Atlantic Elm - veteran at work

 It is hard to believe that the tug Atlantic Elm has reached the venerable age of  41 years, yet still does a a day's work tugging and towing. 

The tug spent the summer barging cargo in Chesterfield Inlet, off Hudson's Bay. The cargo was bound for Rankin Inlet, and it was lightered off ships anchored in deep water. The tug returned to its home port of Saint John on October 22 with the barge Atlantic Marlin. It was not long until it was underway again, making a run across the Bay of Fundy, possibly with a small ferry in tow.

Its most recent assignment was a tow from Shelburne, NS to Halifax, NS. The vessel in tow was the museum ship Acadia, built as a hydrographic research ship in 1913. Irving Shipbilding Inc completed some much needed hull work on the old ship and it was time to return to its static berth at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

Atlantic Elm handed off the tow of Acadia to the harbour tug Atlantic Fir which brought the old ship alongside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic's pier on November 5.

Atlantic Elm was built in 1980 by Saint John Shipbuilding and Drydock to a Robert Allen Ltd design. The twin screw 3460 bhp, 44.5 tonne bollard pull tug was originally named Irving Elm but was renamed in 1996 as part of a fleet wide renaming program.

Irving Elm has travelled far and wide including some trips to the Great Lakes. It had a small "birdhouse" type elevated wheelhouse added, but I wonder how often it is used.

The split funnels provide some additional view aft over the enclosed winch house. The design of the tug closely follows that of the Jervis Crown / Seaspan Monarch built in 1977 for barge work on the Pacific coast, and also still in service.

Job completed, the tug returned to Saint John. Its fleet mate the even older Atlantic Beech, built in 1969, is also in Saint John having just returned November 3 from Chesterfield Inlet.

 

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