A 140-ton World War II Army tugboat named Tiger is finally resting less than 600 feet from the Lake Beresford shoreline where it was built in 1944, after volunteers towed the vessel to its new spot on Oct. 31. The homecoming caps a journey that took the tug across an ocean, through decades in private hands overseas, and into a muddy stretch of the St. Johns River before it finally returned to DeLand.
Tiger, officially designated ST-479, served in the European Theater during World War II and spent decades overseas, including time in private hands in Sweden, according to The West Volusia Beacon. The boat made it back to DeLand in 2024, and per WESH 2 News, it had been in the water for 82 years by the time it reached its current resting place. Dan Friend, president of the DeLand Historic Trust, helped bring Tiger back to the United States three years before the station's report.
A Muddy Detour Before the Final Stretch
The route home wasn't direct. Volunteers first ferried the tugboat to Astor in 2023, where it remained stuck in mud on the St. Johns River, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal. WESH 2 News similarly reported that Tiger had been stuck in mud on the river for years before finally reaching Lake Beresford on Oct. 31. Friend told the News-Journal that Tiger was one of 29 boats constructed in DeLand during World War II, a local manufacturing chapter he says has rarely been told, per WESH 2 News.
Getting the boat this far wasn't cheap. An anonymous DeLand resident donated $200,000 to the Trust so the vessel could be shipped the 4,900 miles from Sweden to the United States, the News-Journal reported. The Trust's own website notes that Tiger still has her original engine and superstructure in place as built, a detail the group has pointed to as evidence of how much of the historic vessel survives intact.
Next Challenge: Getting Tiger Out of the Water
Friend told WESH 2 News the next step is figuring out how to move Tiger out of the water entirely, and that the Trust will wait until they figure out the next solution before proceeding. The DeLand Historic Trust hopes to create a monument honoring Tiger and other World War II ST tugboats, according to the News-Journal, with a planned memorial that WESH 2 News reported could include a bronze plaque and a mural.
Friend hopes to raise $500,000 to buy land and build the memorial, per WESH 2 News. That figure sits alongside other estimates the Trust and local press have floated over the years. The News-Journal reported Friend estimated the monument project could be constructed for under $1 million, while an earlier Beacon report put the cost of saving Tiger, including a permanent site and display, at possibly at least $1 million. Friend said he hopes to pursue grants to purchase land and build the monument while still hoping for private donations, the News-Journal reported.
The funding gap is not new. Back in 2021, the Trust was trying to raise $300,000 to bring Tiger home from Sweden and turn it into a WWII memorial, according to an earlier Beacon report, and at the time Friend envisioned displaying the tug at Ed Stone Park along the St. Johns River. The Trust's website later said almost $300,000 had been raised for the project in the past, but that more funding was still needed.
Veterans Day Fundraiser Set at American Legion Post
To keep the momentum going, the Trust planned a “Bring Tiger Home” fundraiser for 4 to 8 p.m. on Veterans Day at American Legion Post 259, 470 Summerhaven Drive in DeBary, according to the Beacon. The event was intended to raise funds to establish a permanent home for ST-479 Tiger, the Beacon reported, and WESH 2 News described a lineup that would include food trucks, a veteran artisan market, a silent auction, Tiger history displays, exhibits and activities for families.
The Beacon's own account of the planned gathering described a veterans artisan market, food trucks, silent auction, drawings, historical exhibits, a veterans tribute and children's activities. For a boat that spent eight decades adrift between war service, private ownership and a muddy riverbank, a few hours at an American Legion post may be the closest thing Tiger has had to a proper welcome home.
