Thea Christiansen Foss (8 June 1857 – 7 June 1927) was the founder of

Foss Maritime Foss Maritime (formerly Foss Launch and Tug Company), is an American tugging company. The company was founded in 1889 by Thea Foss (1857–1927) and her husband Andrew Foss. The company is now the largest tug and towing concern on the west coas ...

, the largest tugboat company in the western United States. She was the real-life person on which the fictional character "

Tugboat Annie ''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) wa ...

" (originally portrayed on film in 1933 by

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Great Depression, Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-lengt ...

) may have been very loosely based.

Biography

Thea Christiansen came to the United States from

Eidsberg Eidsberg was a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the town of Mysen. In 2020, Eidsberg was absorbed into the Indre Østfold municipality. Eidsberg was established as a municipality on 1 Jan ...

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other sid ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and married Norwegian immigrant Andrew Foss in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

, Minnesota in 1881. Thea Foss launched the future tugboat firm on the Tacoma waterfront in the summer of 1889. She started the Foss Launch Company, which eventually became the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

-based Foss Maritime Company. Thea Foss died in Tacoma on the day before her 70th birthday.

Legacy

*The

Thea Foss Waterway The Thea Foss Waterway, formerly the City Waterway, is a north–south inlet of Commencement Bay separating downtown Tacoma, Washington, from the Port of Tacoma. History The City Waterway was created in 1902 through a dredging operation proposed ...

, a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometre) mile inlet in Tacoma's industrial area, and connected to

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

, is named after Foss. *, which had served as a patrol vessel in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, was renamed the ''Thea Foss'' after being purchased by Foss Marine Company. *The power yacht now known as ''Mitlite'' was originally launched in 1933 as the ''Thea Foss''; it appears to have been the only yacht ever built by Foss Tug. During World War II, it was conscripted by the U.S. Navy for use as a Barrage Balloon Tender, J2036. *Thea Foss Lodge of the Daughters of Norway was instituted on 29 May 2004. Lodge #45 meets in Chimacum, Washington. * Foss Peak, a 6524-foot mountain summit in the Tatoosh Range of

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservin ...

* In 1989, Thea Foss was inducted into the Washington State Centennial Hall of Honor.

References

Other sources

*Skalley, Michael ''Foss: Ninety years of towboating'' (1981)

External links

Foss Maritime Official Website''So Many Things To Do Yet: The Saga of Thea Foss''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Thea 1857 births 1927 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople People from Eidsberg Norwegian emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Tacoma, Washington American women company founders 20th-century American businesspeople American transportation businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 19th-century American businesswomen