This rare photo shows the S.S. Rocket, probably in the Red River. Judging by the dress of the men, it was either a shakedown cruise prior to going North to Lake Winnipeg or a Sunday excursion. The photographer did a marvelous job capturing all the details of that moment in time.

The S.S. Rocket was built for the Dominion Fish Company of Selkirk in 1904. In the days of iron men and wooden steam ships, she was used as a tug. A tug was a small wood-burning boat that pulled the sailboats from their home ports to the fishing grounds. This was the days before internal combustion engines, when wind power ruled the commercial fishing industry. At the end of the day, the tugs would gather their flocks of sailboats and tow them back to the fishing stations. Their catch would be off loaded, processed and stored in walk-in freezers until the twice weekly freight boat would arrive and transport the catch to market.

The Dominion Fish Company went bankrupt in 1908, after the loss by fire of their large lake freighter the S.S. Premier. The S.S. Rocket was taken over by the William Robinson Fish Company and she continued as a fishing tug. With her powerful steam engine, she was also used in the lumber trade, towing barges loaded with lumber from Robinson's various saw mills on Lake Winnipeg to Selkirk.

This little tug has long gone, and joins the equally long gone men who maintained and sailed her. The photo serves as a remembrance of her place in the passing parade of the boats of Lake Winnipeg.

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February 2013