Tugfax

The off again / on again exploration for oil, starting in the 1960s, with only a brief interlude of actual oil production, will once again come to a halt. BP and Hess (50/50 partners) did not find any commercially viable quantities of oil or gas in the Aspy D-11 well that was spudded in April.

That well, drilled by the rig West Aquarius went to 7400 meters (in 2771 meters of water) experienced some difficulties, including the need to drill a sidetrack well, and had to extend the rig's coasting license from October 15 to December 31. Nevertheless the results were not positive and operations came to a halt earlier this month. The rig will now be going back to Newfoundland where it will drill for Exxon Mobil in the Flemish Pass starting next year.

Troms Sirius now idled at pier 9B in Hailfax.

Horizon Maritime dedicated three support vessels to the project, their own Horizon Star and the two chartered Tidewater boats Troms Sirius and Lundstrom Tide. The latter two will presumably be returned to Tidewater unless more work can be found for them. Both were brought under Canadian registration in the spring to work on the BP well.

Lundstom Tide will also be out of work.

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Offshore gas has also had an equally dismal history with both installations on their last legs and now working on decommissioning. Supply vessels work in and out of Halifax to support that activity.

Secunda / Siem has Siem Hanne, Venture Sea, Trinity Sea and Burin Sea working out of Halifax, but Burin Sea departed earlier this week for St.John's.

Trinity Sea making a sunset arrival in Halifax last week.

Atlantic Towing has Atlantic Condor working at Deep Panuke with Atlantic Tern on standby, but it has been tied up in Halifax for several days.

A "near miss" when some heavy equipment broke lose has resulted in shut down of work on one of the decommissioning operations on the rig Noble Regina Allen. The rig is contracted to plug 22 wells for Exxon Mobil.

Horizon Maritime's recently renamed Horizon Enabler arrived at pier 9A this afternoon, bearing the new name on the stern quarters, but still carrying its former name on the bows. As Tidewater Enabler the ship was first registered in Canada July 17, 2018 for a one year charter to Horizon, and assigned official number 841848. The ship was then engaged in the oil removal from the wreck of Manolis L in Newfoundland in August. The work was under the direction of Ardent Global LLC (the name for the merged Svitzer Salvage and Titan Salvage).

On November 21, 2018 the ship was re-registered in St.John's as Horizon Enabler, under 100% ownership of Horizon, and assigned official number 842166. No doubt due to inclement weather it was not possible to reach the bow to repaint the name, and block out the huge Tidewater banner on the flanks. The ship berthed today at IT Telecom where it will no doubt be loading gear for some emergency cable repair work - likely to the Magdalen Islands. The recent post-tropical cyclone (unnamed) severed the the near-shore landing of the island's fibre optic connection with the mainland.

Horizon Enabler is a multi-function OSV of 4769 grt, built in 2002. Its hull came from the STX RO Offshore yard in Braila, Romania, and was completed by STX Norway at Brevik. Although launched as Enabler, it was given the Tidewater name on delivery. Equipped with a 100 tonne crane, a helo platform, FiFi1, DP2 and a range of other tools, it is propelled by engines totaling 11,700 bhp through ASD drives.

Horizon Maritime is much in the news lately on two counts. First is the recently announced deal with ten ships Nordic American Offshore (publicly traded as NYSE: NAO), which would combine the two fleets, but with Horizon in the drivers seat. Although it was reported that the deal was off, it is apparently on again and still in due diligence stage.

Horizon has also objected to the awarding of the Emergency Towing Vessel contract for British Columbia waters to Atlantic Towing Ltd. Horizon has stated that Atlantic's boats did not meet the specifications of the tender call, and that the bid was deficient in other areas, particularly in relation to First Nations participation. The matter is likely going to court and more details will be forthcoming.

Horizon currently still has Troms Sirius and Lundstrom Tide on charter from Tidewater. Both ships work out of Halifax along with Horizon Star cleaning up work on BPs now concluded drilling effort of NS

A tug that has been in and out of Halifax for many years is back again. Mister Joe is a jack of all trades for McNally Construction Ltd, towing their floating plant all over Atlantic Canada, including Newfoundland, and into the Great Lakes. With the award of the Halterm expansion dredging contract to McNally the tug is back again, first with a pair of dump scows and last night with a crane barge. The two scows do not not bear any visible names, but the crane barge is Derrick No.4 and on its deck is another of McNally's tug/workboats, J.F.Whalen.

The J.F. Whalen was built in 2013 by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspé and is a twin screw boat of 540 bhp. It is equipped with push knees and its wheelhouse is demountable for road transport. A sister tug, D.L. Stanyer was built at the same time and is based with McNally's Ontario fleet.

The Derrick No.4 dates from 1963 when it was built by Marine Industries Ltd in Sorel, QC for Dufresne Construction Inc as C-304. They renamed it M-28 in 1966. Ownership passed to Canadian Dredge and Dock in 1972 and they renamed it Derrick No.4 It began to show up in Atlantic Canada in the mid-1990s working for Beaver Marine, which was eventually folded in to McNally. Although the various cranes have changed over the years, the barge itself looks much the same with a moderate size deckhouse and two spuds.

Although the horizon was hard to see through snow squalls, the ship named Horizon was a little more visible as it made its way inbound for pier 9B.

Bulk carriers have been rare sights in Halifax in any event, but even more so now that there is no bunkering tanker in the port. Tugs were made up to turn the ship in the Narrows to tie up at pier 9B - a berth usually assigned for repairs. The ship had been under Port State Control detention in Port Alfred for four days, November 30 to December 4, so its visit here is likely to follow up on the numerous deficiencies found in that inspection.

The ship is in ballast, arriving from Port Alfred, La Baie, QC. It is a bit unusual as bulkers go because it was not built at one of the more likely shipyards in Korea. Instead it comes from the Indian state owned Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam. Built in 2007 as Good Providence it became Bulk Providence in 2013 and Horizon in 2014. It is currently managed by Goodearth Maritime, a company based in India and part of the Archean Group, primarily a resource company. The ship is equipped with four cranes and grab buckets for cargo handling and measures 19,891 grt, 30,193 dwt.

Ambassatours, the parent company of Murphy Sailing Tours Ltd, owners of Theodore Too, will be moving the iconic tug boat replica from The Big Harbour (a.k.a. Halifax) to Saint John, NB in June. The operators made the announcement last week.

Theodore Too spent the winter at Mill Cove in Bedford and appears to be in need of a little freshening before he moves to Saint John.

This is certainly not the first time Theodore Too has left the confines of Halifax. In fact the boat is probably more travelled than many of its full size counterparts. It has sailed all along the eastern seaboard as far south as Miami and into the Great Lakes as far as Chicago. The move to Saint John coincides with the cruise ship season and is likely brought about by the disruption along the Halifax waterfront due to construction of new piers for the Queen's Marque project.

Ambassatours is hoping to appeal to nostalgic millennials who grew up with the TV series Theodore Tugboat and now want to revisit their childhood or perhaps introduce the cute fellow to their own children.

When the boat was built by Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, NS in 2000 it only carried the name Theodore but this was soon changed to Theodore Too because someone had already grabbed the Theodore name for their own vessel - a real tug at that.

That Theodore was built by Canadian Vickers, Montreal, in 1932 as an oil-fired steam vessel of about 64 tons for Mont Louis Seignory Ltd, a subsidiary of the Hall Corporation.Named Vigilant it was used to tend pulpwood booms. It later passed into the hands of Marine Industries Ltd in Sorel and took the name Roseanne Simard. It was converted to a motor vessel in 1952 with 440 bhp engine. It passed through several other owners including Gaston Elie of Montreal, Coastlake Tankers Ltd of Montreal, and JW+J Anderson of Burnt Church, NB. In 1973 Techno-Maritime of Quebec City bought the tug and in 1976 renamed it Techno Manic. New owners Dufresne Construction Ltd renamed it simply Manic in 1989 and Les Constructions Ger-Con Ltée kept the name after they took it over. In about 1995 it passed into private ownership, and is believed to have sunk at its berth in St-Joseph-de-la-Rive, QC.

However it was salvaged and given a major upgrade including a new larger wheelhouse, and renamed Heritage 1932.

However it soon became Theodore, pre-empting the name for the full size replica. Now based in Montreal it still does sea time seasonally. Although it bears little resemblance to the TV character, it does wear the same colours as the "real"Theodore.

The cruise season usually ends about the end of October. Let's hope Theodore Too is back home by then, when it will be time to start a Movember moustache.

A small tug that has spent its entire working career on Lake Huron has been sold west and will be taking up duties in Aberta. Ian Mac was built in 1955 by Mathieson Boat Works in Goderich, ON and has worked in that port ever since, initially for D.B.Macadam Ltd then for MacDonald Marine Ltd. (Capt. Ian MacAdam). The two families, related by marriage, have been involved in shipping since the days of sail, and trace their ancestry to early Scottish settlers in the Huron Tract (some of whom were related to me too.)

Superbly maintained, and always in fresh water, Ian Mac has assisted its fleet mates in berthing ships at the salt pier and grain elevators. However in recent years Groupe Océan moved into the port, taking away core business, first with the converted pilot boat Côte-Nord and since last year with the small Voith-Schneider tug Escorte.

Ian Mac acquired a new wheelhouse (upper photo) in 2001, which has been removed so that the tug can be trucked to Alberta. It was also the "newest" tug in the four tug fleet, with sister tugs Debbie Lynn (1950), Donald Bert (1953) and Dover (1931). Don't let the tugs' ages deceive - fresh water is very forgiving, and these tugs have been kept up to near-yacht standards.

There has been a growing demand for small tugs in Alberta to work in dredging and settling pond maintenance, including icebreaking. Groupe Océan has built two tugs for work in Alberta as have several other companies.

Atlantic Towing is committed to having four tugs on station in Halifax at all times. This week when Atlantic Bear was needed in Saint John, Atlantic Hemlock traded places and is now working in Halifax.

Atlantic Hemlock in the Narrows after undocking the Radcliffe R. Latimer at National Gypsum.

Atlantic Hemlock was the third tug built at the East Isle Shipyard in Georgetown, PE under the Irving Shipbuilding tug program that started in 1995 and ended in 2011 after building 36 tugs to a similar design. When it was delivered in 1996, Irving Hemlock was the first tug intended for long term ownership by Atlantic Towing. The first two tugs in the program, Atlantic Spruce (i) and Atlantic Fir (i) were exported. Atlantic Hemlock is a 4,000 bhp vessel with two Aquamaster ASD drives.

In order to show off the yard's ability, the tug, which was state of the art at the time, travelled across the Atlantic to various ports in England and Europe in 2000, including St.Malo, France. It was present at the International Tug and Salvage Conference.

Over the years the design was tweaked based on operational experience, and such features as fire fighting, towing winches and ice reinforcement were added or deleted as the owners required. Horsepower also increased from 4,000 bhp to 5,000 bhp.

In 2008 East Isle built three tugs for working gas tankers in Saint John. Atlantic Bear, Atlantic Beaver and Spitfire III have heavier winches and more fendering for working in the open roadstead and more power for handling the larger ships. One of those 5432 bhp tugs is usually based in Halifax, but will return to Saint John for gas tanker work.

A comparison view of Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Bear.

Also in port this week is the veteran Atlantic Elm, built in 1980 as Irving Elm. It is a 3460 bhp twin screw tug now used for towing work. It spent the summer in the north working supply barges in Rankin Inlet with fleet mate Atlantic Beech. It had been in refit at Atlantic Towing's repair yard in Saint John since returning from Hudson's Bay last month.

Little changed since it was renamed Atlantic Elm in 1996, the tug is standing by in Halifax.

The offshore support vessel Horizon Star moved this afternoon from pier 9c to pier 9 to refuel. The vessel has been working to support BP's oil exploration program off Nova Scotia.

That program has now been completed, and the rig West Aquarius has returned to Bay Bulls, NL with the supplier Troms Sirius in company. The third support vessel Lundstrom Tide has moved to the Cove and is in layup until its next assignment.

Horizon Star may still be engaged in cleanup operations related to capping the dry well. Horizon Maritime owns the Horizon Star and operates the two Tidewater boats under charter.

Horizon Maritime's latest acquisition Horizon Enabler is back in port after completing cable work off Cape Breton. The ship made a quick stopover in Sydney, NS on Christmas Day and arrived in Halifax less than 24 hours later.

Now renamed on bow and stern, and the Tidewater banner painted over, the ship will have the cable slide and portable work shop removed, and some decking re-instated. The section was removed for the cable work.

When the ship arrived to fit out for the cable job on December 4, it was still carrying its Tidewater markings on the bow. They were likely covered up before it sailed December 11.

Offshore work is grinding to a halt off Nova Scotia and it may be some time before the ship is back in Halifax. By then it may have been totally repainted in Horizon's attractive colour scheme worn by fleet mate Horizon Star.

Although it only shows as a pin point, just to the right of centre on the horizon - there is a ship out there. [0730 hrs AST]

To my surprise there were bright lights on the horizon at sunrise this morning - I wasn't expecting any ship arrivals, so it took time to realize that it was Qikiqtaaluk W. anchored (again) outside the port. After repairs were completed yesterday at pier 31 the ship sailed, still giving Savannah as its destination, but instead appears to have made a short sea trial and anchored outside the pilotage zone. However early this evening the ship did get underway and last seen (on AIS) was headed south, still for Savannah.

After yesterday's speculation about sister ship Kitikmeot W. I see a pilotage order for 2200hrs this evening for the ship to move from Imperial Oil to pier 27. This may be for change of flag and crew change.

There was some ship activity in Halifax today, but mostly after dark and of familiar ships. After showing several sunrise photos, it is time for a sunset shot- this time taken from the excellent vantage point that was the once the Dartmouth Marine Slip Long Wharf, now turned over to residential development.

Looking straight across the harbour at HMC Dockyard, HMCS Sackville is dead centre. A lone sailboat remains at anchor in the new yacht basin created off the old shipyard.

To the left HMCS Halifax (stern to us) and all of the Halifax based Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels are tied up for the holidays.

The spire to the right is St.Patrick's church and just to the left of that is the bulk of the Halifax Armories, now under restoration.

[1630 hrs AST]

Atlantic Larch picked up some frozen spray on its way down the coast last night.

This morning Atlantic Towing Ltd's Atlantic Larch arrived towing the barge Atlantic Sea Lion. The tug is considered to be an "outside" tug, in that it is not assigned to a particular port, but roams the region as needed for towing and other assignments. Its last posting was in Belledune, NB and has now been replaced there by Atlantic Elm joining Atlantic Beech and Atlantic Aspen.

Atlantic Elm and Atlantic Beech worked in Hudson's Bay all summer, lightering supplies in to Baker Lake at the head of Chesterfiled Inlet for Trasnport Desgagnés. Returning in November, Atlantic Beech went directly to Belledune towing its barge Atlantic Sea Lion, whereas Atlantic Elm returned to Saint John for maintenance towing its barge Atlantic Marlin. At the same time Atlantic Teak returned to Saint John from Belledune. It is presently tied up at ATL's Indiantown shops.

Atlantic Larch dates from 2000 and is a 4000 bhp ASD tug rated at 51 tonnes bollard pull. It is equipped with a towing winch and is easily identifiable because of the two satellite domes it carries.

The barge started life in 1966 as the tank barge Irving Whale. Infamously it sank in tow September 7, 1970 and sat on the bottom of the Gulf of St.Lawrence until August 1996. Raised and refitted as a deck barge it was renamed ATL 2701 in 2001, then Atlantic Sea Lion in 2009. It often winters over in Halifax and has been used to transport components from Irving Shipbuilding's Woodside fabrication facility to the Halifax Shipyard.

The regular Halifax contingent of harbour tugsAtlantic Oak, Atlantic Fir, Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Bear were joined last week by Spitfire III subbing for Atlantic Bear which seems to be out of service.

On the move from Shelburne, NS for seal trials ~~to Saint John,~~ NB is the tug Wavemaster. Owned by Harbour Development Ltd, the dredging subsidiary of Atlantic Towing Ltd, it has re-used a name from the past.

Built for the Royal Netherlands Navy as Regge, the tug was acquired early last year and sailed to Shelburne in March. Since then it has been extensively rebuilt, and in June 2018 was renamed Wavemaster.

See Tugfax 2018/03/21 for more on the Regge.

Irving Willow working in Yarmouth harbour has an extended wheelhouse and modified deck house.

This is the second HDL tug to be namedWavemaster. The first was built in 1958 by J.I. Thornycroft in Southampton, UK for the local Red Funnel Tug fleet. It was powered by two 6 cyl Crossleys giving 1340 bhp with twin screws. Named Dunnose it was one of four similar tugs acquired by Atlantic Towing over the years. In 1980 it was renamed Irving Willow and seems to have been attached to the dredging fleet from early days. Because some of its accommodation was below deck, and no longer permissible for Canadian tugs, the deck house and wheelhouse were modified. Sister tug Atlantic Juniper ex Irving Juniper ex Thorness was not modified and remained a day boat as a result. (It was to be broken up in the last year.)

Sister tug Atlantic Juniper remained a day boat in Saint John, NB.

When the J.D.Irving parent company removed the "Irving" name from its tugs in 1996, Irving Willow was renamed Wavemaster. It was laid up in Dartmouth in 1998, and although drydocked in 2004, it was never in service again and was finally broken up in Dartmouth in 2005.

The same tug, as Wavemaster worked with dredges and scows.

Harbour Development has been making do with only one large tug (and small tugs and workboats) since 1998, so it seems likely that the new Wavemaster will be replacing the veteran Swellmaster. Also a Thornycroft- built former Red Funnel tug, it was built in 1965 as the firefighting tug Atherfield. It came to Canada for Atlantic Towing Ltd in 1971 and was renamed Irving Hemlock. It has been attached to the dredging fleet from the beginning, and was renamed Swellmaster in 1996.

Irving Hemlock still carried fire monitors which were used for washing down scows.

A twin screw tug, originally with two Crossley engines totalling 1340bhp it was re-engined with a pair of 12 cylinder Caterpillars in 1987 giving 2,000 bhp. The new Wavemaster seems to be a suitable replacement.

Swellmaster was also equipped with a winch for towing dredges from port to port.

At Shelburne Ship Repair in Shelburne, NS - also part of J.D.Irving and Irving Shipbuilding Inc, I hear that the yard's tug/workboat SSR 3 has been broken up some time ago.

Built in 1964 for Ferguson Industries in Pictou for the Department of Public Works dredging fleet, its original name was Grand Entrée. A 380 bhp single screw boat it was stationed in the Magdalen Islands, but later transferred to Gaspé. In 1996 it was renamed T.5 when DPW put their entire dredging fleet up for sale. Harbour Development Ltd bought the boat and used it for a time. It was then laid up in Dartmouth and when Dartmouth Marine Slips was shut down it was transferred to Shelburne.

It was then renamed SSR 3 but the registered name remained T.5. The shipyard used the tug for working around the slip and as a diving tender, but it was laid up about 2005, and broken up sometime in 2017.

The number of tugs built in the 1950s and 60s is rapidly diminishing, Although about 25 are still listed in the Atlantic Region, several of those are laid up and unlikely to return to service. There are also a few still listed which have in fact been broken up already.

The Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) Troms Sirius sailed this evening January 11 for Bergen, Norway. It is one of two ships brought under Canadian registry by Horizon Maritime to service a BP drilling contract off Nova Scotia. A member of the Troms Offshore fleet (a Tidewater company) it was built in 2012 by STX in the OSV Tulcea shipyard in Romania and completed at STX Soviknes in Norway.

Troms Sirius returning to Halifax for the last time, Christmas Eve.

A 4,201 gt vessel with a deadweight tonnage of 4868, it was built to the VARD PSV 09L CD class, and is fitted with numerous tanks for carrying fluids and a large cargo deck. It is also equipped with firefighting gear and DP 2, and numerous other features. Powered by four Caterpillar diesels, driving four electrical generators, it delivers 11,200 bhp to twin screws. It is also equipped with an azimuthing bow thruster and two tunnel thrusters.

It was registered in Halifax March 9, 2018 after a brief period operating under a coasting license. Followed shortly after by the similar ship Lundstrom Tide and Horizon's own Horizon Star it supported the ultra deep water semi-submersible drill rig West Aquarius. The rig was mobilized in Newfoundland and in April began to drill an exploration well, Aspy D-11, 330 km southeast of Halifax. By November the well had found no commercially viable oil or gas and demobilization began. Troms Sirius escorted the rig back to Bay Bulls, NL then returned to Halifax.

Troms Sirius returning to Halifax Christmas Eve.

There are no exploration or development projects planned off Nova Scotia. The only work in the area is the decommissioning of the two gas fields that have both ceased production.

Troms Sirius refueled at Irving Oil on Tuesday January 8, then tied up at the Cove with Lundstrom Tide and Horizon Enabler (ex Tidewater Enabler). Both those vessels are also idle.

The size of container ships calling in Halifax is creeping upward. Having passed the 10,000 TEU threshold last year, the new benchmark has been set by today's arrival, CMA CGM Libra.
Listed at 131,332 gt, and 131,292 dwt [CCS] the ship is a hefty 363.61m overall length x 45.6m width and draft 13m. Container capacity, depending on the source, is in the 11,200 to 11,388 TEU range, including 800 reefers.
Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan built the ship in 2009. They also built its main engine under license from MAN B+W. It can propel the ship at 25 knots. CMA CGM has 13 sister ships in its fleet, so we might expect to see more of this size, although none are currently scheduled.

Atlantic Oak squares up to push on the ship's bow to make its turn. The tethered escort tug Spitfire III is out of view off the stern.

It is rare to find details about a ship's cost and value, however CMA CGM Libra was aground off Xiamen, China for eight days in May 2011, and an adjustor's report revealed an assessed value of US $120 mn for the ship. At the time is was only partially loaded, with 5,983 containers, but the cargo they contained was valued at $367mn and the containers themselves at $14mn. There was also in excess of $1.5mn in bunker fuel aboard. Even though there was minimal damage to the ship, some containers and some fuel had to be lightered off, and it took nine tugs to refloat. The salvage award was $9.5mn under a Lloyd' Open Form (No Cure No Pay) + SCOPIC. The owners declared general average and there was an 8% charge on contributing value for the cargo carried.

The days of larger ships are upon us, as CMA CGM Thalassa is due on February 2, and it is rated at 10,980 TEU.

As usual Ship Central is taking a summer break and the blogs Shipfax and Tugfaxmay see only periodic posts until September. The break started a little earlier this year and without notice, so this announcement is slightly retro-active.

The first sign of things happening in Halifax for the salvage of the container ship Yantian Express is the arrival of the tug Atlantic Enterprise. Owned by Donjon Marine Co Inc of Hillside, NJ, it is part of the effort mobilized by Donjon-SMIT the North American joint venture of two of the world's largest salvage companies.

SMIT, is the well known Dutch towing and salvage company founded in Rotterdam in 1842. Then know by the founder's family name of Smit, it evolved over the years as Smit Internationale NV, but since 2010 has been part of the Royal Boskalis Westminster and has been known as SMIT (all caps).
The tug SMIT Nicobar was first on scene after the Yantian Express caught fire January 4. It has continued to provide firefighting assistance but also evacuated the ship's crew and continues to care for then on board. It landed five of the crew back on the ship to attend to its machinery.

The Canadian tug Maersk Mobiliser was hired to assist in the salvage operation. After sailing from St.John's January 5, it arrived on scene January 7 and by the next day had the ship in tow for Halifax.

Donjon Marine was founded by the Witte family and incorporated in 1966. It has wide interests in marine construction, shipbuilding, ship repair and recycling. It is also continues to be the designated provider of salvage services for the United States Navy in the western hemisphere.

The Donjon-SMIT joint venture was formed to provide marine salvage, lighterage and firefighting services in compliance with regulations emanating from OPA-90 (the US Oil Pollution Act). That act was the reaction to the grounding and oil spill form the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989. One of the outcomes of that act was to require shipowners to have a designated response plan for pollution and firefighting emergencies.

The tug Atlantic Enterprise is Donjon's largest tug, and has participated in many of Donjon's recent projects. It was built in 1976 by Halter Marine Services in Moss Point, MS as Mister Pete for Jackson Marine Corp of Houston. That company evolved through mergers with Zapata, Gulf Fleet, Seahorse and Tidewater until 1999 when they sold the tug to Portland Tug Boat and Shipdocking Co of Portland, ME. Owned by the legendary Arthur Fournier, Portland renamed the tug Pete. McAllister Towing and Transportation took over the company in 2001 and kept the tug in service until 2007.
K-Sea Transportation then bought the tug and renamed it Barents Sea. K-Sea was taken over by Kirby Corp in 2011 and they continued to own the tug until 2016 when it was purchased by Donjon and renamed Atlantic Enterprise.

As with most big US tugs of the era it is powered by a pair of Alco diesels, delivering a reported 6,480 bhp. Some sources claim they are V-18s - a very rare 251 model - but Lloyd's Register shows them as V-16s.

The tug that has probably been featured in this blog more than any other is the Mister Joe. It has appeared in at least dozen posts, but continues to be of interest because of the variety of work it does.

Owned by McNally Construction Inc, the tug attends to the various dredging and marine construction projects around Atlantic Canada. Halifax has had its fair share of those projects over the years, and Mister Joe has been present for most of them.

Its latest assignment is to tend to the dredging at the Southend Container Terminal (Halterm) where the dredge Derrick No.3 is busy filling a pair of dump scows.

When a scow is fully loaded Mister Joe tows it (on the hip) the length of Halifax harbour to a disposal site in Bedford Basin. The scow S.11 is the former D.P.W.No.77, built in 1977 by McNamara in Whitby, ON.

The dump site, off Africville, is a cove formed by fill from various excavation sites around Halifax. The dredge spoil will eventually be covered with that excavated material, which is largely shale.

A recent subscription only news service referred to Mister Joe as "ancient". By that term I am sure they just meant "old" [OED: ancient: having existed, lived, long].

As one who has now entered the hallowed halls of seniordom, I attach a different slant to words related to age, and bristle at the implication that "ancient" somehow connotes decrepit, which certainly is not the case with Mister Joe. [ nor me, I hope. However I also take exception to its antonym, "spry"!]

There is no denying that Mister Joe was built by the esteemed tug builders Russel Brothers, in Owen Sound, ON in 1964. It was delivered to its owners, Rupertsland Trading Co (Hudson's Bay Co) for service in Moosonee, ON as Churchill River. It worked all around Hudson's Bay for close to thirty years and was fitted with a sort of turtle back cowl over its foredeck to protect against seas and icing.
When the Hibernia offshore development began, a construction facility for the gravity base was established at Bull Arm, NL and the tug was acquired by Churchill River Tug Ltd of Manuel's, NL and without change of name worked around the construction site until 1997.

Ownership was transferred to Beaver Marine Ltd in 1997 and when McNally took control in 2001 the tug was renamed Mister Joe after the company founder.

Its original pair of 342bhp Cummins engines lasted until 2002. [Russel Bros had the eastern Canada license to sell and service Cummins engines, through their company Russel-Hipwell Engines Ltd].
A pair of new GM engines giving 750 bhp were installed at Brenton Gray's boatyard in Sambro [now CME.]
Then in 2014, the tug was taken to McNally's repair yard in Ontario and had its wheelhouse replaced with a new structure, built to the original drawings from 1964, but with improved windows and fittings. At the same time its accommodation was also refitted.

The tragic loss of a life in the sinking of the workboat Captain Jim on January 29 has thrown a shadow over the waterfront community in Halifax. The several companies that work on the water would have known the boat and its owners well.

The company, RMI Marine has operated the Captain Jim in a variety of roles around the harbour for many years. The boat was named for Jim Ritcy a co-founder of Dominion Diving and the father of RMI's owner, who was also skipper on the boat the night it sank. He and a cargo surveyor survived by escaping to a life raft. The deckhand however was not able to escape the sinking. After an intensive search and rescue operation, the boat was located in about 12m of water and the deckhand's body was recovered.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the incident and no decision has been made as to whether the boat will be raised.

Built in 1989 by Guimond's Boats Ltd in Baie Ste-Anne, NB, the Captain Jim's lines were typical of fishing boats on the Northumberland Strait.

The unbroken sheer line, flared bow and beaked stem are typical of Northumberland Strait boats.

The engine is amidships with a large open, self draining deck, with a towing bit.

The boat's bow flare and lines were revealed when it was hauled out for a refit.

The FRP hull was finished however as a crew / workboat and named Atantic Walnut by first owners, Atlantic Towing Ltd. They used the boat in Saint John as a workboat and for personnel transfers. RMI Marine acquired the boat for use as a diving tender, workboat and for any other tasks that were needed on the water.

Some of those were tug work, such as moving construction barges during the Big Lift project on the Angus L. Macdonald bridge.

At the time of its loss it was returning from a tanker at the outer anchorages after a cargo sampling assignment conducted by the surveyor.

Quebec tugs are particularly busy this winter as much of the St.Lawrence is choked with ice. To get an idea of what some of the tugs are doing, there is an excellent webcam, playing live 24 hours a day, right above the Port of Quebec tug and pilot dock. It looks out over the St.Lawrence as far as the Lévis shore and refinery.

In winter, the harbour tugs also serve as pilot boats, and the pilot station is out in the stream directly off the dock. Ships exchange pilots from the lower river (they boarded at Escoumins) for pilots that will berth ships in the Port of Quebec or take the ships up river as far as Trois-Rivières.

The webcam which broadcasts on YouTube at https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/canada/quebec/city-port.html has extremely high resolution and is amazingly clear at night. The famous Quebec City skyline forms the backdrop and is lit up spectacularly. The ferries are crossing regularly and icebreakers make their way back and forth in addition to the commercial traffic of container ships, bulkers and tankers. Then there is the ice as it moves up or downstream with the tide, leaving open patches, then closing up again.

The Quebec City tugs are fitted with boarding gangways atop the deck house. This keeps pilots well clear of ice.

This winter there were five tugs working in Quebec City. Océan K. Rusby is usually the dedicated pilot tug, but all are equipped for this service if needed. However the biggest tug, Océan Tundra has been sent to Matane to keep the ice from clogging the harbour there to allow the train and passenger ferries to run.

Three of the remaining tugs are ASD stern drives, but one, Océan Charlie is twin screw and usually in reserve. However it has been called out several times in recent days, both for pilot and ship docking duties.

Océan Charlie was built in 1973 and is a 3900 bhp twin screw.

Its boarding gangway is painted with yellow railings.

(The YouTube camera may be mounted on the pole above the white shed in background.)

Toggling back and forth between the YouTube video and an AIS display, you can keep track of which tugs and which ships are in view. And if you missed something, you can "rewind" the video by four hours to catch up.

Groupe Océan tugs are busy in other places too and ice has been a big issue this winter, frequently stalling traffic trying to reach Sorel and Montreal.

The tug Océan Bravo has been called away from its usual spot in Trois-Rivières and Duga from Sorel is filling in. It was dispatched to La Baie on the Saguenay River (also ice-filled) to assist the tug Fjord Saguenay. That tug damaged a thruster while docking the bulker Nord Montreal on January 26. It is now going to the Industrie Océan shipyard in Ile-aux-Coudres for repairs under escort on the Saguenay, but once into the St.Lawrence, under tow of Océan Bravo. Since Fjord Saguenay may be out of service for some time, another tug may be brought in. The RioTinto Alcan pier in La Baie is a busy spot, with too much traffic for just one tug, the Fjord Eternité.

Built in 1970 as Takis V, renamed Donald P in 1973 then Océan Bravo in 1998, this is also a 3900 bhp twin screw tug, with what are now classic good looks. Shown here in its very attractive Quetugs livery. At the time Quebec City was noted for its white tugs, white ferries and white fire trucks!

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Quebec Tugs