''Pollux'' was a Polish

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

from the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. Built in 1900 at a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

shipyard, likely in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, it was acquired by Poland in spring 1920. From 1920 to 1922, it served in the

Polish Navy The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...

, then transitioned to civilian use. In 1925, the tugboat was put up for sale and purchased by an shipowner from the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

. It remained in use at least until 1943, after which its fate is unknown. Alongside the concurrently acquired '' Castor'', ''Pollux'' was one of the first tugboats in the Polish fleet.

History

Following the acquisition of

Pomerelia Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely c ...

, granted to Poland by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

, which included only two small fishing ports – Hel and Puck – efforts were made to procure auxiliary vessels, as only a number of boats,

fishing smack A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of Britain and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century and, in small numbers, up to the Second World War. Many larger smacks were originally Cutter (ship), cutter-rig ...

s, and merchant sailing vessels were inherited. The newly established

, set to receive six former German

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s as decided by the

Conference of Ambassadors A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

, required tugboats to assist in navigating ships into the confined port basin of the provisional Puck port and to maintain the fairway through the shallows of

Bay of Puck The Bay of Puck or Puck Bay (; ; ), is a shallow western branch of the Bay of Gdańsk in the southern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Gdańsk Pomerania, Poland. It is separated from the open sea by the Hel Peninsula. The bay has an average depth of ...

. In April and May 1920, the Naval Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs purchased a significant number of auxiliary vessels in the

, including the tugboats '' Castor'' and ''Pollux''. These were the first tugboats of the Polish Navy. ''Pollux'' was constructed in 1900 at an unspecified

shipyard, likely in

. Its name in Polish service referenced

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

Pollux, son of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and Leda, and brother of Castor; its prior name, if any, is unknown.

Technical specifications

''Pollux'' was a flat-bottomed river and port tugboat with an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of 26.3 metres, a beam of 4.4 metres, and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of 1.3 metres. Its gross register tonnage was 55

BRT BRT may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Bayrak Radio Television, a Turkish Cypriot broadcaster * Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (now ''VRT''), a Flemish broadcaster * Business Research and Training Center (BR&T), Ho Chi Minh Cit ...

, and its net register tonnage was 7 NRT. The vessel was powered by a

two-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

with double expansion, producing 140 hp, driving a single

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. The crew consisted of five members: a supervisor and four sailors.

Service history

Polish Navy

''Pollux'' was transferred to the Polish Navy in 1920, assigned by Ministry of Military Affairs Order No. 39 on 22 May to the Coast Command in Puck. Its

home port A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull. In the cruise industry the term "home port" is also oft ...

was Puck. Its primary tasks included supporting

dredgers Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dam ...

and

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s working in the Bay of Puck (deepening the "Depka" passage through ) and in the port basins of Puck and Hel. Due to its small size and flat bottom, the vessel was operable in

Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland. Geography The western part of Gulf of Gdańsk is formed by the shallow waters of the Bay of Puck. The so ...

only in favorable weather conditions. Following the division of maritime affairs into civilian and military sectors, ''Pollux'' and ''Castor'' were removed from the navy's auxiliary vessel list on 1 January 1922 and transferred to the Merchant Navy Office in

Wejherowo Wejherowo (; formerly ) is a city in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 48,735 inhabitants (2021). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999; previously, it was a city in Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

, under the administration of the Merchant Navy Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Civilian service

Despite the transfer, ''Pollux'' continued to support dredgers and barges in the Bay of Puck and maintained communication between the Puck port and the developing

Port of Gdynia Port of Gdynia is a Polish seaport located on the western shore of Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Gdynia. Founded in 1926, in 2008 it ranked second in intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a frei ...

. During the summer season, lacking dedicated excursion vessels, ''Pollux'' and ''Castor'' transported official delegations and tourists, primarily to Hel. In June 1922, ''Pollux'' accompanied the training sailing ship ''

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

'' to the outer shores of the

Hel Peninsula Hel Peninsula (; ; ; or ''Putziger Nehrung'') is a sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Name The name of the peninsula ...

for its two-month voyage. From August 1923, both tugboats performed towing and

pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...

duties, assisting

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

s and colliers docking at the provisional pier in Gdynia's port. In 1925, ''Pollux'' and ''Castor'' were permanently assigned to the Port Captaincy in Gdynia. After the acquisition of the larger, modern tugboat ''Ursus'', which took over most towing duties in Gdynia, ''Pollux'', with a faulty boiler, was deemed surplus and put up for auction in late 1925. In 1926, it was purchased by shipowner Albert Zimmermann from the Free City of Danzig. After repairs, the vessel, retaining its name, was used by its new owner at least until 1943. Its subsequent fate is unknown. In 1936, the Maritime Office in Gdynia acquired and commissioned a new tugboat named ''Pollux''.

References

Bibliography

* {{Cite book , last1=Huras , first1=Bohdan , last2=Twardowski , first2=Marek , title=Księga statków polskich: 1918-1945 , publisher=Polnord, Oskar , location=Gdańsk , date=2002 , volume=4 , isbn=83-86181-78-8 , trans-title=Book of Polish Ships: 1918–1945 , language=Polish , ref={{sfnref, Huras, Twardowski, 2002 Tugboats of Poland Polish Navy 1900 ships Ships of Poland