Back in the days of tidewater mills, rafting was the chosen method of getting logs from forest to mill. The Rustler, built in Hoquiam in “the spring months of 1887” by Thomas McDonald, was a 55-foot, wood-hulled workhorse that plied the Harbor for more than 40 years before running aground off the Washington Coast in 1929.

Salvaged by the Foss Maritime Co., she was added to their fleet, one of few Foss tugs to retain her original name throughout her service, and for the next 30 years Foss kept her busy before pulling her from service. In the mid-1990s, a fellow named Ted Stanley discovered the Rustler under some tarps at the Poulsbo Marina, purchased her and put her back to work moving houseboats and performing light tow jobs on Lake Washington.

In 2001, it was put back on the market, but not much happened after that, apparently, as the Rustler met an ignominious end in the summer of 2010 when she sank while moored at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle. She was raised from the bottom and placed on the pier where she was scrapped shortly after.

At the time of her demise, the Rustler was the oldest tugboat afloat on Puget Sound.

There were two tales of her misadventures on the Harbor from the pages of the Aberdeen Herald:

RUSTLER SLIGHTLY HURT — Hoquiam, July 21 — The tug Rustler left the marine ways Saturday repaired after having a hole punched in her bottom, punched through by a piling in the Cow Point jetty, where she grounded during a fog. She was put in shape quickly after being placed on the ways.

The Rustler was gotten off the pilings on which she was hung up Saturday morning after scows had been run alongside of her, and lines gotten under the craft. She was immediately taken to the marine ways and no time was lost in getting the repairs made, the work being completed in one day. — July 22, 1912

SMASHED LAUNCH — While the tug Rustler was coming down the Wishkah River Saturday morning with a tow of logs, the rafts jammed into some sawed timbers that laid near the boat house of Carl T. Nelson.

The big sticks were crashed through the boat house and into the new launch, almost demolishing them both. The cost of damage to young Mr. Nelson will be between $600 and $700, besides his disappointment, as he had a party invited for yesterday to christen his new boat. — June 17, 1907

Roy Vataja is the son of Finnish immigrants and has never been on a tugboat.