named Castillo de San Felipe del Morro was built at the entrance.  In 1595 the fortress successfully fought off the fleet of Sir Francis Drake.  Later intrusions by the British and then the Dutch were a bit more successful but of very brief duration.  The fortress served Spain for the last time with its defense against U. S. Navy artillery barrages during the Spanish-American War.  Today, generally referred to as simply El Morro, the fort stands unchanged and Puerto Rico continues to be the worlds largest producer of rum, both vivid reminders of over 400 years of Spanish rule </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In this scene </B><B>Yvonne St. Philip</B><B> is passing the entrance to San Juan harbor in the mid 1970s with short tow to the barge</B><B> TMT San Juan</B><B> (riding high with a load of empty trailers a couple of hundred feet back).  She was not equipped with a towing winch and the hawser was tied off to an “H” bit just aft of the deck house, not visible in this scene.  Once clear of the harbor entrance her 1800 foot long eleven inch nylon hawser will be utilized.  This round trip from Miami took the nine days;  ten days from Jacksonville.  The San Juan operation lasted until 1978 when Crowley Marine provided more cost effective service with their 9000 h.p. tug and 400 foot barges.   St. Philip (Bay Transportation) was bought out by  Hvide Marine in 1994 and the </B><B>Yvonne St. Philip</B><B>  was renamed </B><B>Clearwater</B><B>.</B><B>  In 1998 she was sold to Associates Leasing, Inc., and leased to McAllister Towing, renamed the </B><B>Catherine McAllister</B><B> joining their Charleston, SC fleet where she works today in the same harbor where she was built.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This limited edition print of the original water color by the artist was produced entirely by the artist.  The original watercolor was digitally reproduced and printed on 90lb. acid free cold pressed Arches water color paper (the same kind of paper on which the original was painted).  It was printed using a state of the art ink jet printer using the best fade proof and water resistant ink available.</B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>