| What makes it historical? |
Originally called U.S.S ATR-20 this little rescue tugboat was built in Camden, Maine in 1943 and sold to the British Royal Navy, who renamed it HMS Justice! It’s rumored that this tugboat helped out in the Invasion of Normandy, but no matter its service, the British Navy returned her to the US in 1946. The next year, the US re-sold her to the Argentinean company, Salvamar, run by Leopoldo Simoncini, who renamed her Saint Christopher!
By 1953, the sturdy Saint Christopher was running rescue and salvage operations around the Beagle Channel, but met her match when the German passenger ship, Monte Cervantes, ran aground, Salvamar went bankrupt and it became too expensive to maintain the poor Saint Christopher! She was intentionally beached and abandoned in Ushuaia Harbor in 1957, where she remains to this day, thanks to her sturdy construction! |
