Richard Holyoke was a seagoing steam tug boat built in 1877 in Seattle, Washington and which was in service on Puget Sound and other areas of the northwest Pacific coast until 1935.

In early February 1896, Richard Holyoke was dispatched to Point Wilson, where the iron-hulled British sailing ship Kilbrannan had grounded.

[1] On July 30, 1897, in the company of the then very old side-wheeler Eliza Anderson, the Richard Holyoke began towing several vessels from Seattle to St. Michael, Alaska to participate in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.

After a number of misadventures, including the near-loss of the Merwin when the towing cable parted in a storm, the flotilla was eventually able to reach Nome, where the Politkovsky ended up abandoned on the beach.

[1] In the spring of 1898, Richard Holyoke was engaged, together with two other seagoing tugs, to tow to Alaska, to the mouth of the Yukon River, 12 identical sternwheel steamboats which had recently been completed by the Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle.

At about 3:30 pm on January 8, Clallam's master, believing the vessel to be in immediate danger of sinking, had attempted to launch three lifeboats mostly occupied by women and children.

In 1923 Skinner and Eddy sold Holyoke to the Bellingham Tug and Barge Company to be used to tow loads from Puget Sound to Alaska.

The plan was to install a diesel engine in the hull and relocate the upper works to make room for materials to be salvaged from wrecks in Alaska waters.