Tugboat Annie

The story of the real-life “Tugboat Annie”

Thea Foss, the Norwegian-American woman who built a maritime empire with “conviction and a pot of coffee”

She was a hard-working Norwegian immigrant woman who made her way to the city of Tacoma in Washington territory in 1880, to be immortalized to the world in the 1933 film Tugboat Annie. Thea Foss built up the tugboat company that with time became the Seattle-based Foss Maritime Company, the largest tugboat company in the western United States.

Schoolchildren learn about Thea in their Washington state history classes, and today there is an entire museum, the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum, where visitors can learn more about her legacy and the Pacific Northwest region’s maritime heritage. It’s a place where you can spend several hours or several days delving into the exhibits and activities offered. And the exhibit about Thea is a very good place to get started.

In real life, Thea was very different from “Tugboat Annie” played by Marie Dressler in the old Hollywood film. From all accounts, she was much milder and more modest in a typically Norwegian way.

She was born Thea Christiansen on June 8, 1858, in the village of Eidsberg in Østfold, in eastern Norway. When she was only 14, she moved to the capital, then called Kristiania. There, she met her sister’s brother-in-law, Andreas Olsen, and fell in love.

Olsen was a ship’s carpenter and decided to try his luck in the New World. He found his way to St. Paul, Minnesota, where there was a thriving immigrant community. He saved up for Thea’s passage to North America, but she insisted on paying her own way by working as a housekeeper. After she arrived in Minnesota in 1881, they were married. They were blessed with three children and stayed in St. Paul for eight years.

But Andreas was ambitious and wanted more for his family. Since there were so many Olsens living in the Twin Cities, he changed their last name to Fossen, later shortening it to Foss. He also Americanized his first name to Andrew to fit in better in the new country.

Andrew also missed the coastal life he knew from Norway. He decided to go West and set out for Tacoma in Washington Territory in 1888. The following year, after the birth of their third baby, Thea and the children joined him. All in all, the couple would have four children.

Andrew had built a float house on the Tacoma waterfront for his family, and they soon settled in. From all reports, they were happy with their new life there. Thea has been described as a loving and caring wife and mother and a beloved member of her community. Stories are told of how the hard-working Norwegian immigrant woman could be found in her kitchen cooking up a warm soup for her family and friends, offering them nourishment and support. It has been said that Thea “built the largest tugboat industry in the world with nothing more than her conviction and a pot of coffee.”

Thea founded her company with a humble rowboat in the summer of 1889, when she started to fix up rowboats to sell. She called her new business the Foss Launch Company. She painted her first rowboat white with green trim and sold it for $5. She then bought another, then another, and things began to take off.

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Soon Andrew started building rowboats, and their home became the Foss Boathouse. The couple expanded into hauling lumber and towing. The port city of Tacoma with its railroad connection was thriving as a gateway to the Pacific Northwest, and Thea’s new company flourished. She believed in unparalleled customer service, and their slogan was “Always Ready.”

When Thea died in 1927, a day before her 69th birthday, the entire Tacoma community mourned her. It marked her passing both on land and at sea with one of the biggest parades ever seen in Tacoma, and a water parade of Foss vessels that passed through the city’s waterway. Andrew died only one week later.

Family members operated the Foss Maritime Company for many decades. The company expanded from rowboats and small powerboats to tugs and towboats. Always known for its technical innovation, it still painted its boats in the same white and green. And while the company was later sold, to this day, the Foss Maritime Company still uses the slogan “Always Ready.”

Thea has never been forgotten, and the Tacoma waterway was renamed the Thea Foss Waterway for her in 1989. A legend in her own time, this remarkable Norwegian-American woman continues to live on as a role model for hardworking entrepreneurs — both women and men — today.

_{Cover Image: Thea Foss}