Battle of Wake Island
The tugboat "Arthur Foss", built in 1889, is the oldest wooden-hulled tugboat afloat in the United States. In 1898, in response to the Klondike Gold Rush, she transported barges full of gold-seeking miners and supplies up the Inside Passage to Alaska. There are no other Alaska gold rush vessels still operating today. She was cast by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio to play in its 1933 production "Tugboat Annie". In World War II, "Arthur Foss" journeyed south to join the war effort. Before the Battle of Wake Island began in December 1941, she was the last vessel to escape. After the war she was used in the timber industry until retirement in 1968.