"Colle Towing Co"

This painting depicts the old Colle Towing Company building years after the business had been relocated to the west bank of the Pascagoula River. Colle Tugs started operating in 1878 when Captain H. Colle had the Tug Fox built in Philadelphia, PA.  She was a shallow draft, steam powered, wooden hull vessel used for moving barges loaded with sawn timber and rafted logs from sawmills in Moss Point to vessels anchored inside Petit Bois Island. Tugs named in honor of the Colle family like Mabel Colle, John Colle Jr., Herman Colle, Jim Colle, and Janet Colle became old familiar friends that gave a sense of place to those of us who ran boats up and down the river.