The Providence Steamboat Company was incorporated in 1881 by Capt. Nat Sutton and Frank Mauran, both having operated a tugboat business in Providence and Narragansett Bay since 1876. Being family run, Howard Sutton took over as President in the early 1900s. Upon his death in 1923, his wife, Kate A. Sutton, assumed control and became one of the first women in the country to efficiently operate a fleet of steamboats along with Frank Mauran, Sr. She was known to be an important authority in maritime knowledge, yet hardly ever stepped aboard a tug, preferring to work in the business office. It seems probable that Sutton was a model for the famous “Tugboat Annie” according to an article from the "Pacific Motor Boat" in November of 1934, in which a Mr. Paine states that Tugboat Annie was a suggested subject for a local story by a friend, who informed him about the woman from Providence who took over a tugboat business from her deceased husband.
The Providence Steamboat Company remained family run up until 2007, when the McAllister Towing Company from New York bought the Providence Steamboat Company from the Mauran family. The new company continues to serve ports in Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts with its small fleet of tugs.
This collection is available to the public by appointment at the Steamship Historical Society. Objects that are fragile, significant, or require additional tools to access may require archivist assistance.
Use, reproduction, and/or publication of archival material is prohibited without prior approval of the Steamship Historical Society. Fees and/or restrictions may apply. Please contact the SSHSA archivist, Astrid Drew, at adrew@sshsa.org for more information.
Providence Steamboat Company Collection, 2007.01, Steamship Historical Society of America Archives, www.sshsa.org.
Limited records of the Providence Steamboat Company, which was acquired by McAllister Towing in 2007. This collection includes artifacts, mounted and loose photographs and art depicting various company tugs, plans of company tugs, and folders containing clippings, photos, and correspondences.
This collection has two main series:
Michael Mariner, former General Manager of Providence Steamboat Company, donated these records in late 2007 after the PSC was sold to McAllister Towing and Transportation. A deed of gift was signed by both Mariner and SSHSA Executive Director, Matthew Schulte in early late 2007/early 2008. The collection was retroactively accessioned and processed by Assistant Archivist Tessa Mediano in January 2023.