Pollux (1900)

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Pollux was a Polish tugboat from the interwar period. Built in 1900 in a German shipyard, probably in Gdańsk, it was bought by Poland in spring 1920. It was one of Poland’s first tugboats in the navy, alongside Castor, and served from 1920 to 1922. Its home port was Puck, and its job was to help dredgers and barges in the Bay of Puck and in the ports of Puck and Hel. Because it was small and had a flat bottom, it could operate in Gdańsk Bay only in good weather.

In 1922 Pollux was transferred from the Navy to civilian service under the Merchant Navy Office in Wejherowo, continuing to support dredging and to move ships and people between Puck and the growing port of Gdynia. During the summers, lacking a dedicated excursion boat, Pollux carried official delegations and tourists to Hel. In June 1922 it accompanied the training ship Lwów on a voyage near the Hel Peninsula. From August 1923 it performed towing and pilotage for passenger ships and coal ships docking at the provisional pier in Gdynia.

In 1925 Pollux and Castor were permanently assigned to the Port Captaincy in Gdynia. After the larger tug Ursus arrived and took over most towing duties, Pollux, with a faulty boiler, was deemed surplus and put up for sale later that year. In 1926 a shipowner from the Free City of Danzig, Albert Zimmermann, bought Pollux. After repairs she remained in use at least until 1943; her fate after that is unknown.

Note: In 1936 the Maritime Office in Gdynia commissioned a new tug also named Pollux.

Specifications: length 26.3 m, beam 4.4 m, draft 1.3 m; steam engine 140 hp; one propeller; capacity 55 BRT; crew of 5.