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 boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they can or should not move under their own power, such as in crowded harbour or narrow canals, or cannot move at all, such as barges, disabled ships, log rafts, or oil platforms. Some are ocean-going, some are icebreakers or salvage tugs. Early models were powered by steam engines, long ago superseded by diesel engines. Many have deluge gun water jets, which help in firefighting, especially in harbours.
RV Farley Mowat was a long-range, ice class ship. Originally built as a Norwegian fisheries research and enforcement vessel, she was purchased by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 1996. Originally named Sea Shepherd III, the name was changed in 1999 to Ocean Warrior, before eventually being renamed in 2002 after Canadian writer Farley Mowat.
HMCS Sudbury was a Flower-class corvette that served the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort. She was named for Sudbury, Ontario.
The Grey Seas Under is a non-fiction book by Canadian author Farley Mowat about the Atlantic Salvage Tug Foundation Franklin, operated by the firm Foundation Maritime in Canada's Maritime provinces from 1930 to 1948.
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.
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 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a co-production between the CBC, and the now defunct Cochran Entertainment, and was filmed on a model set using radio controlled tugboats, ships, and machinery. Production of the show ended in 2001, and its distribution rights were later sold to Classic Media. The show premiered in Canada on CBC Television, then went to PBS, was on Qubo in the United States, and has appeared in eighty different countries.
The Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk is a public footpath located on the Halifax Harbour waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Theodore Too is a large-scale imitation tugboat built in Dayspring, Nova Scotia in 2000 based on the fictional television tugboat character Theodore Tugboat. Theodore Too was located in Bedford, Nova Scotia but arrived in Hamilton, Ontario, his new home, on July 18, 2021.
The third USS Ontario (AT–13), a single screw seagoing tug, was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey on 23 November 1911, launched on 11 April 1912, and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 4 September 1912.
Kitano was a Japanese container ship. She was delivered in Japan in 1990 to Japanese container line NYK and scrapped in China in November 2011.
CCGS Sambro is a Canadian Coast Guard motor lifeboat homeported in Sambro, Nova Scotia.
Ryan Leet is an ocean-going salvage/supply tugboat. The tugboat is owned and operated by Offshore Marine Supply Services Inc. Justin Beaune its registered director and owner. The vessel is based in Panama, and operating in the Caribbean. As of 2022 she is used for towing of ships and barges, supply, ship-to-ship fuel transfers and fire and rescue.
An emergency tow vessel, also called emergency towing vessel, (ETV) is a multi purpose boat used by state authorities to tow disabled vessels on high seas in order to prevent dangers to man and environment. The disabled vessel is either towed to a safe haven or kept in place against wind and current until commercial assistance by tug boats has arrived on site or until it has been repaired to the extent of being able to manoeuvre on its own. The need for ETVs as a preventive measure has arisen since the number of available commercial salvage tugs was reduced while potential dangers from individual vessels have increased. E.g. Spain has fourteen, Turkey has eleven, Germany operates eight, Norway has seven, France has five, Sweden three and the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Iceland and Finland each have one official emergency tug boat. Australia also operates emergency response vessels. The United Kingdom's four strong ETV fleet was to be disbanded in September 2011 due to budget cuts but the two vessels operating in Scottish waters received an extension of contract until the end of 2011.
CCGS Earl Grey is a Samuel Risley-class light icebreaker and buoy tender in the Canadian Coast Guard. Constructed in 1986, the vessel serves a variety of roles, including light ice-breaking and buoy tending, as well as being strengthened for navigation in ice to perform tasking along the shores off the Atlantic coast of Canada. Like her sister ship, CCGS Samuel Risley, she carries a large and powerful crane on her long low afterdeck for manipulating buoys. Earl Grey is the second icebreaker in Canadian service to carry the name.
Acushnet – a steel-hulled revenue cutter – was launched on 16 May 1908 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; sponsored by Miss Alayce Duff; and commissioned at Baltimore on 6 November 1908. She saw service as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter, a U.S. Navy fleet tug, and as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. She was taken out of service 8 January 1946.
Admiralty tugs were tugboats built for and operated by the Royal Navy. These were vessels built to Admiralty specifications and in specific classes during the First and Second World Wars. They were built to meet the Royal Navy's demand for auxiliary vessels and to supplement the civilian tugs requisitioned by the Admiralty for war service.
MV Canadian Miner was a Canadian laker that was part of the fleet of Upper Lakes Shipping from 1994–2011. Initially constructed as Maplecliffe Hall in 1966, the ship was renamed Lemoyne in 1988 before becoming Canadian Miner in 1994. In 2011, the name was shortened to just Miner. In 2011 the vessel was taken out of service and sold for scrapping. While en route to the scrapyard in Turkey, the ship ran aground off Nova Scotia in 2011. The vessel was broken up in 2014 in Nova Scotia.
Point Chebucto is a harbour tug that was built at the Halifax Shipyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1992. She is one of very few harbour tugs that were built at the Halifax Shipyards. She has been aiding ships in and out of Halifax Harbour and later Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia since she was registered in January 1993. The tug was built for Eastern Canada Towing Limited, a company that has been around for over 60 years. The tug is named after the point at Chebucto Head, continuing the tradition of Eastern Canada Towing of naming its tugs after points. Eastern Canada Towing took over Foundation Maritime's work in the field of Harbour, Coastal and Deep-Sea tow and salvage. The firm owns and operate a fleet of modern tugs ranging from 1250 HP - 5400 HP. Most tugs are ice strengthened, with several having Ice Class 1 certification. Their head office is also in Halifax. Eastern Canada Towing was purchased in 2007 by Svitzer, a tug boat division of Maersk.
MV Höegh Osaka is a roll-on/roll-off car carrier ship that was built in 2000 as Maersk Wind for A P Møller, Singapore. She was sold to Höegh Autoliners in 2008 and later renamed Höegh Osaka in August 2011. On 3 January 2015 she developed a severe list and was intentionally grounded in the Solent. Her 24 crew and a pilot were subsequently rescued.
HMCS Lachine was a Bangor-class minesweeper of the Royal Canadian Navy that served during the Second World War. Following the war a proposed transfer to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as Starnes was cancelled, and the ship was instead sold for conversion to a salvage tug in 1945. The ship was broken up in the United Kingdom in 1955.
United Kingdom
