CONSTRUCTION
The Hosmer was the largest steam tug constructed on Kootenay Lake for the CPR barge service. Built in 1909 by master builder J.M. Bulger for $36,776 it was 33.5 m (109.8 feet) in length with a 6.4 m (20.9 feet) beam and 2.6 m (8.4 feet) of hull depth. A wooden-hulled, single planked vessel, she measured 153.9 gross and

105 registered, tons. A steam engine with two vertical, compound cylinders of 35.6 cm (14 inches) and 76.2 cm (30 inches) diameters with a 50.8 cm (20 inch) stroke and a Scotch boiler drove a single, 4-bladed screw. The Polson Iron Works (Toronto) steam plant produced 36 nhp (250 ihp) with an operating pressure of 1103 kPa (160 psi).

OPERATIONAL HISTORY
Following her construction at the Nelson CPR shipyard, the Hosmer moved the huge 15-car railway transfer barges between Procter and Kootenay Landing. The tug pushed two barges from behind while a pilot observed from a small pilot house atop one of the barges. Less than a decade later, an inspection report by J.S. Byron suggests the tugs were worked hard. Byron noted the engine and engine room needed maintenance, the hull and deck needed work and a complete painting was required. The vessel was being operated with a bent shaft and an estimate of $6,500 was suggested as the cost of a thorough overhaul. In 1918-19 the vessel was overhauled but her cabins and deck burned in 1925. The vessel was rebuilt by John Stobo, who added an additional deck was added to improve visibility from the wheelhouse. The reason for adding decks to the rebuilt steam tugs Hosmer and Valhalla was that the new steel railway transfer barges lacked the hogpost and chainstay systems of the wooden barges, on which a house had been perched to give the bargeman visibility. Eventually the Hosmer and other vessels were retired with the completion of the Procter-Kootenay Landing railway extension on December 31, 1931.

DISPOSAL & SALVAGE
The retired vessel was sold in 1934 to Bob Moon for $762. The engines were removed and the vessel moved to the Bealby Point area in the early 1940s for use as a houseboat. Shortly thereafter vandals burned the Hosmer to the waterline. In 19xx the prop and drive shaft of the vessel were salvaged and placed on the lawn of the Nelson City Museum.

SEARCH
The boiler of this vessel is visible above the surface and the location of the Hosmer has never been in question. However, both the Hosmer and the Kuskanook were ignored by recreational divers as shallow and uninteresting dives and few details were known about these sites before UASBC mapping efforts.

Little remains in the vessel. Immediately forward of the boiler are numerous lengths of railway iron, presumably used as ballast. Also in this vicinity are two large knees lying detached within the hull. An iron-covered partition is located behind the boiler in a location suitable for shovelling coal into the boilers. In front of the stuffing box are large fragments of concrete, the purpose of which are unknown. The 2.50 m tall by 1.35 m wide rudder and the 1.40 m steering arm remain in the mud approximately 15 m to the east of the stern.

The propeller and shaft assembly on the lawn of the Nelson Museum are worthy of inspection and indicative of the great power of the Hosmer. The propeller is 2.32 m in diameter and marked "W. Kennedy & Son, Owen Sound 38". Each blade is separately forged,, 91 cm long by 62 cm wide, and bolted onto the hub with five bronze nuts. The shaft is 5.6 m long and 22.6 cm in diameter.

ACCESS/DIVING
The Hosmer is an accessible wreck that offers an entertaining snorkel in 2-3 m of water throughout most of the year. Schools of baitfish and the occasional muskrat may be seen. The vessel may be approached either by a short walk via Bealby Road or via a 2 km boat or kayak trip from Nelson. It is an excellent place to take young people on their first wreck "dive". In spring at low water one can walk within the hull if one first survives an adventurous 20 m wade across deep mud flats.

CONCLUSIONS
The Hosmer is the largest known steam tug wreck in the southern interior and has considerable historical significance to the Nelson area and the CPR. The wreck is protected by the Heritage Conservation Act and no special actions are required at this time.