Ocean Echo II and Betsiamites - controversy at the Strait

1. Océan Echo II and Betsiamites with a typical load of wood chips, approaching Trois-Rivières, QC in 2006.



It is not often that a tug and barge cause a controversy, but such was the case at Port Hawksbury, NS on May 29 when the tug Océan Echo II and its barge Betsiamites arrived with a load of wood chips for the Port Hawksbury Paper Co.

The mill was re-started under new owners last year, and they were having a dispute with truckers and wood lot owners over the price for wood. Last week the drivers agreed to resume deliveries after withholding wood for a week. At the time it was estimated that the mill only had about a week's supply of raw material on hand. Apparently the mill owners decided that they needed some insurance against future disruptions and hired a load of chips from Quebec.
Océan Echo II and Betsiamites normally run on the St.Lawrence River, with wood chips or sawdust from Port Cartier to Trois-Rivières, but are known to make one off trips to other mills as needed.
The tug and its barge were built in 1969 by Port Weller Drydock (with another barge, the Sault-au-Cocohon*) and operated a shuttle service between Forestville and Quebec City with pulpwood, on a ten year charter, with purchase option. Atlantic + Pacific Barge Transportation Ltd of Vancouver arranged the deal and had Jackson, Talbot, Walkinshaw naval architects design the tug and barges. The tug was originally named Atlantic but was renamed Laval in 1975.It is a twin screw, in nozzles, with 3,000 bhp from a pair of 6 cyl Werkspoor engines.


The original deal with Anglo-Canadian Pulp+Paper's subsidiary St.Charles Transportation, was transferred to Reed Paper Co when they acquired the Quebec City paper mill and they exercised the purchase option.

In 1988 Reed International plc sold the mill to Daishowa Paper Mfg Co Ltd and they operated the tug and barges through Daishowa Maritime Inc until the early 1990s. With the switch from pulpwood to chips, the barge continued in service for a time, but was laid up frequently, and it was sold to Groupe Océan.

2. Océan Echo II free of its barge.

In July 1996 Groupe Océan renamed it Océan Echo II. They also modified it with a new coupling system to integrate it with the barge. It still has the capability to tow the barge if needed.


They have now been joined in the Groupe Océan fleet by the tug Mega and barge Motti , delivered earlier this year from Europe. That pair were re-registered in Canada on May 23 with owners listed as Travaux Maritimes Océan Inc.

Océan Echo II has not been confined exclusively to the St.Lawrence, and has made a few trips into the Atlantic. The first was in 1979 when it came to Halifax to tow the barge Jean-Raymond to Quebec City. It was back in Halifax in June 2008 when it towed the barge Timberland from Halifax Shipyard to Quebec.
In the meantime it had made a number of trips, with the barge, to Sheet Harbour, NS to load wood chips, also for Quebec.

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* Sault-au-Cochon was the barge that went aground off Pictou while in tow of Florence M November 8, 2010, spilling much of its load of pulpwood.It was later freed and broken up at the Aecon-Fabco shipyard in Pictou. 

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Craig Trans for the Hammer

The abandoned tug Craig Trans will be sold "as is, where is" by Admiralty Marshal's auction on June 13. It arrived in Halifax December 18, 2012 and was detained for deficiencies. Its crew had run out of food and water and asked to be repatriated. Thanks to public subscription and the work of the Mission to Seafarers and the ITF they were flown home to Honduras.[see several previous posts]
The owner appeared in Halifax for a time, but he seems to have walked away. Liens against the vessel by agents and the Port Authority eventually triggered its arrest. The public sale notice appearing in today's newspaper states that the tug is "formerly flagged as a ship of Bolivia" indicating its certificates may have expired.
The tug was bound for Beauharnois, QC where the partially dismantled ship Kathryn Spirit awaited a tow to Mexico for scrap. With the tug's detention and the closing of the St. Lawrence Seaway on December 25, the ship languished all winter as an eyesore. With the opening of the Seaway again.and the coming of spring, there has been sign of another tug to do the tow.It now seems quite certain that it won't be by this tug.

Bagotville off for the Strait

The tug Bagotville sailed this morning towing the mud scow Pitts No.1 It was a blustery and cold morning, but nothing daunted, the tug was off for Port Hawksbury. Following  my post last weekend I have been on guard for a photo of the tug in McNally colours.

The bottom dumping scow, a veteran of the old C.A.Pitts Construction's marine division, taken over by McNally around 1990, was built in 1962 by Collingwood Shipbuilding. Not visible from these pictures, but partly seeable in last weekends post, the scow is loaded with buoys, anchors, rails and other gear used by McNally when building the cribs for the pier 9C extension last year.With no further work for McNally in Halifax, the equipment is going back to McNally's Point Tupper base.

Riverton - welcome back

1. Unchanged in appearance, except for paint colour, since its Smit-Lloyd days, Riverton arrives this afternoon.

The tug/supplier Riverton arrived back in Halifax after an absence of more than ten years. It was in late 2004 that the boat was sold to Newfoundland owners, and has been working in those waters ever since.
One of the senior citizens of the tug/supply world now, it was built way back in 1975 by Scheepsverf  "De Waal" in Zaltbommel, Netherlands as Smit-Lloyd 112, one of a big fleet of similar suppliers  built for the large Dutch operator Smit-Lloyd.It was powered by a pair of Werkspoor engines giving 7200 bhp, and fitted with thrusters forward and aft.

2. Shortly after arriving in Canada, the name and Smit-Lloyd logo have been painted out on the funnel. Note to two large fairleads at the bow.

In 1984 it was purchased by the Royal Canadian Navy as an auxiliary fleet tug and trials vessel and after a refit was renamed CFAV Riverton (the second tug of that name in the RCN-the first was a Norton class built in 1945, and based in Halifax).

 

 3. After trialing some equipment in Bedford Basin Riverton returns to the Dockyard. She was assigned pennant number AGOR 121.

After a few years the tug was little used, and in 1984 it was chartered to Secunda Marine Services. As a naval vessel it was not registered, and was therefore a bit unusual working in the commercial sector, without  having a port of registry or Official Number.

 4. The unregistered Riverton on charter to Secunda Marine Services was a bit of an anomaly.
Note the single centre line fairlead forward- the only outward change from its civilian days- it was added by the RCN, but isn't visible in the photo above.

On completion of the charter it was returned to the RCN in 2002 and laid up until sold in 2004.
It was then registered in Canada for the first time February 11, 2005, with St.John's as its port of registry.
Present owners are Cape Harrison Marine, and they use the boat for research and standby work. It will be employed during this summer season as a "chase" boat for a large seismic exploration venture off Nova Scotia operated by Western Geco. It will also be a suppler and crew taxi to the ships that will not need to return to port for fuel or stores.

2. Small articulated cranes and a rescue boat have been added, and she has lost her jackstaff, but those appears to be the only changes.

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Western Tugger and Anticosti Updates

The recent capsize of a barge in tow of Western Tugger and the tragic loss of life of a crew man will result in a comprehensive study by the Transportation Safety Board. Although the Board sometimes releases preliminary information, it will be many months, if not years, before a final report is issued.
However this much is apparent. The barge, loaded with 7,000 tonnes of rebar capsized 70 miles off Burgeo in moderately rough weather. From Miller Shipping's excellent website, they have two barges, only one of which has a capacity of 7,000 tonnes. http://www.millershipping.ca/
The barge Arctic Lift 1 is the larger of their two barges and it had a previous capsize.
Built in 1972 by Equitable Equipment in Madisonville LA, as OC 300, it was acquired by Groupe Océan in the early 2000s, and was renamed OTM 3072.
On October 29, 2006 it capsized off Bas Caraquet NB while sheltering from high winds and in tow of Ocean Foxtrot. It carried a cargo of wood chips, loaded in Sheet Harbour, NS and destined for Cap-de-la-Madeleine, QC. The cargo and two excavators mounted on the load were lost, but the barge was towed, upside down, into Gaspé. It was anchored there and declared a total loss.
Miller Shipping bought the barge, righted it, repaired it and put it back in service. In 2008 they renamed it Arctic Lift 1. It has been in service ever since, carrying various loads, including trips to Baker Lake on Hudson Bay.

1. Barge Arctic Lift 1 in Miller ownership.

2. In tow of Point Halifax the barge is returning from Baker Lake on Hudson Bay.

The Transportation Safety Board report of the capsizing makes interesting reading, although little of it may be relevant in this incident. http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/marine/2006/m06m0110/m06m0110.asp
Further investigation revealed loose manhole covers, hull cracks and possible overloading, and wetting of the load by rain were factors in the capsize.

Anticosti

According to news reports, the fire on Anticosti started in the crankcase area when the boat was being shifted by tug from refit to another pier. By the time the boat was alongside the fire had extinguished itself. There has been no update on the extent of damage from impact with the pier.

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Alcan's tugs

Alcan and Tugs

(updates an article I wrote for Lekko in 1983)

In the early1900s what was to become the Aluminum Company of America was attracted to Canada by abundant hydro-electricity potential in Quebec. Alcoa's founder Arthur Vining Davis, established power dams and aluminum smelters (one in a town modestly named Arvida for the first syllables in his name) in the Saguenay region and spun off the Aluminum Company of Canada Ltd in 1928. Part of the development was construction of a railway and the port of Port Alfred on the La Baie de Ha Ha- the head of navigation for large ships.(Smaller ships can continue upstream to Chicoutimi.) 

1. Alcan's Powell Wharf at Port Alfred, used to import and store bauxite.  
Early Mac Mackay photo

(The photo was taken from the Consolidated Paper Company's mill (now gone). A Canada Steamship Lines "white ship" cruise ship can be seen in the background (also long gone). It will tie up at the Bagotville government wharf.)

Several of the timber piers on Baie de Ha Ha are in the town of Bagotville. (A few kilometers inland is CFB Bagotville a Canadian military base, housing jet fighter aircraft and other Air Force activities.)

With development of the port came the need for tugs. There have been tugs on the Saguenay River since the earliest days of steam in Canada.Used mostly for log boom towing, and ship towing they also performed ship assist work. Price Navigation (part of Price Brothers paper) kept the tug Chicoutimi from 1921-1941, but it was primarily a towing vessel.

After World War II with the expansion of the aluminum business and the paper industries, dedicated docking tugs were needed. Foundation Maritime had two Glen tugs on summer station on the Saguenay, usually docking at Bagotville.

 

 2. Bansturdy and Banswift are tied up to the goelette Dan B, with Bergeronnes Transport at the quai Lepage in Bagotville. (Mac Mackay collection)

As mentioned previously Alcan decided to build their own tugs in the early 1960s, and Bagotville and sister Port Alfred were the first ones. Both built by Verreault Navigation Inc at Les Méchins, QC, they were 65 footers, with 680 bhp on one screw.

3. Port Alfred in Halifax en route to Vancouver.

It was very soon apparent that these tugs were under powered, and so Port Alfred was sold. Its trip to Vancouver was memorable to say the least. It went aground soon after leaving port, endured a hurricane off Cape Canaveral, terrorists in Jamaica and numerous mechanical breakdowns due to tropical water temperatures, for which it was not built. (The Saguenay is one of the coldest rivers in Canada, and engine cooling can be accomplished with ease.)

4. On the west coast, it served as Island Trojan to 1970 then Seaspan Trojan until its register was closed in 2004. It was right at home on the Fraser River, with a winch and flying bridge. 
Photo:Mac Mackay collection

 

A new Port Alfred II followed from Ferguson Industries in Pictou, NS in 1969. It was an 86 foot, 900 bhp single screw tug fitted with a Hodi steering nozzle.
Sold in 1972, it went to Omnimar, the operators of Sorel Tug Boats Inc and was renamed Omni-Richelieu. When Groupe Océan took over Sorel Tug Boats, it was not renamed.It has been reassigned in recent years to Ocean Tugs Ontario and is based in Hamilton, ON and serves that port, Toronto and Oshawa.

5. As Omni-Richlieu in a previous Océan colour scheme.

In 1969 Alcan ordered the revolutionary Grande Baie from Georgetown Shipyard in PEI (at the time operated by the PEI Industrial Corp). The first Voith-Schneider tug built for commercial service in North America it is powered by two 8 cylinder Nordqvist+Holm engines giving 2400 bhp. It had an aluminum house, which remained unpainted throughout its career with Alcan. With Port Alfred becoming a year round port in 1968, the tug's only drawback was its inability to work in deep ice.

 6. The Voith-Schneider fleet at Powell Wharf.

With ever large ships arriving, it became necessary to order an even larger tug, and Alexis Simard joined the fleet in 1980. Also Voith-Schneider, it was significantly larger at 3290 bhp, delivered by two V-8 MLWs. Georgetown Shipyard also built this tug and it served well. Heavily damaged in an explosion in 1990, it was rebuilt at Ile-aux-Coudres.

 7. Gooseneck ducts are used to vent the VS propulsors.

The disadvantage of the two V-S tugs was that they did not operate well in winter. Alcan hired in tugs from Groupe Océan for the winter at considerable expense. After Alcan acquired new tugs Alexis Simard was sold to Groupe Océan, renamed Océan A. Simard and based in Baie-Comeau, which is also an "all V-S" port, with Svitzer's Pointe-Comeau as the other tug.

8. Ocean A. Simard in current Océan colour scheme at Baie-Comeau.

In 2007 RioTinto bought out Alcan and became the largest aluminum producer in the world. The new RioTinto-Alcan decided to acquire new tugs for year round operation. They were to some extent forced into the decision when Grande Baie sank at her dock December 31, 2007. Although she was raised on January 8, 2008 she was declared a constructive total loss. Sold to Les Equipement Verreault and towed to Les Méchins, it has never been rebuilt, but its register remains open.

9. Still flying the Danish flag, Fjord Saguenay does trials in Bedford Basin before handing over to RTA.

RioTinto-Alcan (RTA) quite fortunately found two modern ASDs working in Europe that were Georgetown built. By this time the Georgetown Shipyard had become East Isle Shipyard, part of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. They had produced a successful series of ASD tugs based on a Robert Allen design. Several of the tugs were sold to overseas owners. Stevns Iceflower(i) dated from 2006 and was a 5,025 bhp ice class tug with firefighting capability. Danish owners Nordane built the tug for charter, and it worked for Svitzer from 2007 to 2009 as Svitzer Njord before returning to Nordane and reverting to its original name. RTA purchased the tug in 2009 and it sailed back to Canada on its own, arriving in Halifax February 28, 2009. Arriving on one engine, it went into drydock at Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax Shipyard for repairs. It then conducted delivery trials and was handed over to RTA and registered on March 23. Leaving Halifax March 26 it was at work at La Baie on March 29.

 
RTA then acquired a sister tug, built as Stevns Icecap (i), also built in 2006. Identical in all respects, it was chartered out as Svitzer Nanna from 2007 to 2010, when it was returned to Nordane and became Stevns Icecap again. After the experience of steaming the previous tug on its own, the decision was made to send this one to Canada by heavy lift ship. Thus Fjord Eternité arrived in Halifax on Fairlane on April 4, 2011.   It was offloaded the next day and sailed April 8 for La Baie.

 10. Fjord Eternité arriving in Halifax in style.

The Saguenay ports of La Baie, and the port of Grande Anse (between Chicoutimi and La Baie) are now well served by two modern tugs, and look to be in good hands for many years to come.

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Bagotville pops in

1. Bagotville alongside the mud scow Pitts No.1 at pier 9C

A first time caller to Halifax arrived at pier 9C to tow out a scow. The Bagotville has been around for a good ling time, but I have never seen in it Halifax, In fact it is 29 years (less a week) that I saw it last, and that was in Toronto.
Built in 1964 by Verreault Navigation at Les Méchins, QC, it spent is first ten years working at Port Alfred, QC (La Baie) for Alcan's shipping arm, Saguenay Terminals Ltd. Sagterm decided in the early 1960s that they would operate their own tugs and dispense with the services of Foundation Maritime, and so ordered this tug, and a sistewr called Port Alfred. A modest 65 gross tons, and 850 bhp on a single screw, the tugs worked seasonally in ship berthing. In those days, ships were not as large as they are now and a pair of small tugs could do the necessary work. Alcan's tugs also serviced ships calling at Consolidated Paper's pier and the government wharf at Bagotville.
As ships began to grow, Alcan began to build larger tugs, and sold Bagotville to Canadian Dredge + Dock Co Ltd (CDD) in 1974. The tug was often in Toronto, but worked around the Great Lakes, with CDD's yard in Kingston, ON as home base. [It was that yard that built some of Glen class tugs shown in a previous posting.]

2. Bagotville in Toronto in Canadian Dredge + Dock colours. This was the first (and until today, the only) time I saw the tug.

In 1999 McNally Construction, after absorbing Beaver Marine, C.A.Pitts and McNamara, purchased CDD and Bagotville has been part of their fleet ever since.It is a former Pitts scow, a five pocket mud scow, that the tug will tow out when weather permits.

3. The dump scow Pitts No.1 has not changed its name since acquired by McNally.

While here today, Bagotville repositioned the crane barge Derrick No.3 from pier 9C to Turple's Cove. That scow was built by CD+D in their own yard in 1941 and operated by them until the McNally take over.

4. The crane scow Derrick No.3 is on the inside at pier 9C this morning. By this afternoon it had been moved across the harbour and spudded down in a cove just south of the MacKay bridge on the Dartmouth side. afternoon.

See following blog posting on Alcan's tugs 

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Bad Day in Newfoundland

The Transportation Safety Board is looking into two incidents in Newfoundland today, one involving loss of life.

1. Western Tugger recently photographed in St.John's by Clar Vautier. Photo used with permission.

The tug Western Tugger, bound from Sorel, QC to Long Harbour NL, was towing a barge loaded with 7,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel. While off Burgeo the barge capsized and one man on the tug's deck was struck by the tow line and sustained severe injuries from which he later died. This outcome is most regrettable, and reminds us all that working at sea is a dangerous job.
Western Tugger is operated by Midnight Marine Ltd (Miller Shipping) and is a veteran of many years standing. Built in 1943 as LT-643 for the United States Army, it is a product of  the Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay shipyard in New York. It is single screw, with a GM Detroit EMD* installed in 1979, giving 1925 bhp. The Army kept the tug until 1973 when it became Taurus until 1990, when it was acquired by Gaelic Tugboat Co of Detroit, MI  and renamed Gaelic Challenge. In 1995 it was renamed Frankie D then in 1997 Dawson B before settling on the name Doug McKeil in 1998. McKeil Marine operated the tug until 2005 when it passed to Miller and became Western Tugger. It is still often employed by McKeil, but has also worked on the Nova Scotia/PEI gravel run and with pulpwood barges on the St.Lawrence.
At this time I do not know the name of the barge involved.

2. As Doug McKeil in Halifax. The elevated wheelhouse has since been lowered, no doubt to improve stability.

The other incident involved the supply/deck cargo vessel Anticosti. An engine room fire broke out on board and as I understand it, it was not possible to fight the fire with the resources available on the boat. It was while bringing it alongside for assistance from the fire department that it struck the pier very heavily, incurring as yet unknown damage.

1. The civilian Anticosti

 The ship was built in 1973 by Allied Shipbuilders in North Vancouver as Lady Jean Tide for International Offshore Service (Liberia) an arm of P+O. They ran it only until 1975 when it went to Tidewater Marine of Liberia and was renamed Jean Tide. In the late 1980s when the Royal Canadian Navy needed trials craft for the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel program, and reserve training, they acquired this ship and sister  Joyce Tide, which they renamed Anticosti and Moresby respectively, Pennant Numbers MA 110 and MA 111. When the MCMDVs were delivered the two were decommissioned in March 2000 and sold. Anticosti left Halifax in tow of Escort Protector (McKeil) December 10, 2001 for Clarenville, NL for new owners, Star Line Inc.and it was registered without change of name in 2002. Ownership has since passed to North Atlantic Corp (Cape Harrison Marine) of St.John's. The ship has been available for a variety offshore duties including research.

2. The military Anticosti.

* Corrected after initial posting.

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First Generation Glen class tugs of the RCN

 

1. Typical Glens harbour tugs of the RCN. Note the huge rope puddings on the bows.

During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy’s need for tugs increased dramatically, and several classes of tugs were built. One of these was the Glen class of which sixteen steel hull and three wooden hull tugs were built between 1943 and 1944. A fourth wooden hull and at least one steel hull were cancelled before completion. Used for harbour work, they were about 100 gross tons, 85 feet long and fitted with 300 bhp or 400 bhp engines, giving a bollard pull of 4.5 tons.

Many of these tugs survive today. At nearly 70 years old, they are remarkable examples of longevity. To my knowledge only one of the steel hull tugs was actually broken up for scrap. One was lost, one was sunk intentionally and five others are unaccounted for- they ended up somewhere in the Caribbean, and are untraceable. But four are still working in Canadian waters. All three wood tugs are also still in existence, on the west coast.

Russel Brothers of Owen Sound built eleven of the steel tugs and Kingston Shipyard built five.
At the end of World War II most were sold off by the navy, but they kept five on the east coast and the three wooden ones on the west coast. Four tugs were transferred to other government agencies.
Of the five tugs the navy kept on this coast, four were sold after new Glen class tugs were delivered in 1977-78, and one was sunk for a dive site. Glendyne, which had girted and sank in 1957 was raised and rebuilt. It sank while berthing HMCS Magnificent and two lives were lost in the incident. It was sunk in Wreck Cove, in Eastern Passage as a navy dive training site in 1979. One of the Navy's 1977 Glen class tugs, based on the west coast was given the name Glendyne in remembrance of this incident.)

Of the early sales to civilian owners were Gleneagle (built in Kingston) and Glenlea. Both went to Maritime Towing and Salvage (Foundation Martime) and were renamed Bansturdy and Bansaga respectively. They were used for harbour work in Halifax in the winter, and in summer they worked the Saguenay River and Baie Comeau area until new tugs arrived in the early sixties. According to Foundation Maritime literature, Bansaga was re-powered to 600 bhp.

Both were then acquired by Gravel and Lake Service of Thunder Bay, ON, where they still soldier on as Robert John and George N. Carleton.

2. Based in the fresh water of Thunder Bay, this pair should last forever.

Robert John was repowered in 1973 and now boasts 1250 bhp. It also has a new wheelhouse. George N. Carleton was also repowered to 1250 bhp, but retains an original appearance, except for a modified funnel. As built all were fitted with an after mast and derrick for handling a lifeboat. When liferafts were permitted instead, most had the derrick removed.

Shortly after the war the RCN tugs were decommissioned as naval vessels, and assigned to the auxiliary fleet, and manned by civilians, under the control of the Queen’s Harbour Master. In 1956 the navy loaned Glenlivet II (so named because another tug already carried the name Glenlivet) to the Department of Public Works, where it was used for survey and dredging work. DPW installed a new steel bridge structure before returning the tug in 1970. The Glens that remained in the Dockyard, had their captain's cabins removed and wheelhouses (made of wood) were set back to provide more clearance while working close in to navy ships.

3. Glenlivet's larger wheelhouse was needed to accommodate survey crews, but was unsuitable for close in harbour work. The other Glens had only small wheelhouses, set back on the deck house.

In 1977 Glenlivet II was sold becoming the pleasure craft Canadian Franko until 1982 when it was acquired by McKeil Workoats of Hamilton, ON and it reverted to Glenlivet II. They sold it in 1989 to Construction Dufresne of Montreal, then it went to Voyageurs Marine Construction in 1990.

4. Glenlivet II back in Halifax to tow out a dredge-still painted in yacht-like colours.

In 2000 Nadro Marine Services of Port Dover purchased it and renamed it Vigilant I. They still operate it now, and have removed the bridge “wings” making the wheelhouse and captains cabin the same width.Since it works in the Welland Canal and Seaway Locks much of the time, the wide bridge was a real liability.

McKeil Workboats acquired the three remaining navy Glens: Glenbrook, Glenevis and Glenside in 1979, keeping the original names, but modifying the tugs over time with new wheelhouses and propulsion modifications.(When the navy took delivery of its new Glen tractor tugs, they re-used these three names for the Halifax based tugs.)

5. Glenevis still in RCN configuraiton. It was later modified with a new wheelhouse and captain's cabin. 

 6. Glenbrook got a new extended wheelhouse, placed farther forward.

7. Glenside had a new wheelhouse and captain's cabin added during its McKeil tenure.

Glenside was sold in 1998, Glenbrook in 1999 and Glenevis in 2007. All headed south via the Erie Canal, and I have not been able to trace their movements after leaving Long Island, NY.
A fourth Glen, The Paul E. No.1 ex E.A.Rockett (New Brunswick International Paper Co 1947-75) ex WAC. 4 (War Assets Corp 1945-46) had also been picked up by McKeil after working for Allied Tug and Barge in Windsor ON (they renamed it The Paul E. No.1) and Lebrun Contracting of Thunder Bay (1980-90). It also received a new wheelhouse, and was sold south in 2007.

Glenada saw service with the National Harbours Board in Montreal then the St.Lawrence Seaway Authority and the Minister of Transport.Sandrin Brothers of Sarnia, ON acquired the tug in 1973 and gave it a major rebuild with a new engine of 1125 bhp, new wheelhouse and sponsoned the hull. It was sold to Thunder Bay Tug Services in 1995 and still works at the Lakehead as a harbour tug.

8. Glenada, tucked in behind fleet mate Point Valour, is one of three Glens based in Thunder Bay, but is barely recognizeable as such after a major rebuild in the 1970s.

Glenkeen (built in Kingston) operated for the National Harbours Board in Montreal until 1979 and was sold unmodified to Maritime Shipping Ltd of Halifax. They found work for it in the Caribbean, and it sailed to Grenada in 1980 where it worked for a couple of years, but I have not heard of it since.

9. Glenkeen looked pretty much the same as when she was built, losing only an after mast/derrick for a lifeboat.

Glenmont operated for the Newfoundland Minister of Public Works until 1969 when it went to the National Harbours Board in St.John’s. Toronto owners bought the tug in 1988 and it spent more than a decade undergoing various conversions, until it was finally completed in 2002 as the pleasure craft Carolina Borealis. So little was left of the original that it was re-registered as a new vessel.

10. Glenmont worked in St.John's harbour for most of its life, and was always kept in pristine condition.

Glenvalley went to Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel in 1946 and operated for them and their dredging subsidiary Dragage Richelieu until 1976 when it was sold for scrap to P-E Caron of Louiseville, QC. Plans to use it as a dive site fell through and it was finally cut up in 1996.

11. Glenvalley is the only Glen actually confirmed to have been scrapped (although there are five whose whereabouts are unknown). It is shown here with the remains of the Dragage Richelieu fleet at the scrapyard in Louiseville, QC, where it languished for many years before actually being broken up.

Of the other steel tugs, Glencove and Glenora went to the west coast where they are still working as Glen Rover and Glenshiel. (more on them, and the wooden hulls another time.)
Glenella (Kingston built) after working for Maritime Towing and Salvage as Banswift was sold to Canada Steamship Lines in 1962 and operated as Bayport in Georgian Bay until sold in 1973. After a main engine failure it was laid up and its registration suspended in 2008, when it was removed from the water and converted to playground structure in Hamilton, ON.
Glenfield (Kingston built) left navy service in 1946 and was bought by J.D.Irving Ltd. On April 8, 1957 it sailed from Liverpool, NS for Saint John. NB and went missing with five crew. Some flotsam was recovered, but there has never been an explanation for its sinking.

12. Glens at rest. There is plywood in one of Glenlivet II's windows after getting too close during ship berthing. They had just been retired with the arrival of new tractor tugs.

13. Glenlivet II underway.

 

14. Glenbrook working in the Eisenhower Lock of the St.Lawrence Seaway.

15. Glenevis with her new wheelhouse, also working in the Eisenhower Lock, with the barge Black Carrier and the dredge Mercedes III. After sinking at Pugwash, NS, January 1, 1991, she was completely rebuilt.

16. Glenside was rebuilt in 1979 and re-powered to 1350 bhp. It was sold, with a barge, to the Bahamas in the autumn of 1998.

17. Glenmont returns to the dock after a day's work in St.John's.

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Northern Recovery

A project to return an arctic shipwreck to Norway has taken another step with acquisition of a tug.
The wooden 3 masted schooner Maud, built in 1917 was used by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. It was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1926 and renamed Baymaud, then sank in Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island in the winter of 1930-31. It was abandoned there, and surprisingly a lot of its hull remains intact.
A group called "Bring the Maud Home" has a barge and a tug that they plan to use in refloating and repatriating the wreck.
The tug is the former Liverpool tug, built in 1967 as Alfred Lamey, becoming Coburg in 1970 after Lamey's was acquired by Alexandra Towing in 1968. In 1993 it was sold and has carried the names Mor (to 1997) then Argus. It has been rebuilt several times, most recently in 2000 and renamed FFS Khan Now it is called Tandberg Polar and looks a bit different from the photo above, with a rasied forecastle and new wheelhouse.
http://www.fleetmon.com/en/vessels/Tandberg_Polar_36859.

For more on Maud see:  www.maudreturnshome.no