Tug big: Barney Turecamo, Tug small: Atlantic Tamarack

After several weeks of no noteworthy tugs movements in Halifax, it was a big and small day today.

Small:

1. Atlantic Tamarack sailing early this afternoon.

Altantic Tamarack sailed light tug for Saint John, NB. After spending the winter in Halifax with little to do, the tug has apparently been called to work in Saint John dredging. There is still dredging at pier 6 in the Halifax Shipyard, but bigger sister tug Atlantic Hemlock is looking after the dredge and scows.
At 725 bhp, Tamarack must be considered on the small side these days, but it has plenty of power for wrangling dump scows and has made some long tows in its time. Built for work around Irving Oil's Canaport oil buoy off Saint John, it was not expected to do much in the way of towing when built in 1969 as Irving Tamarack. Since transferring to Atlantic Towing Ltd's subsidiary Harbour Development Ltd the tug has done its fair share.  

2. On a snowy December 28, 1981, Irving Tamarack was nestled in between Irving Teak (left) and Irving Beech (right) at the old Broad Street pier on Courtenay Bay in Saint John, NB.

Big:

3. Barney Turecamo and barge Georgia get away from Imperial Oil this evening.

 
Moran Towing Corporation's articulated tug/barge Barney Turecamo/Georgia  have been calling in Halifax off and on since 2006. The barge was built in 2005 and is a double hull unit with 118,000 bbl capacity. It is deeply notched to take the tug, which was built in 1995.
The tug's hull was built by Halter's Moss Point Yard and finished by their Escatawpa yard in Mississippi. Originally rated at 5600 bhp from two GM EMDs, recent publications show it at 5100bhp. It sailed for its home port of New York, with somewhat less than a full load. It was a calm evening so it is likely that the tug will remain in the notch at sea, although it can move very quickly to towing if needed.The tug has a towing winch and winch operator's house between the funnels.

4. Making a bit of a rooster tail as it passes the Ives Knoll buoy, Barney Turecamo is well fitted into the barge notch. A blue coloured emergency tow line is stretched along the side of the barge and can be retrived if the tug nust exit the notch. The high wheelhouse permits a view over the barge when it is in ballast.  

The tug was rebuilt in 2005 with a new elevated wheelhouse, replacing the traditional lower level wheelhouse and bird's nest type elevated wheelhouse. At the same time the tug was fitted with an Intercon Type C coupler system that mates it to the barge.

5. Barney Turecamo in pre-rebuild configuration at Moran's Staten Island yard, April 6, 2002.

Turecamo Bros was a long established Staten Island tug company that had expanded to Charleston, SC and Philadelphia when they were bought out by Moran in 1998. Existing Turecamo named tugs generally kept their names after the merger, but had long since lost their distinctive wood grain effect deck houses.The graining was in fact paint that was combed when wet to give a wood grain look, then covered with varnish. Also lost was the Turecamo Brothers funnel mark, which was at least as distinctive as Moran's mighty M. 

6. Poster hangin on a wall near Tug Central.

It should be a reasonable trip for both boats heading south with not too too much wind, and relatively calm seas.

7. Sailin' away.