Janus - big tow, Listerville - little tow

While waiting for the German tug Janus to begin its tow of the crippled tanker Australian Spirit, another tow passed by. This was the Canadian Naval Auxiliary tug Listerville with a work raft.

The raft had blown out of the dockyard during high winds and grounded on Turple Head, a spit of land just beneath and south of the MacKay bridge on the Dartmouth side of the harbour.

Soon however it was time for the main attraction as Janus got under way, with assistance from all three Atlantic Towing Ltd harbour tugs. Atlantic Larch worked the bow off the dock, as Atlantic Willow and Atlantic Oak did the same at the stern. Oak was the designated tethered escort tug. Once of the dock the other two tugs took up positions on the stern quarters to guide the rudderless ship through the Narrows and out of the harbour. Once the ship was clear of the dock Janus took the strain on the tow line, as the sound of its four MaK main engines coming up to speed reverberated off the freight shed walls - an impressive sound to hear.

Larch pulls off the ship's bow.

The tow line was made of a chain bridle, lead through two fairleads in the bow, and a rope retrieval line to the fishplate. The tow wire from the tug's winch was also controlled by a gog rope (yellow arrow in photo below).

Janus' crew made up the tow very quickly, only arriving in Halifax Monday morning. The timing of the tow was critical however, since they wanted to get away before the next weather system arrives.

The tow is giving a January 23 arrival in Portugal, where the ship will be drydocked for installation of a new rudder.

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Janus on the job

Janus arrived in Halifax this morning and tied up under the bow of its prospective tow, Australian Spirit.

 

The tug's extreme width of 18m excited great interest when the tug was built.

After arrival formalities have been completed, preparations are expected to start. It will be interesting to see if they resort to the traditional method of using the ship's anchor chains to form the towing bridle from the ship.

The rudderless Australian Spirit will present some challenges for a towing tug.

 

No departure date has been set yet. The recent gales will have to die down, and there will have to be at least a half day when no traffic is expected in and out of port. All available harbor tugs will also be called upon to assist in the departure.

All is calm aboard the tug for now, but the crew will be called into action soon enough.

 

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Janus en route to Halifax

The ocean going tug Janus is en route to Halifax. The 19,000 bhp, 220 tBP behemoth is coming to tow the tanker Australian Spirit to Portugal for repair and installation of a new rudder.

For all the details you ever wanted to know about the tug see: Piet Sinke on Janus

The tug left Willemstad December 26, and San Juan December 30 and is making good time. It is due here January 6. It will take a few days to make up the towing gear, then weather permitting it may be the   weekend before it gets underway.

Stay tuned for details.

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