![MarcusHookTugs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/MarcusHookTugs.gif)
A tugboat or tug is a
marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inl ...
s typically tug
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
s in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such as in crowded
harbour or narrow
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
s, or cannot move at all, such as
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
s, disabled ships,
log rafts, or
oil platforms. Some are ocean-going, some are
icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
s or
salvage tug
A salvage tug, known also historically as a wrecking tug, is a specialized type of tugboat that is used to rescue ships that are in distress or in danger of sinking, or to salvage ships that have already sunk or run aground.
Overview
Few tugbo ...
s. Early models were powered by
steam engines, long ago superseded by
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s. Many have
deluge gun
A deluge gun, fire monitor, master stream or deck gun is an aimable controllable high-capacity water jet used for manual firefighting or automatic fire protection systems. Deluge guns are often designed to accommodate foam which has been injecte ...
water jets, which help in
firefighting, especially in harbours.
Types
Seagoing
Seagoing tugs (deep-sea tugs or ocean tugboats) fall into four basic categories:
#The standard seagoing tug with model bow that tows almost exclusively by way of a wire cable. In some rare cases, such as some USN fleet tugs, a synthetic rope
hawser may be used for the tow in the belief that the line can be pulled aboard a disabled ship by the crew owing to its lightness compared to wire cable.
#The "notch tug" can be secured by way of cables, or more commonly in recent times, synthetic lines that run from the stern of the tug to the stern of the barge. This configuration is generally used in inland waters where sea and swell are minimal because of the danger of parting the push wires. Often, this configuration is employed even without a "notch" on the barge, but in those cases it is preferable to have "push knees" on the tug to stabilize its position. Model bow tugs employing this method of pushing nearly always have a towing winch that can be used if sea conditions render pushing inadvisable. With this configuration, the barge being pushed might approach the size of a small ship, with the interaction of the water flow allowing a higher speed with a minimal increase in power required or fuel consumption.
#The "integral unit", or "integrated tug and barge" (ITB), comprises specially designed
vessels that lock together in such a rigid and strong method as to be certified as such by authorities (classification societies) such as the
American Bureau of Shipping
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
,
Lloyd's Register of Shipping
Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...
,
Indian Register of Shipping
Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) is an internationally recognised, independent ship classification society, founded in India in 1975. It is a public limited company incorporated under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act 1956 (Section 8 ...
,
Det Norske Veritas
DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...
or several others. These units stay combined under virtually any sea conditions and the tugs usually have poor
sea-keeping designs for navigation without their barges attached. Vessels in this category are legally considered to be ships rather than tugboats and barges must be staffed accordingly. These vessels must show navigation lights compliant with those required of ships rather than those required of tugboats and vessels undertow.
#"Articulated tug and barge" (ATB) units also utilize mechanical means to connect to their barges. The tug slips into a notch in the stern and is attached by a hinged connection, becoming an
articulated vehicle
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were somet ...
. ATBs generally utilize Intercon and
Bludworth
{{unreferenced, date=March 2011
The Bludworth articulated tug and barge (ATB) ocean tug barge connection system was developed by Richard and Robert Bludworth during the 1960s.
The first Bludworth articulated tug barge unit was the ocean Liquefi ...
connecting systems. ATBs are generally staffed as a large tugboat, with between seven and nine crew members. The typical American ATB displays navigational lights of a towing vessel pushing ahead, as described in the 1972
ColRegs
The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (COLREGs) are published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and set out, among other things, the "rules of the road" or navigation rules to be followed by ships an ...
.
Harbour
![Svitzer Tyr - Ystad-2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Svitzer_Tyr_-_Ystad-2018.jpg)
Compared with seagoing tugboats,
harbour tugboats that are employed exclusively as ship assist vessels are generally smaller and their width-to-length ratio is often higher, due to the need for the tugs' wheelhouse to avoid contact with the hull of a ship, which may have a pronounced rake at the bow and stern. In some ports there is a requirement for certain numbers and sizes of tugboats for port operations with
gas tanker
A gas carrier, gas tanker, LPG carrier, or LPG tanker is a ship designed to transport LPG, LNG, CNG, or liquefied chemical gases in bulk.
Types
Fully pressurized gas carrier
The seaborne transport of liquefied gases began in 1934 when a m ...
s.
Also, in many ports, tankers are required to have tug escorts when transiting in harbors to render assistance in the event of mechanical failure. The port generally mandates a minimum horsepower or bollard pull, determined by the size of the escorted vessel. Most ports will have a number of tugs that are used for other purposes than ship assist, such as dredging operations, bunkering ships, transferring liquid products between berths, and cargo ops. These tugs may also be used for ship assist as needed. Modern ship assist tugs are "tractor tugs" that employ azimuthing stern drives (ASD), propellers that can rotate 360 degrees without a rudder, or cycloidal drives (as described below).
River
![Tug boat pushing log raft near Vancouver](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Tug_boat_pushing_log_raft_near_Vancouver.jpg)
River tugs are also referred to as
towboat
A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...
s or pushboats. Their hull designs would make open ocean operations dangerous. River tugs usually do not have any significant hawser or winch. Their hulls feature a flat front or bow to line up with the rectangular stern of the barge, often with large pushing knees.
Propulsion
The first tugboat, ''
Charlotte Dundas'', was built by William Symington in 1801. It had a steam engine and paddle wheels and was used on rivers in Scotland.
Paddle tugs
A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered w ...
proliferated thereafter and were a common sight for a century.
In the 1870s schooner hulls were converted to screw tugs. Compound steam engines and scotch boilers provided 300 Indicated Horse Power. Steam tugs were put to use in every harbour of the world towing and ship berthing.
Tugboat diesel engines typically produce 500 to 2,500
kW (
~ 680 to 3,400
hp), but larger boats (used in deep waters) can have power ratings up to 20,000 kW (~ 27,200 hp). Tugboats usually have an extreme
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
:
tonnage
Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically r ...
-ratio; normal
cargo
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...
and passenger ships have a P:T-ratio (in kW:
GRT) of 0.35 to 1.20, whereas large tugs typically are 2.20 to 4.50 and small harbour-tugs 4.0 to 9.5.
The engines are often the same as those used in railroad
locomotives, but typically drive the
propeller mechanically instead of converting the engine output to power electric motors, as is common for diesel-electric locomotives. For safety, tugboat engines often feature two of each critical part for redundancy.
A tugboat is typically rated by its engine's power output and its overall
bollard pull
Bollard pull is a conventional measure of the pulling (or towing) power of a watercraft. It is defined as the force (in tonnes force, or kilonewtons (kN)) exerted by a vessel under full power, on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line, commonl ...
. The largest commercial harbour tugboats in the 2000s–2010s, used for towing container ships or similar, had around of bollard pull, which is described as above "normal" tugboats.
Tugboats are highly manoeuvrable, and various propulsion systems have been developed to increase manoeuvrability and increase safety. The earliest tugs were fitted with
paddle wheels
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about ...
, but these were soon replaced by propeller-driven tugs.
Kort nozzle
A ducted propeller, also known as a Kort nozzle, is a marine propeller fitted with a non-rotating nozzle. It is used to improve the efficiency of the propeller and is especially used on heavily loaded propellers or propellers with limited di ...
s (see below) have been added to increase thrust-to-power ratio. This was followed by the nozzle-rudder, which omitted the need for a conventional
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
. The
cycloidal propeller (see below) was developed prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and was occasionally used in tugs because of its maneuverability. After World War II it was also linked to safety due to the development of the Voith Water Tractor, a tugboat configuration that could not be pulled over by its tow. In the late 1950s, the
Z-drive
A Z-drive is a type of marine propulsion unit. Specifically, it is an azimuth thruster. The pod can rotate 360 degrees allowing for rapid changes in thrust direction and thus vessel direction. This eliminates the need for a conventional rudder.
...
or (
azimuth thruster
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system.
Ty ...
) was developed. Although sometimes referred to as the Aquamaster
or Schottel system, many brands exist:
Steerprop,
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technolo ...
,
Berg Propulsion, etc. These propulsion systems are used on tugboats designed for tasks such as ship docking and marine construction. Conventional propeller/rudder configurations are more efficient for port-to-port towing.
Kort nozzle
The Kort nozzle is a sturdy cylindrical structure around a special propeller having minimum clearance between the propeller blades and the inner wall of the Kort nozzle. The thrust-to-power ratio is enhanced because the water approaches the propeller in a linear configuration and exits the nozzle the same way. The Kort nozzle is named after its inventor, but many brands exist.
Cyclorotor
The cycloidal propeller is a circular plate mounted on the underside of the hull, rotating around a vertical axis with a circular array of vertical blades (in the shape of
hydrofoils
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...
) that protrude out of the bottom of the ship. Each blade can rotate itself around a vertical axis. The internal mechanism changes the angle of attack of the blades in sync with the rotation of the plate, so that each blade can provide thrust in any direction, similar to the collective pitch control and cyclic in a helicopter.
Fenders
Tugboat fenders are made of high-abrasion-resistance rubber with good resilience properties. They are very popular with small port craft owners and tug owners. These fenders are generally made from cut pieces of vehicle tires strung together. Often the rendering on the sides of the tug is composed of large heavy equipment or aircraft tires attached to or hung on the side of the tug. Some rendering is compression moulded in high-pressure thermic-fluid-heated moulds and have excellent seawater resistance, but are not widely used owing to the cost. Tugboat bow fenders are also called beards or bow puds. In the past they were made of rope for padding to protect the bow, but rope rendering is almost never seen in recent times. Other types of tugboat fender include Tug cylindrical fender, W fender, M fender, D fender, and others.
Carousel
A recent
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
innovation is the
carousel tug, winner of the Maritime Innovation Award at the Dutch Maritime Innovation Awards Gala in 2006.
It adds a pair of interlocking rings to the body of the tug, the inner on the boat, the outer on the ship by winch or towing hook. Since the towing point rotates freely, the tug is very difficult to capsize.
Races
Vintage tugboat races have been held annually in
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
Europea ...
, since 1974 during the
Olympia Harbor Days Maritime Festival. Tugboat races are held annually on
Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, on the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
at the
New York Tugboat Race, the
Detroit River
The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...
, and the Great Tugboat Race and Parade on the
St. Mary's River.
Ballet
![South African naval tugs welcoming a new member](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/South_African_naval_tugs_welcoming_a_new_member.jpg)
Since 1980, an annual tugboat ballet has been held in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
harbour on the occasion of the festival commemorating the anniversary of the establishment of a port in Hamburg. On a weekend in May, eight tugboats perform choreographed movements for about an hour to the tunes of
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...
and other sorts of dance music.
Roundups
The Tugboat Roundup is a gathering of tugboats and other vessels in celebration of maritime industry. The Waterford Tugboat Roundup is held in the late summer at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers in Waterford, New York. The tugs featured are river tugs and other tugs re-purposed to serve on the New York State Canal System.
In popular culture
''
Tugboat Annie
''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...
'' was the subject of a series of ''
Saturday Evening Post'' magazine stories featuring the female captain of the tugboat ''Narcissus'' in
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
, later featured in the films ''
Tugboat Annie
''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...
'' (1933), ''
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
''Tugboat Annie Sails Again'' is a 1940 American comedy romance film directed by Lewis Seiler. The picture is a sequel to ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933). Marjorie Rambeau took over the late Marie Dressler's role, and the supporting cast features Alan H ...
'' (1940) and ''
Captain Tugboat Annie
''Captain Tugboat Annie'' is a 1945 second sequel to the classic ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933), this time starring Jane Darwell as Annie and Edgar Kennedy as Horatio Bullwinkle. The movie was directed by Phil Rosen, and is also known as ''Tugboat Ann ...
'' (1945). The Canadian television series ''
The Adventures of Tugboat Annie
''The Adventures of Tugboat Annie'' is a 1957 Canadian-filmed comedy television series starring Minerva Urecal as Annie Brennan, the widowed captain of the tugboat "Narcissus," and Walter Sande as Horatio J. Bullwinkle, the captain of the "Salaman ...
'' was filmed in
1957
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...
.
Film and television
![Theodore Tugboat at Murphys cable wharf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Theodore_Tugboat_at_Murphys_cable_wharf.jpg)
To date, there have been four children's shows revolving around
anthropomorphic tugboats.
* In the late 1980s, 13
episode
An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption.
The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...
s were made of
''TUGS'', a series depicting the life of tugboats in the 1920s.
* An American adaptation using edited footage from ''Tugs'' followed: ''
Salty's Lighthouse
''Salty's Lighthouse'' is an American animated television series for preschoolers. The series was produced by Sunbow Entertainment and aired from October 3, 1997, to June 26, 1998, on TLC. in association with the Bank Street College of Education ...
''.
* In the 1975's Soviet short animation musical film ''
В порту/ In the sea port'' a tugboat sang a song: "Through a harbour area"
* One of the creators of ''Tugs'' went on to direct ''
Theodore Tugboat
''Theodore Tugboat'' is a Canadian children's television series about a tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends. The show originated (and is set) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a co-production between th ...
''.
* Animated preschool series ''
Toot the Tiny Tugboat'' started broadcasting on
Channel 5 ''
Milkshake!
''Milkshake!'' (stylised as milkshake!) is a British children's television programming block on Channel 5 and is currently aimed at children aged 3–7.
History
The block debuted on Channel 5's first full day on air, at 7.30am on 31 March 1 ...
'' in 2014 and on
Cartoonito
Cartoonito is a brand name used by Warner Bros. Discovery for a collection of television networks and Block programming, programming blocks that target preschool-age children. The name combines the "cartoon" with the Spanish language, Spanish suf ...
in 2015, with a Welsh-language version airing on
S4C Cyw.
"Tugger" is a tugboat in the
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...
''
South Park''. He appears in the
episode
An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption.
The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...
"
The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer
"The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer" is the 5th episode of the sixth season of ''South Park'' and the 84th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on April 3, 2002. The episode parodies actor Russell Crowe's real-life altercation ...
" as a sidekick for
Russell Crowe in a fictitious
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
entitled ''Fightin' Round The World with Russell Crowe''. Tugger follows Crowe as he engages various people in physical conflicts, providing emotional support and comic relief. At one point Tugger even attempts to commit suicide, upon being forced to hear Russell Crowe's new musical composition.
Literature
(Alphabetical by author)
*The children's book ''
Scuffy the Tugboat'', written by
Gertrude Crampton and illustrated by
Tibor Gergely
Tibor Gergely ( August 3, 1900 – January 13, 1978) was a Hungarian-American artist best known for his illustration of popular children's picture books. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics ...
and first published in
1946 as part of the
Little Golden Books
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
series, follows the adventures of a young toy tugboat who seeks a life beyond the confines of a tub inside his owner's toy store.
*The
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
writer
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog (April 22, 1914 – September 22, 2002) was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.
Biography
Early years
Jan de Hartog was born to a Dut ...
wrote numerous nautical novels, first in
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, then in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
**The novel ''
Hollands Glorie'', written prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, was made into a Dutch miniseries in 1978 and concerned the dangers faced by the crews of Dutch salvage tugs.
[
][
]
**The novella ''
Stella'', concerning the dangers faced by the captains of rescue tugs in the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
during World War II, was made into a film entitled ''
The Key'' in 1958.
[
]
**The novel ''
The Captain'' (1967), about the captain of a rescue tug during a
Murmansk Convoy, sold over a million copies.
[
]
**Its 1986 sequel, ''
The Commodore'', features the narrator captaining a fleet of tugs in peace-time.
*''
Little Toot
''Little Toot'' is a 1939 children's picture book written and illustrated by Hardie Gramatky. It features Little Toot, a small young tugboat in New York Harbor who does not want to tug. Instead, he would rather play, making figure eights in the h ...
'' (1939), written and illustrated by
Hardie Gramatky
Bernhard August "Hardie" Gramatky, Jr. (April 12, 1907 – April 29, 1979) was an American painter, writer, animator, and illustrator. In a 2006 article in ''Watercolor Magazine'', Andrew Wyeth named him as one of America's 20 greatest watercolo ...
, is a children's story of an anthropomorphic tugboat child, who wants to help tow ships in a harbour near
Hoboken
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...
. He's rejected by the tugboat community and dejectedly drifts out to sea, where he accidentally discovers a shipwrecked liner and a chance to prove his worth. This story was animated as part of the Disney movie
Melody Time
''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action/animated musical film produced by Walt Disney. The tenth Disney animated feature film, it was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular mu ...
.
*
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...
's book ''
The Grey Seas Under'' tells the tale of a legendary North Atlantic salvage tug, the ''
Foundation Franklin
SS ''Foundation Franklin'' was a seagoing salvage tug built for the Royal Navy as HMS ''Frisky'' in 1918. In 1924, the tugboat was sold and renamed ''Gustavo Ipland'' before being acquired in 1930 by Foundation Maritime and renamed ''Foundation ...
''. He later wrote ''The Serpent's Coil'', which also deals with salvage tugs in the North Atlantic.
Gallery
File:Svitzer Freja tug.jpg, Swedish harbour tug ''Svitzer Freja'' in tug-operation (3,600 kW / )
File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001016475 Stoomsleepboot Mascotte II.jpg, Dutch river tugboat "Mascotte II"
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0330-002, Rostock, Überseehafen, Frachter, Schlepper.jpg, German harbour-tug and DDR quick-freighter ''Karl Marx'' at Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...
harbour
File:WOONA.JPG, The tugboat ''Woona'' in Sydney Harbour, Australia
File:Svitzer Tyr - - Ystad-2018.jpg, Danish ''Svitzer'' Tyr in Ystad
Ystad (; older da, Ysted) is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, a ...
harbour 2018
File:Baltsund - Ystad-2019.jpg, Danish ''Baltsund'' in Ystad
Ystad (; older da, Ysted) is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, a ...
harbour 2019
File:Tugs on the starbord of vlcc.jpg, Tugs towing an oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
(VLCC)
File:Tugboat Nancy Anne.jpg, Tugboat ''Nancy Anne'' assisting a tug and barge docking in Rogers City, Michigan
Rogers City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,827 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Presque Isle County. The city is adjacent to Rogers Township, but is politically independent.
Rogers City is located on L ...
File:Smit Rotterdam.jpg, Oceangoing tug ''Smit Rotterdam'' arriving at Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
(1987)
File:Watergeus 2008.jpg, Dutch tugboat ''Watergeus'' towing a barge in the locks at Kiel-Holtenau
File:Ship and Tugs Sydney 1942 slnsw.jpg, Ship surrounded by tug boats, Sydney, 1942]
File:Eppleton Hall.jpg, '' Eppleton Hall (1914), Eppleton Hall'', a paddlewheel tugboat, in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
See also
*
Admiralty tug
*
American Waterways Operators
The American Waterways Operators, is the national trade association for the U.S. tugboat, towboat and barge industry.
For more than 60 years AWO has promoted the contribution of the domestic waterways transportation industry to the U.S. economy. A ...
*
Azipod
Azipod is a trademark azimuth thruster pod design, a marine propulsion unit consisting of a fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola ("pod") containing the electric motor driving the propeller, allowing ships to be more maneuverabl ...
*
Charlotte Dundas
*
E3 Tug Project
*
Fish tug
A fish tug (sometimes called fishtug, fish tugboat, fishing tug, etc.) is a type of boat that was used for commercial fishing in the first half of the 20th century, primarily on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway
The St. Lawrence Seawa ...
*
HydroTug
The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups.
History
CMB was founded in 1895 under the name Compagnie Belge Marit ...
*
Maritime pilot
A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots are regarded as skilled profession ...
*
PS Comet
The PS (paddle steamer ) ''Comet'' was built in 1812 for Henry Bell, hotel and baths owner in Helensburgh, and began a passenger service on 15 August 1812 on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, the first commercially successful ...
*
Pusher (boat)
A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...
*
Switcher, rail analog
*Tugboats in New York City
*
Type V ship
The Type V ship is a United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) designation for World War II tugboats. Type V was used in World War II, Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Type V ships were used to move ships and barges. Type V tugboats were made o ...
Notes
References
*''Jane's Ocean Technology 1979–80'' / Jane's Yearbooks, 1979 – .
*''On Tugboats: Stories of Work and Life Aboard'' / Virginia Thorndike – Down East Books, 2004.
*''Under Tow: A Canadian History of Tugs and Towing'' / Donal Baird – Vanwell Publishing, 277 p., 2003 –
*''Pacific Tugboats: / Gordon Newell – Superior Publishing Company 1957, Seattle Washington.
*''Primer of Towing'' / George H. Reid – Cornell Maritime Press, 1992.
Further reading
* Nautical terminology specific to towboating on inland waterways.
* Farrell, Paul (2016)
Tugboats Illustrated History, Technology, Seamanship New York: W. W. Norton & Company. . A gorgeously detailed guide to the evolution, design, and role of tugboats, from the earliest days of steam to today’s most advanced ocean-going workboats.
External links
At the Port of FelixstoweBeacon Finland Ltd JAK®-ATB Coupling SystemCompagnie Maritime Chambon"Docking The World's Great Liners"''Popular Mechanics'', May 1930, article on docking large ships in the first half of the 20th century using tugboats
Intercon ATB CouplersTugboat Enthusiasts SocietyUniversity of Wisconsin–La Crosse Historic Steamboat PhotographsWaterford Tugboat Roundup
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