he patriarch of the sea-going Anderson family, Captain Jack Conrad Anderson, was born in Bergen, Norway in 1901.When he was nine years old, he served before the mast on a voyage to Australia on his father’s square rigger. In 1924, after service in the United States Navy and the Merchant Marine, he came ashore in Seldovia, Alaska. He was known as Captain Jack and soon had a mail and passenger service operating from Cook Inlet to Kodiak and points on the Aleutian Chain. In 1934 he acquired the mail boat Princess Pat and operated up and down Cook Inlet carrying mail and passengers.

His son Jack Anderson, Jr. was also introduced to deep-water sailing at the age of nine, when he accompanied his father on a trip from Cook Inlet to Dutch Harbor. The younger Jack received his captain’s papers when he was 15, and was described by Robert Ripley’s Believe It or Not as the youngest captain with his own boat in the country. Young Jack was qualified for one thousand tons in any waters.

The Anderson operation was held in abeyance when World War II broke out. Young Jack was in the service in the Aleutians and Jack, Sr. was relaxing in Seattle. After the war, Anderson and Sons Transportation started operations as Cook Inlet Tug and Barge. They built Anderson Dock, a cargo terminal in Anchorage. When larger companies such as Sea-Land Freight Service and Totem Ocean Trailer Express began bringing in 750-foot container ships, they needed tugboat service.

Captain Jack, Sr. retired in 1970, sold four of his tugs to the Red Stack Line, and passed the balance of the fleet and equipment on to Captain Jack, Jr. They sold the Anderson Dock and Terminal to North Star Stevedoring and concentrated on the tugboat business.

Captain Jack, Jr. and Lois Erickson were married in 1944, and they had three children, John C. Anderson III, Annalee and Carl. In their youth, the third-generation Anderson boys were rapidly indoctrinated into the tugboat business, and they also became licensed tugboat captains. Their sister, Annalee, married James Hill and also remained in Alaska.

In October 1964, two tankers collided off the Anchorage Terminal and burst into flames. The Danish Sirrah was not badly damaged, but the Santa Maria was in flames seventy feet high and trailing flames in the water. Captain Jack (Jr.) and Lois were in the tug Westwind, which also caught fire. Lois took the controls while Jack put out the fire. They then went to the aid of the Santa Maria, which was drifting with the tide. Their son, John Anderson III, was in the Arctic Wind and rushed to the assistance of the Sirrah, getting some men off the ship. Captain Jack put the Westwind alongside the Santa Maria, turned the controls over to Lois, and assisted 37 men off the burning tanker. The heat was so intense that that the paint was blistering on the tug. The Carnegie Hero Fund awarded Jack and Lois the Carnegie Silver Medals, and John Anderson III was awarded the Bronze medal.

The third-generation Anderson boys each opened their own tugboat service business, John C. III in Seward and Carl “Andy” Anderson in Anchorage.

Dorothy, the daughter of Jack, Sr. and Helen Anderson, died in 1946. Helen passed away in 1950 and her husband, Captain Jack C. Anderson, Sr. died in 1992. Their son, Jack C. Anderson, Jr. died in 1994. His wife, Lois, died in 2004.