Description

THE FAMED CHERYL ANN TUG BOAT

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY, QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension approx.: 20″ (long) x 7″ (wide) x 11″ (high)
The model is already built. THIS IS NOT A MODEL SHIP KIT

Cheryl Ann: A Working Tug and an Unexpected TV Icon

The name Cheryl Ann carries two very different histories — one rooted in the gritty, steel‑hulled world of Gulf Coast offshore towing, the other in the glow of 1950s television. Together, they’ve given the name a place in both maritime service and American pop culture.

The Real Tugboat: Cheryl Ann (1978)

The real Cheryl Ann was born in 1978 at Halter Marine Services in New Orleans, a shipyard known for turning out rugged offshore vessels for the booming Gulf oil industry. Built as hull #696 for the Jackson Marine Corporation of Houston — itself a subsidiary of Halliburton — she joined a fleet of nearly ninety vessels that worked the demanding waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf.

She was a compact but powerful tug:

93 feet long, 30 feet of beam, and nearly 200 gross tons
A steel hull built for offshore weather
Twin Caterpillar D‑399 diesels, delivering 2,200 horsepower
Reintjes reduction gears and two large fixed‑pitch propellers
A double‑drum towing winch with 2,000 feet of stainless‑steel wire
Electrical power from two 75 kW GM 6‑71 generators

She was built for hard work — towing barges, supporting offshore rigs, and handling the heavy, unglamorous jobs that keep the energy industry moving. In the mid‑1970s she was likely reflagged for Persian Gulf service, a common practice for U.S. offshore vessels working overseas.

Her corporate identity changed several times as the offshore industry consolidated:

1985: Jackson Marine merged into Zapata Gulf Marine
1992: Zapata Gulf merged into Tidewater Marine, one of the world’s largest offshore operators

Through each merger, she kept her name — a small continuity in a world of constant change.

Eventually, after decades of service, the Cheryl Ann was laid up, her working days finished. Like many offshore tugs of her era, she faded quietly from the active fleet, remembered mostly by the crews who worked her decks.

The Fictional Cheryl Ann: A TV Star in the 1950s

Long before the real tug was built, the name Cheryl Ann had already become famous in American living rooms.

In 1954, the television series Waterfront premiered, starring Preston Foster as tugboat captain John Herrick. The show was filmed partly on location in the Port of Los Angeles, using real harbor tugs and Coast Guard equipment. Foster insisted on authenticity — he even learned to handle the tug himself.

The tugboat in the series was named Cheryl Ann, and over the show’s 78‑episode run, the name became iconic. For many viewers, it was their first glimpse into the world of harbor towing, longshore work, and the daily life of a tug captain. The model tug used in the series later became a collectible, cherished by fans of early maritime television.

Because of the show’s popularity, the name Cheryl Ann took on a life of its own. Families named daughters after the fictional tug. Maritime enthusiasts built models of her. And when the real offshore tug Cheryl Ann entered service in 1978, many assumed she was named after the TV boat — a coincidence that only deepened the name’s mystique.

Today, the Cheryl Ann lives on in two worlds:

As a real offshore tug, built for strength and endurance, serving in the Gulf and abroad through decades of industrial change.
As a fictional harbor tug, remembered from a pioneering TV series that brought maritime life into American homes.

Few tugboats — real or imagined — have left such a layered legacy. The Cheryl Ann is both a working vessel and a cultural artifact, a name that evokes steel decks, diesel engines, and the glow of black‑and‑white television all at once.