After its involvement with the two soon-to-be-famous bridges, "Arthur Foss" returned to its normal towing duties up and down the coast. Captain Vince Miller was in command at this time. After a record barge tow of of lumber to Los Angeles in late 1940, on 8 February 1941 the tug departed Tacoma for Oakland, California, to pick up a barge carrying a huge gate for one of the U.S. Navy's dry docks at Pearl Harbor. "Arthur Foss" and tow departed for Hawaii on 15 February 1941 and arrived without mishap two weeks later. The crew thought they were on just another routine job and would soon be returning home.