Tender Boat "Beverly Ober"
 |
..The 37 foot motor cabin cruiser “Beverly Ober” served the Baltimore City Fire Department Marine Division as the Marine Battalion Chief’s command and inspection boat for 12 years from 1959 to 1971. This all wood trunk cabin cruiser was built for the Baltimore City Police Department in 1956 as a Harbor Patrol Boat, and re-assigned to the Fire Department in 1959. She spent her entire career with the Marine Battalion Chief at Pier 7, President St.
Below is a list of the Company assignments and locations of the "Beverly Ober" during her service with the Baltimore City Fire Department.
August 7, 1959 - Placed in service with The Marine Battalion Chief at Marine Division Headquarters, Pier 7, foot of
.............................President St.
October 22, 1971 - Removed from service and de-commissioned. Sold at auction.
Classed as an Edwards trunk cabin cruiser, the characteristics of the tender boat Beverly Ober are as follows:
Builder – Edwards Boat Co., Middle River, MD.
Commissioned – ( by the Police Department, 1956 ). by the Fire Department – August 7, 1959
Cost - ( $22,000 Police Department ). transferred over to the Fire Department at no cost
Official Number – 271230
Construction - all wood
Length overall - 37 feet 3 inches
Beam - 11 feet 9 inches
Depth of hull - 4 feet 8 inches
Full load draft - .?. feet
Tonnage - 11 Net, 16 Gross
Fuel capacity - .?. gallons of gasoline
Maximum speed - .?. m.p.h.
Propulsion - twin screw, two (2) Chrysler Marine, Type 104, 6 clinder in-line, fresh water keel cooled gasoline
------------------engines, rated 125 H.P. each
Baltimore's Fireboats
.
Fire pumps - one (1).100 G.P.M. (Briggs & Stratton C.D. portable)
Fire pumps - one (1).100 G.P.M. (Briggs & Stratton C.D. portable)
Hose - 100 feet of 1˝ inch
Police Patrol Boat becomes a Baltimore Fire Boat
.. The Beverly Ober was built in 1956 by the Edwards Boat Yard, Middle River, MD, for the Baltimore City Police Department as a harbor patrol boat. It was named after a former Police Commissioner. Constructed along the lines of a pleasure craft it was soon found to be unsuitable for marine police duty, and they planed on replacing it.
..Aware that the Fire Department Marine Division was in a jam, as their original tender boat had been scraped due to rotting, the vessel was transferred over to the Fire Department at no cost in 1959, and placed in service on August 7, 1959 as the Marine Battalion Chiefs new command and inspection boat.
..Aware that the Fire Department Marine Division was in a jam, as their original tender boat had been scraped due to rotting, the vessel was transferred over to the Fire Department at no cost in 1959, and placed in service on August 7, 1959 as the Marine Battalion Chiefs new command and inspection boat.
 |
 |
 |
 |
.. During 1962, on the recommendation of Superintendent of Maintenance, George Merle, the upper half of the Beverly Ober’s cab was painted white. The mahogany had been varnished many times and would not seal properly, allowing water to enter the butted joints and decay the wood.
 |
 |
 |
.. Many of the deficiencies that the Police Department had noted with the Beverly Ober were apparent to the Fire Department as well. In April of 1965, Deputy Chief Roland Wett went before the Board of Fire Commissioners to plead a case for a new Marine Division tender boat. Wett stated, “Its inboard engines are unsafe because of explosive gasoline fumes that collect in the bilge. Its wooden hull rolls like an egg in rough water and could shatter to bits when mooring to a pier. Besides, he added, the Ober is incapable of fighting fires.”
..“A new tender boat complete with firefighting equipment, a steel hull and safer and cheaper diesel engines would cost an estimated $60,000”, he said.
.. A sympathetic Board said they would soon take action on the matter, but budget constraints would not allow it.
..The Beverly Ober would remain in the fleet for another six years.
BACK TO FORMER BOATS
..“A new tender boat complete with firefighting equipment, a steel hull and safer and cheaper diesel engines would cost an estimated $60,000”, he said.
.. A sympathetic Board said they would soon take action on the matter, but budget constraints would not allow it.
..The Beverly Ober would remain in the fleet for another six years.
Decommissioning of the Beverly Ober
..The Beverly Ober was declared in sound condition at the Edwards Boat Yard after her annual inspection and bottom painting on November 6, 1970, but problems were developing and she was becoming costly to maintain.
..One of the characteristics of the boat is that it draws any small or large floating material into the propellers. The last time damage was caused by this condition was in May of 1971. On May 6th the Ober was delivered to the A. Smith & Son Shipyard, Curtis Bay, who estimated $300 damage to the port shaft, propeller and bearing. Plans at this time were being made to transfer a more suitable Police patrol boat, the “Charles D. Gaither” to the Fire Department, and by orders of Chief Charles Warfield of Fire Maintenance, repairs were not made and the Ober was returned to quarters.
..On October 22, 1971, the same day the “Charles D. Gaither” was turned over to the Fire Department, the Beverly Ober was decommissioned at 11:20 AM, and delivered to the Fire Department Repair Shop on Key Highway for disposal as excess property. ..A report on the general condition of the Beverly Ober, for purpose of auction, was made by Marine Battalion Chief George Klein, as follows:
The vessel was painted and varnished in August of 1971. She is 16 years old, and has seen probably 10 times as much service as a pleasure craft. The hull is generally sound and leaks only a normal amount for a wooden plank boat. The port engine overheats at 1,700 r.p.m., and backfires in the carburetor, maximum speed is 8 m.p.h. The windshield needs waterproofing, the head does not operate, and there is a small amount of bad wood on the main cabin bulkhead where it joins the well deck.
..It must be remembered that all used craft need work, and a boat owner should be a handyman. It is estimated that in her current condition the Beverly Ober should bring $2,000 to 3,000 at auction.
Tender boat Beverly Ober, sold at auction, 1407 Key Highway, November 15, 1971, to a Mr. George Doering, Jr. for $3,400.
..One of the characteristics of the boat is that it draws any small or large floating material into the propellers. The last time damage was caused by this condition was in May of 1971. On May 6th the Ober was delivered to the A. Smith & Son Shipyard, Curtis Bay, who estimated $300 damage to the port shaft, propeller and bearing. Plans at this time were being made to transfer a more suitable Police patrol boat, the “Charles D. Gaither” to the Fire Department, and by orders of Chief Charles Warfield of Fire Maintenance, repairs were not made and the Ober was returned to quarters.
..On October 22, 1971, the same day the “Charles D. Gaither” was turned over to the Fire Department, the Beverly Ober was decommissioned at 11:20 AM, and delivered to the Fire Department Repair Shop on Key Highway for disposal as excess property. ..A report on the general condition of the Beverly Ober, for purpose of auction, was made by Marine Battalion Chief George Klein, as follows:
The vessel was painted and varnished in August of 1971. She is 16 years old, and has seen probably 10 times as much service as a pleasure craft. The hull is generally sound and leaks only a normal amount for a wooden plank boat. The port engine overheats at 1,700 r.p.m., and backfires in the carburetor, maximum speed is 8 m.p.h. The windshield needs waterproofing, the head does not operate, and there is a small amount of bad wood on the main cabin bulkhead where it joins the well deck.
..It must be remembered that all used craft need work, and a boat owner should be a handyman. It is estimated that in her current condition the Beverly Ober should bring $2,000 to 3,000 at auction.
Tender boat Beverly Ober, sold at auction, 1407 Key Highway, November 15, 1971, to a Mr. George Doering, Jr. for $3,400.