DeLand historian searches for a permanent home for storied WWII tugboat ‘Tiger'

Living admin September 14, 2026 0 Comments

DeLand historian searches for a permanent home for storied WWII tugboat ‘Tiger’

More than 80 years since the end of World War II, one small but mighty tugboat has a story that has come full circle, beginning in DeLand and returning for its final chapter.

The U.S. Army ST-479 “Tiger” now sits on the St. Johns River, just a mile from where it was built in 1944 at the American Machinery Corporation (AMC) on Lake Beresford. AMC built 29 such vessels for World War II service, and while many have been lost to history, the Tiger serves as a testament to DeLand’s role in the war effort.

More than a decade ago, Dan Friend, the president of the DeLand Historic Trust, became aware of the boat’s existence in Stockholm, Sweden, and launched an effort to bring the Tiger home. The tugboat made the long trek across the Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 2022 and returned to DeLand in July 2023.

“Its rarity is unbelievable. To be able to bring it back home to DeLand where it was built is a goal that we had and we accomplished that,” Friend, 75, said. “I would consider it a grand slam if we’re able to keep it on Lake Beresford.”

Efforts to secure funding to create a permanent memorial and home for the Tiger have proven more difficult than Friend once imagined, but he persists in his mission to complete the work he started and preserve the history that reflects DeLand’s role in World War II.

A piece of DeLand history

For Friend, a retired history and communications teacher, the interest in World War II tugboats began when he found a builder’s plaque from another ST tugboat built in DeLand.

“I found a World War II plate out of Dwight Morrow’s antique shop in DeLand that started this whole mess in 2012. I’m looking and going, ‘Wow! This is off one of the tugboats,’” he said.

He quickly went to work uncovering details about the 29 tugboats built by AMC on Lake Beresford, as well as the other 550+ ST tugboats built for the war. He compiled the information into a website, usarmysttugs.com.

These tugboats would have been used for dock building – including the Mulberry docks built around the time of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France – as well as for towing and maneuvering in harbors, rescue missions and body recovery. Details about its service are murky, but given its completion date, there’s a chance the Tiger may have been in France in time for D-Day.

Another of DeLand’s tugboats, the ST-344, was blown up by a mine in northwestern France’s Cherbourg Harbour in July of 1944, killing the crew onboard.

Many of the more than 550 U.S. Army ST tugboats that served in Europe during World War II were scrapped, sold for commercial use or abandoned after their wartime service ended.

This rabbit hole helped Friend unlock additional details about Alexander Landing, a St. Johns River gateway to Volusia County where steamboats could land to ferry passengers and cargo to and from Jacksonville. That same site is where AMC would later build the 29 World War II tugboats.

Bringing Tiger home

Shortly after Friend set up his tugboat history website, he was contacted by John Higgins, who owned the Tiger with his wife Margareta. Much to the historian’s delight, the original Clark diesel engine was still intact, making it one of the few ST tugs in the world to remain in such an unmarred, historical state.

The boat was at a dock in Stockholm, Sweden, and the owners offered the vessel to Friend and the DeLand Historic Trust for free if they could find a way to transport the tug to Central Florida. Quickly, Friend got to work raising money for Tiger’s transatlantic journey, receiving $250,000 from an anonymous donor later revealed to be local patriot Ruth Ann Fay.

In June 2022, a yacht shipper carried the 200-ton vessel more than 4,000 nautical miles across the ocean, arriving in Jacksonville on July 11. The vessel was moored in Green Cove Springs until right after Thanksgiving, when the Tiger made a three-day journey – under its own power using a newer Scania diesel engine – to Astor, only to get stuck in the mud.

In July 2023, when the water level was high enough, Friend and fellow volunteers moved the Tiger up the St. Johns River to a sheltered cut behind an island just south of Lake Beresford. That’s where the storied vessel sits today.

Headwinds ahead

Friend initially thought that moving the boat from Europe to Florida would be the most difficult piece of this puzzle. Unfortunately, he was proven wrong. Finding support in Florida has been harder.

Friend had plans to pursue grant funding from the Volusia County ECHO Program office, which has dedicated money for environmental, cultural, historical and outdoor recreation projects within the community. Based on a conversation with the office staff, he thought minor changes to the funding requirements would allow him to apply for a grant.

In May 2023, Friend said the Volusia County Council chose not to accept an advisory board recommendation that the ECHO grant wording be changed slightly to allow for “relics and artifacts” to be eligible for grant funding. While he has identified several ideal locations on Lake Beresford for the Tiger to stay permanently, including the site of the boatyard where it was built, Friend has no funding to negotiate a real estate deal.

He continues to seek local allies in his mission and recently petitioned the Volusia County Historic Preservation Board to ask Volusia County Council to reconsider their 2023 decision.

Friend also worries that the potential overhaul of Florida’s property taxes via Amendment 3 in November, if it succeeds, could bury his project under other, more pressing county needs.

“One wrong move at a time in the right sequence and this whole thing goes south. If the tug springs a leak tomorrow, it could be checkmate,” Friend said. “After 80 years … the outside looks rusty as hell, and that’s not comforting. The inside could be even worse.”

He still remains optimistic that a community member could come through with the property or necessary funding to bring this project to the finish line. He estimates that securing the property and creating a monument could be accomplished for $1 million or less.

“She needs to be in West Volusia, and I’m being stubborn about that,” he said. “Anywhere on Lake Beresford is a grand slam.”

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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 7:14 AM.