Sandra Mary - veteran tug

 In preparation for a wharf replacement project at the Bedford Institute, McNally Construction Inc is bringing in the required equipment. The new Jetty L will be built using concrete caissons and will replace the existing timber crib pier. New floats will also be installed. Dredging will be required for removal and bottom prep. The dredge spoil will be moved elsewhere (likely to the Pier 36 area - but that is only a guess.)

First in port was the small tug D.D.Kaufman, new to McNally, which arrived August 16 from New Jersey, the long way round - via the New York State canals and the Great Lakes. It tied up at an inside berth at the Bedford Institute Jetty L and is thus "immune" from photography. More on this tug when I can get a picture.

Today, August 24, it was the familiar veteran tug Sandra Mary arriving from Port Hawksbury with the crane barge Derrick No.4 and a dump scow (as yet unidentified).

Well outside the port limits the scow was handed off to the Dominion Enforcer which towed it in to the Bedford Institute.

Built in 2021 by Damen Gorinchem, Netherlands the 600 hp Dominion Enforcer has not seen as much use as its twin sister Dominion Rumbler. The latter handles the waste barge for cruise ships and is kept quite busy [as it was today with the Zuiderdam.] Both tugs measure 14.99 gross tons and have been re-registered by number, with their names now unofficial. Vessels under 15 gross tons can be registered in this way as small craft. The tug displays its registration number C30756NS above a wheelhouse window.

The tug Sandra Mary measures 96.82 gross tons and is thus registered by name. When it was built by Russel-Hipwell (formerly Russel Brothers) in Owen Sound, ON in 1962 it was named Flo Cooper by the C.A.Pitts Construction Co Ltd. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions it passed into the hands of McNally in 2000 and took its present name. (Near sister tug Churchill River of 1964 became McNally's Mister Joe in 2001).

Sandra Mary is a 75 footer, rated at 650 bhp through a single screw. [Some sources say 1320 bhp - two engines, single screw.] Its trip actually began in May in Ontario, and it was reported downbound in the St.Lawrence Seaway June 2 towing the crane barge William P. Dilly and the small tug Lac Vancouver. It was then recorded in Montreal and Trois-Rivières June 4 and arrived in Port Hawksbury. It was next reported leaving Port Hawksbury July 14 and in Sydney July 16 to 17. It was not recorded on AIS again until yesterday (August 23) when it sailed from McNally's base in Port Hawksbury for Halifax.

Despite their size McNally's tugs range widely, all over eastern Canada - often at towing speed (about 4.5 knots on this last trip).

Sandra Mary did not stay in Halifax long, but sailed later in the morning for Port Hawksbury - possibly for more equipment. (Its free running speed as a light tug is 9.5 knots.)

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