Fish Tug JOSH II

I don't believe I've ever been to Grand Bend before but while heading up to Goderich last September to get a snap to the ALGORAIL which had just got underway from Sarnia after an extended winter layup, I popped into the Lake Huron village primarily to make a "pit-stop", if you know what I mean. After taking care of business at the village's tall pavilion that overlooks their beautiful beach, I decided to check out the harbour channel and found across the way, the fish tug JOSH II and a small tug named MITOI. Oh YAAA 👍🏻👍🏻  There didn't appear to be any activity around either vessel but with the positioning of the JOSH II along the wharf and the lighthouse in the background, it was a photo op that I simply could not walk away from. Such was the case it appears in this beautiful sunset 🌅 shot below  taken by Shaun Vary during one of his visits to "The Bend" and the snap further down of the JOSH II mired in ice taken last February by my sister Nancy. Nice pics kids and thanks for letting me show them.

Photo by Shaun Vary

Photo by Nancy Butller

Yes, she's one beautiful boat moored in each snap near the Purdy Fish Market, which operates fisheries in Grand Bend and in Point Edward, a community just north of Sarnia.  Initially I wasn't able find much information about 65' fish tug, but then a few friends from the Facebook group Great Lakes Fish Tugs came to my aid to help fill in a few gaps. I did know that JOSH II was built in 1980 by Liddle Brothers Fisheries Limited of Wheatley, Ontario but Great Lake's Fish Tugger's Monty Young, Shaun Vary and Sammy Ferreira all confirmed that she is still owned by Liddle Brothers which as Archie Campbell on the TV show  "Hee HAW" would say, "now that shows to go ya" is why the white letters "LB" for Liddle Brothers is displayed boldly on her black stack.  Shaun Vary also mentioned that she's normally stationed on Lake Huron, which also "shows to go ya" is why she's been seen and often snapped near Purdy's in Grand Bend or at their dock in Point Edward like in Monty's photo below. Ditto that for Shaun's chilling capture of JOSH II pushing her way through the ice flows near Sarnia on January 2, 2014.

Photo by Monty Young

Photo by Shaun Vary

Currently based on Wheatley, Ontario, the Liddle family has been fishing on the Great Lakes since Joseph "Josh" Liddle took up the occupation in 1887. According to a book I found online called "Open Boats" by Rita Lobzun, when Josh Liddle died in 1937, his two sons, Clarence "Tode" and Harold "Jimmy", who both worked with their father in the fishing and the boat building trade during the "off season", took over the business.
According to the website Shipbuildinghistory.com, there are still five Liddle Brothers built fish tugs active on the Great Lakes and it appears the last one built in 1980, was the JOSH II. Today the steel hulled carvel designed beauty named after the family patriarch is going through an inspection at Hike Metal Products, also of Wheatley. Let's hope all goes well so she can get back to doing what she does best or at least an unexpected photo op at a quaint harbour like "The Bend". Thank you Donna Toth for your input too.