When the fishing fleet was composed entirely of sailed powered boats, it was the custom to hire tugs to take them in and out of the river.
In November, 1877, a North Shields tug-owner, William Purdy, fitted trawl gear to the paddle tug "Messenger". He came to be acknowledged locally as the first to introduce steam trawling on the Tyne. His fleet of steam trawlers, which lasted into the 1960s, included a boat named after himself.
Meanwhile, also in 1877, but in Scotland, David Allan was converting the "Pioneer" as the first steam drifter. Mr Allan, later a North Shields resident, also laid claim to having built the first purposely designed steam trawler.