Steamer Moultonborough

[Diver1111]

Hi All,

A man I met who loves the lake and her history sent me the attached picture he said was taken from the stern of the steam tug Moultonboro and wanted to know what direction it was facing. He said the vessel was in Lees Mills.

He took it at the age of 15 with a Kodak Brownie camera in Feb. 1951 on a scouting hike over the ice. If my pictures post in the order I upload them the picture he took will be the 1st one. And it will be the only one that clearly is from the stern. I have posted others of the Moultonboro as well after the one he sent me. It was quite a tug.

I can't find but have def. seen, pictures of a massive building/buildings on the shore at Lees Mill where the present Town Dock is. I recall them clearly because of where they were (front & center right on the shore) and their massive size and height.

When I zoom in on the photograph he sent me as far as I'm concerned they are the same structures I saw in the other pictures I can't find. As I recall these buildings were destroyed by extraordinary high winds.

The tow point in his picture does not seem to appear in my photographs but it could be the same vessel.

My take is that the tug is sitting low in the water to your right as you come into Lees Mills bay from the south, thru the narrow channel, and faces more or less north/north west.

He was wondering if the horizon in the background was Red Hill.

Any idea?

Based on research of the steam tug Moultonboro I have done in the past, formerly called the Center Harbor, I think I know where her hull is (all 90 feet of her). I have a hull, but can't say of course it's the Moultonboro.

In the Spring I will dive it and the first thing I will be looking for is propellors. I estimated the length of the hull I found at about 90 feet based on the center-to-center distance of the ribs. My information indicates that one of the Moultonboro's two props were taken off but the 2nd should be there.

I will speculate and suggest that the big prop in front of the Tuftonboro Historical Society could be from the Moultonboro, and this assumes the info I have is accurate. Measurements and pictures I will take of any props I find on this hull, if there are any, will help with identification when compared to the one at the TBoro Historical Society.

We'll see.