Day to day tug activity in the Port of Halifax rarely attracts much attention. Docking, undocking and escort work appear to be routine and are carried out with quiet skill.
Today, November 13 there were several ship arrivals and departures that used the tugs of Atlantic Towing Ltd in those typical functions. Large ships, such as the 149,525 gross tons 15,000 TEU container ship Zenith Lumos took two tethered stern escorts both inbound and outbound as required by Port of Halifax regulations.
Sister tugs Atlantic Ash and Atlantic Maple both RAStar 3200-W types of 6675 bhp, 85 tonnes bollard pull provided the required double escort.
Seeing tugs with tows is rare, but today there were two of note. The first saw the US flag tug Ezra Sol (see previous post) finally getting underway after a long stay in port. It arrived initially on September 21 towing the bulk carrier AP Revelin. That ship lost its prop (or a blade) and was unable to proceed on its own. The ship transloaded its grain cargo to another bulker the Eva Bright then awaited favourable weather. Calm conditions are expected for the next week and the the tow was able to get underway this morning.
The Ezra Sol gets underway from Pier 25 today.
After reconnecting the tow line, the voyage begins with the Atlantic Maple providing steering assistance from the stern tethered position. ETA New York is November 18.
Tugs from McNally Marine are busy in the harbour with dredging and construction of the new pier face at Halifax Shipyard. Some of that work has been completed and the company will move some equipment back to its base in Point Tupper. Today their very capable tug Mister Joe (Russel Brothers, 1964, 750 bhp), which arrived from Cape Breton November 10, towed out a derrick barge.
Built as the Churchill River and renamed in 2001, tug was extensively rebuilt in 2019. "Worth its weight in gold", the tug has worked all over eastern Canada including Hudson Bay and Newfoundland and Labrador. The trip to Point Tupper will take about 36 hours at 4.9 knots.
Tugs of the Royal Canadian Navy's auxiliary fleet are not commissioned naval vessels and are crewed by civilians. However they work for the Navy doing a variety of chores, including berthing naval vessels.Today's operation for the CNAV Glenside YTB 644 was a little out of the ordinary. It moved the long retired World War II Corvette Sackville from its summer berth, where it is open to the public, to its winter berth within the HMC Dockyard, the RCN's eastern base.
The Glenside and two more sister tugs, the Glenbrook and the Glenevis were built in 1976 and are rated at 1750 bhp, 19 tons bollard pull. They are VS cycloidal drive boats, very adept at working within the confines of the Dockyard finger piers.
When the time comes to move the Sackville next year the task may fall to a new tug, as the RCN is in the process of retiring these tugs and replacing them with two ASD tugs. The first of the new tugs, the CNAV Canso is fitting out in Quebec City and may be delivered this fall or more likely by next spring. [The wisdom of building only two tugs to replace three tugA and a fireboat, and ASDs at that for a growing RCN must be questioned. More on that another time.]
It is worth noting that between the time when the Mister Joe was built and the Glenside was built Canada instituted a requirement that all sleeping accommodation on new tugs was to be above the waterline. Older vessels were "grandfathered" as conversion was likely impossible. The regulation came into effect after several lives were lost when tugs sank, trapping crew below. The rule also applied to tugs, no matter their age, purchased abroad and brought under Canadian flag. If they had sleeping quarters below the waterline it had to be removed and new accommodation provided or the boat had to be a day boat, with no sleeping aboard.
Bonus Round - Dominion Diving
Tugs and work boats from Dominion Diving Ltd are constantly busy in the harbour shifting barges, providing line handling services and carrying out small tows.
The Dominion Rumbler scurries ahead of the inbound Morning Cornelia on November 11 for a line handling job. The auto carrier's bow line will be lead out to a mooring buoy and Dominion's crew members will make take the line and make it fast to the buoy, sometimes using an even smaller boat. (September 30 photos).
The smallest tows seen recently include:
Dominion's as yet unnamed aluminum hulled workboat was spotted towing a former Coast Guard boat:
And to outday, their venerable Halmar (built in 1960, rebuilt in 2009) won the prize for smallest tow. Halmar works as a crew boat for pilot delivery, goes well to sea for survey and sampling work, and acts as a diving tender.
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