RELIABLE WELDING WORKS

Olympia WA

Most recent update: August 31, 2021.

Reliable Welding Works was started some time in the 1920s or 30s by A. W. Lewis.  It was specifically designed to build steel vessels up to 200 feet, so any wooden vessels credited to Reliable were almost certainly built by one of the several wooden boatbuilders in the Olympia area: similarly, there is some confusion as to who built several steel barges listed as built in the area.  In 1970, RWW changed its name to Reliable Steel Fabrication, reflecting a change in its markets.  It was sold in 1998 and later closed.  The site, at 1218 West Bay Drive Northwest, remains vacant: see it from the air on Google here.  If anyone can add to the table below, please send your info to timcolton@aol.com

Hull # O.N. Original Name or # Original Owner Type Tons Feet Built Disposition
  173665 Roberta Rockway Olympia Oil Tank Barge 179 100 1937 Later W.T.&B. Co. No. 60, Manson 42
  173719 Pierson Petroleum G. D. Pierson Tank Barge 85 60 1937 To USN 1942 as YO-151, returned post-war, foundered 1950
  239393 Ranger Ben H. Tingly Tug 15 43 1940  
  174729 Cornell No. 10 Chas. Cornell Deck Barge 187 110 1941  
  175023 Oil No. 1 Alaska Rivers Navigation Freight Barge 155 119 1941  
  175265 Polaris No. 6   Deck Barge 62 85 1942 Later Christine Rose
  251952 Jean S   Tug 94 69 1942 Later The Rocket
  271112 Kapalama   Tug 37 48 1942 Later Roamer
1   Boissonault (ST 34) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Fate unknown
2   Carpenter (ST 35) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Foundered 1943
3   Fox (ST 36) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Sold post-war, fate unknown
4   Albert (ST 37) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Sold post-war as Hagen, sold 1949 to Lisbon Harbor as Serra de Sintra, Serra da Lapa 1978, fate unknown
5   Irwin (ST 38) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Fate unknown
6   Keach (ST 39) US Army Tug 100d 74 1942 Foundered 1944
7   ST 12 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 To China post-war as Kingsbury
8   ST 13 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold 1948 to F.M. Yorke (Canada), sunk 1948
9 253511 ST 14 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold 1947 as Western Cities, foundered 1979
10   ST 164 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold post-war, to Argentina 1948 as either MOP 252-B or MOP 256-B
11   ST 165 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Foundered 1943
12 256829 ST 166 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold 1948 as Gary Foss, Pacific Rocket 1949, Bronco 1972, Swinomish 1974, active
13   ST 167 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold post-war, to Argentina 1948 as either MOP 252-B or MOP 256-B
14   ST 168 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold post-war, fate unknown
15   ST 169 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold 1947 as Isabella Stewart (Canada), Fraser Crown 1959, Pacific Buoy 1982, sold 2003, fate unknown
16   ST 170 US Army Tug 100d 74 1943 Sold 1947 as George McGregor (Canada), lost 1949
17   ST 734 US Army Tug 148d 86 1944 Fate unknown
18   ST 735 US Army Tug 148d 86 1945 To Greece post-war as Theseus, fate unknown
19   ST 736 US Army Tug 148d 86 1945 Fate unknown
20   ST 737 US Army Tug 148d 86 1945 Fate unknown
21   ST 738 US Army Tug 148d 86 1945 Fate unknown
22   ST 739 US Army Tug 148d 86 1945 Fate unknown
  247040 Ruby VIII General Construction Tug  40 52 1944 Later Joshua T, Coot, Ruby VIII, active
  176014 BBL No. 50   Freight Barge 1,029 260 1944 Later M.T. No. 20 (too big to have been built by Reliable?)
  176064 BBL No. 51   Freight Barge 1,029 260 1944 Later M.T. No. 21 (too big to have been built by Reliable?)
  176201 D.L. Co. C Drummond Lighterage Freight Barge 841 216 1945 Later PGE No. 3 (Canada ON 194186), Seaspan 901, Allied Barge, active
  176350 Ordel No. 9 Ordel Oil Tank Barge 142 83 1945  Sold for recreational use, NLD
  247526 Harstine II Mason County Ferry 49 63 1945 Retired 1969
  249014 Sun Dial Fred V. Brown Fishing Vessel 536 118 1945 Hull only, completed by Pacific Coast BB
27 250021 F E Lovejoy Puget Sound Freight Lines Cargo Vessel 472 170 1946 Later Laney S, Denali, Pacific Producer, active
  250145 Erlyndee A. W. Lewis Yacht 41 46 1946 Built for the owner of the shipyard
  251620 Kolo Young Brothers Tug 42 61 1947 NLD
  263133 Brynn Foss Foss Towing Tug 96 68 1952 Later Bengal Tiger, deleted 2016
    Bayberry (WLI 65400) US Coast Guard Buoy Tender 70d 65 1954 Active
    Elderberry (WLI 65401) US Coast Guard Buoy Tender 70d 65 1954 Active
  273348 Rufus Foss Towing Tug  13 42 1957 Later Denise H
36 529534 Cedar King Dunlap Towing Tug  19 37 1970 Active