OUR HISTORY

TowBoatU.S. Buffalo was founded by Captain Rick Spoth in 1992 as Lake Erie Towing & Salvage (LETS). With being an avid boater on Lake Erie for most of his life, he found a growing need to provide safe and prompt towing service to the local boaters in and around Evans, NY. Capt. Rick started out with one 28’ custom Delta rescue vessel and 2 other licensed captains. In 1996, Rick’s youngest son joined the LETS team.

In 1999, Lake Erie Towing & Salvage partnered with BoatU.S. Towing program as a listed tower, proudly displaying the white and red TowBoatU.S. logo on the hulls of his fleet. This same year, Capt. Rick recognized the need not only in and around his hometown but also as far up as Grand Island, he added 2 additional rescue vessels as well as expanded his service area into the NFTA Small Boat Harbor. This enabled us to respond quicker and provide extensive local coverage from Dunkirk, NY into the Upper Niagara River.  With this expansion, he recruited his wife, Delores, and daughters, Jeanne and Kimberly to help with the daily activties and dispatch from both the office and their home.

The Kim Ann, a 28’ Almar custom tow boat, was introduced in 2002 to the fleet, completing the fleet to 4 rescue vessels. With the addition of a new vessel and increased customer base, we quickly added 3 additional captains to our team.

TowBoatU.S. Buffalo, responds to over 250 calls annually. The dedication of Capt. Rick along with his family and extended family of captains continues to provide the boating community with honest, reliable, professional, and courteous service. We are a family run business and like to treat our customer as part of OUR family as well.
 

OUR CAPTAINS

Captain Richard G. Spoth, Owner

• USCG Licensed Since 1992
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon Great Lakes and Inland Waters and Western Rivers, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement, Masters of Towing Vessels of not more than 100 Tons

Captain Robert Macko

• USCG Licensed Since 1992
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon Great Lake and Inland Waters, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement

Captain Richard C. Spoth

• USCG Licensed Since 1992
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon Great Lakes and Inland Waters and Western Rivers, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement, Masters of Towing Vessels of not more than 100 Tons

Captain James Spoth

• USCG Licensed Since 1996
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon Great Lake and Inland Waters, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement

Captain Caleb Basiliko

• USCG Licensed Since 2004
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon Great Lakes and Inland Water, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement, Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels Upon Near Coastal Water, not more 100 miles offshore

Captain Harry Rezzemini

• USCG Licensed Since 2009
• Currently Holds 50 Ton Upon Near Coastal Waters, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement and Auxiliary Sail Endorsement

Captain Matthew A. Frost

• USCG Licensed Since 2010
• Currently Holds 50 Ton Upon the Great Lakes and Inland Waters, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement

Captain Allen Hemingway

• USCG Licensed Since 2010
• Currently Holds 100 Ton Upon the Great Lakes and Inland Waters, Commercial Assistance Towing Endorsement