Mike’s Inc.’s Mv. Pammie Turns 100

An unsuspecting observer probably wouldn’t think much of the little tugboat, with its green handrails and yellow stripes, moving up and down the Mississippi. At first glance, it’s impossible to guess that the mv. Pammie is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

The Pammie, originally a single-screw vessel operating under the name F. H. Shepard, was built by an unknown shipyard in Memphis for L. L. Shepard in 1926. The first 40 years of its history remain a mystery; according to the Inland River Record, it went through periods of inactivity and changed hands several times, though it was recorded that it was rebuilt in 1962.

In 1969, it was rebuilt again by Humbolt Boat Service in St. Louis and sold to East Perry Lumber Company. It operated under the name Bettye for the Frohna, Mo.-based company for four years until it was sold in 1973 to McKenzie Engineering Company and renamed the mv. Kangaroo. It went through a third rebuild in 1993 under McKenzie and was outfitted with 1710 Cummins engines as well as a replated hull. It remained with the company for nearly 50 years before it was purchased by Mike’s Inc.

Mike’s Inc., founded by the late Mike Marko Sr., operates its shipyard in East Alton, Ill., its main facility in South Roxana and its machine shop in Wood River. The company began as a father-son venture in 1965 and has been growing ever since.

The Kangaroo came at the perfect time for the shipyard. Mike Marko Sr., founder of Mike’s Inc., was beginning drydock operations again after a seven-year hiatus. When the economy crashed in 2002, Marko made the decision to shut down the shipyard. He sold his drydock operations to National Maintenance & Repair and signed a seven-year non-compete agreement. In 2009, Marko started preparing to get back into the dry-docking business.

“Dad started having a 2,700-ton drydock built since he was going to go back into the shipyard business again,” said Amy Jo Marko, president of Mike’s Inc. and daughter of Mike Marko Sr. “He knew that seven-year timeline was coming to an end, and he wanted to be ready. We didn’t have a tug at the time, and he began looking for something small to maneuver around the shipyard. So, we drove up to Keokuk, Iowa, to check (the Kangaroo) out.”

Mike Marko Sr. bought the Kangaroo from McKenzie Engineering Company, as well as several barges. Mike’s Inc. renamed the vessel, and, after a bit of work, the Pammie was in operation again.

“We cropped the aft end of the second deck cabin off,” Amy Jo Marko said. “You couldn’t see the stern from the wheelhouse, and our pilots were having a hard time with backing.”

Marko also replaced the Pammie’s two-cylinder generator with new John Deere 45-kWe generators, installed cooler boxes and grid coolers and switched out its Cummins engines for a pair of John Deere 4.5L engines. The towboat was repowered in 2015 after Marko decided to replace the diesel 12-cylinder main engines with John Deere Tier 3 propulsion engines. Amy Jo Marko recounted that other than repainting, the 850 hp. vessel hasn’t needed much work since then.

“She’s our everyday girl,” Amy Jo said. “She’s perfect for our yard. She does everything we ask of her. She spots all of our boats on drydock and pushes our crane barges and work flats around. Not just around our shipyard, she pushes the crane barges to nearby customer facilities to do work for them, too. And she mid-streams our customers’ boats to swing clutch tires and engine parts and other things that they need.”

According to the Inland River Record, the mv. Pammie measures just 57.6 feet in length and 20 feet wide. It’s a little tug, but one of the most useful at Mike’s.

“We can’t leave her down for very long,” Amy Jo Marko said. “She’s worth her weight in gold. Our pilots really like using her because she fits into little spots and isn’t hard to maneuver.”

100 years old isn’t young for a towboat, but the shipyard is well-equipped to keep the Pammie running for many years to come.

“We have our own service techs for John Deere engines, and our machinists are the gear box guys,” she said. “We have our shipyard for the running gear, the underwater stuff. We try to keep her running in tip-top shape.”

While the Pammie hasn’t been at Mike’s Inc. the longest – a title that belongs to the mv. Jim Marko – it is one of the most legendary of its boats, known as one of the oldest towboats running on the Mississippi River.

Featured image caption: Mike’s Inc.’s mv. Pammie at work on the Mississippi River. The Pammie turns 100 this year. (Photo courtesy of Mike’s Inc.)