John Kendall (fireboat)

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John Kendall (fireboat) was a steam-powered vessel built in 1929 by the Toledo Shipbuilding Company for the Detroit Fire Department. It began service in 1930 and worked as a fireboat until 1976. The boat used steam engines and needed a crew of ten, with five men required to tend the boiler. After it stopped serving as a fireboat, it was converted into a tugboat, and its steam engines were replaced with diesel engines. It then served as a tug for another 20 years based in Alpena, Michigan, before being scrapped in 1994. Length is listed as 135 feet by some sources, and 128 feet by The Scanner in 1976. The boat was named after John Kendall, who joined the Detroit Fire Department as a volunteer at age 14 and went on to serve 58 years, eventually becoming the department’s third chief in 1898. Detroit’s first two fire chiefs, James Battle and James R. Elliott, had fireboats named for them, and later boats such as Curtis Randolph were named for firefighters who died in the line of duty.