Two partially completed tugboats and a pile of scrap metal were all that remained after a fierce fire destroyed the Washburn & Doughty shipyard in E. Boothbay on July 11. The company, which employed approximately 100 workers before the fire, laid off 65 of them and kept 35 working on a third tug that had been launched and wasn’t damaged in the fire. Damage was estimated at approximately $35 million.
No one was injured in the fire, which the state fire marshal’s office ruled was started accidentally by sparks from a cutting torch.
Washburn & Doughty (WWF May 2002, March 2007), a highly successful yard working in steel and aluminum and focusing on tugs and other workboats, has built 19 tugs for Connecticut-based Moran Construction including several vessels of innovative design. Before moving aggressively into the tugboat business, the company built fishing boats and at least one yacht.