The venerable US flag tug Charlene Hunt arrived in Halifax yesterday for an unexpected visit. On its way to St.John's, NL, the tug put in to Halifax, probably to escape fierce winds and high seas, and maybe to seek a calm spot to effect some repairs.
There was no sign of life aboard at sunrise this morning, but I will keep an eye open today.
Built way back in 1962 by Equitable Equipment in Madisonville, LA, the tug has the traditional US "boot heel" design of pilothouse/captain's cabin. A single screw tug of 2200 bhp it was orgionally powered by an Alco main engine-and may still be -( Lloyd's Register isn't sure.)
It has had numerous names and owners over the years. It started life as Colonial later becoming HR 1. It then did a stint as Morania No.24 for the well known New York tank barge operators (now named Penn Maritime), moving on to the Staten Island operator Turecamo Bros as Betty Jean Turecamo. (Turecamo has since merged into Moran). In 1993 it became Anna V. McKay and in 1996 it became Bay State Towing's Molly.
When the Boston area Bay State morphed into Constellation Maritime in 2005 it was renamed Orion.
In 2006 it moved on to its present owners, Hunt Marine I LLC of Narragansett, RI and became Charlene Hunt.
It is wonderful to see these wonderfully maintained older tugs still operating. In case I can't supplement this posting with more photos, look for Jack Cliford's excellent photos on AIS at: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=367025770&header=true
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