Veterans soldier on

 A couple of veteran tugs are hard at work in Halifax these days despite their great age and hard use. Both are small boats used for dredging and marine construction, and are forever shoving and towing scows.

Oshawa is the older of the two, built in 1969 at Whitby, ON by first owners McNamara Construction. I have taken scores of pictures of this tug going back over the years, in fact back to 1983 when I saw it first.

Pulling the dredge Harold M and an unidentified scow after a day's work.

Aside from a few label changes for ownership, the tug has changed very little from its days working first for McNamara, then Cartier (in the photo) and now McNally.

Doing essentially the same thing this afternoon, nudging an aged scow.

A "cousin" tug, also built by McNamara, but in 1978 is named for the company's home port. Whitby has also recently arrived in Halifax and is also working with scows.

These boats have a lot of life left in them, so should be going strong for many years to come.

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Welcome back Mister Joe and Oshawa

 McNally Construction's tug Mister Joe arrived this evening towing the crane barge Canadian Argosy with the small tug Oshawa. These vessels are regulars in Halifax to support heavy marine construction projects. They work out of McNally's eastern base in Point Tupper, NS.

Mister Joe is a twin screw product of Russel  Brothers in Owen Sound, ON, built in 1964

Built as Churchill River for the Hudson's Bay Co it worked in the north until the 1990s when it went to Newfoundland,. It then worked at Bull Arm until 1997 when it passed to Beaver Marine. McNally acquired Beaver in 2001 and it became Mister Joe. It has since been re-engined, and had a new wheelhouse built to the original pattern but with better windows.

Companion on many construction projects is the Oshawa built in 1969 in Whitby, ON by original owners, McNamara Construction. It is also a twin screw vessel.

McNally Construction won the contract to dismantle and rebuild the Svitzer Canada (former Foundation Maritime) piers on the Halifax waterfront. The wooden pile structures in very poor condition, and will be demolished. New structures will be built to accommodate a marina, but they will not be of the size of the current piers which date back to the glory days of Foundation Maritime and before.

Steam up on Foundation Francis on the south side of the dock. On the north side is the newly delivered Point Victor. Foundation Josephine II sits at the salvage pier. Also readily identifiable is the Banscot with portholes outlined in white. A couple of Glen class tugs and the Banstar or Bansun line the pier. 1956 or 1957 photo.

The photographer just managed to catch the chimney painted like a Foundation Maritime funnel in the foreground.

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Mister Joe on the move

McNally Construction's hard working tug Mister Joe made a brief visit to Halifax today. First job was to move the crane barge Canadian Argosy (951 grt, built 1978 Collingwood), from its anchorage near the MacKay bridge, in an inlet that I call Turple's Cove, to Pier 9 C with the assistance of the tug Oshawa.

Canadian Argosy has been in Halifax for a few years as McNally built various piers. Most recently it has been working on crib building for HMC Dockyard's new Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship jetty.

Mister Joe dates from 1964 when it came out of the Russel-Hipwell shipyard in Owen Sound, ON as Churchill River. McNally susibiary Beaver Marine acquired the tug in 2000 and renamed it in 2001.  It was also repowered in 2002 with a pair of GMs rated at 750 bhp, driving twin screws and extensively rebuilt, with a new pilot haouse identical to the original in 2013-2014.

Oshawa was built in 1969 by McNamara Marine in Whitby, ON and is 472 bhp twin screw.

Once the first move was completed the same tugs move the spud scow VM/S 87 from Turple's Cove to alongside Canadian Argosy.

 Later in the day Mister Joe sailed with VM/S 87 for Saint John, NB. Also built by Collingwood Shipyard, but in 1958, the scow was originally named S.L.S. 87 for first owners the St.Lawrence Seaway. Later the name was translated to French-  VM/S standing for Voie Maritime St-Laurent. McNally acquired the scow in about 2010. It measures 422 grt, and was not assigned a hull number by the builders.

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From the (black and white) shoe box

With little tug activity to remark upon in Halifax recently, it was time to dig into the shoebox for some oldies.

Back in 1983 Cartier Construction, a Quebec company, included most of the assets of the former McNamara Construction Co. Among those was the tug Oshawa (built in 1969) and still going today for McNally Construction Ltd.

1. and 2. Oshawa pulling (and an aluminum motorboat pushing) the dredge Harold M and scow alongSide at Pointe-au-Pic, QC, 1983-08-20.

3. 2013-10-19 in Halifax.

In 1984 Canadian Dredge and Dock were the operators of the tug Bagotville (built in 1964)

4. and 5. Bagotville was tied up in Toronto 1984-04-13.

6. In Halifax, 2013-10-19.

BONUS

Also in Toronto in April 1984 was the Canadian Dredge and Dock Co's tug Traveller. It visited Halifax two times that I know of. It was built as the steam tug Dalhousie Rover in 1941 by Muir Bros DD of Port Dalhousie, ON for C.S.Boone Dredging & Construction. However due to wartime needs it was chartered to Saint John Tug Boat Co. It arrived in Halifax October 24, 1941 from Pictou and cleared for Saint John., NB. (It may have returned to the Great Lakes seasonally.)

On March 12, 1945, while towing a ship from Saint John Dry Dock it capsized and sank in Courtenay Bay, with the loss of three lives. Six others were rescued. The tug was raised, repaired, and called in Halifax October 31, 1945 en route to Sorel.

On June 29, 1946 it foundered in Lock 1 of the Welland Canal and six were drowned. It was again raised and repaired and renamed Towmaster. 

In 1949 it was briefly renamed Shediac (possibly for work in New Brunswick), but was soon renamed Traveller by Canadian Dredge and Dock Co Ltd.In 1960 CD+D rebuilt it at their own yard in Kingston, ON, converting it to a diesel tug, upping its horsepower from 450 ihp to 720 bhp with a 6 cyl B+W Alpha. Its steam winch and windlass were converted to electric by Russel-Hipwell of Owen Sound, who also supplied Lister auxiliaries, steering gear and pumps from the Steelcraft line.

The tug seems to have lead an uneventful life thereafter, lasting until 1995 when it was broken up in Port Maitland, ON.

Its similarity to the Glen class tugs of the RCN, built very soon after, but as diesel tugs, is worth noting. 

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Gleeful tugs

It is debatable whether tugs can be gleeful, but it seems that the three McNally Construction tugs in Halifax were gleeful at noon time today when they completed placement of the last of the cribs at pier 6 in Halifax shipyard.

 

Freed from towing the huge concrete cribs at glacial speeds, and hours of nudging them into position, the tugs seemed to kick up their heels when the job was completed. The workers were also pleased to have the rest of the week end off too.

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McNally triple tow

McNally Construction used three tugs to tow a concrete crib from the work site to the Fairview Cove container pier on Tuesday October 15. Bagotville took the lead, towing Oshawa, which was towing the crib. Jamie L brought up the rear pushing the crib for a time. As they neared the destination, Jamie L turned and repositioned as a brake to help position the crib.

[Power lines in the foreground  were unavoidable, due to a crime scene investigation underway closer to the water.]

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Tandem Tow

 1. As the large tugs Atlantic Oak and Atlantic Hemlock head back to base, they pass Oshawa towing Jamile L towing a concrete crib.

A tandem tow usually refers to one tug towing two ships, but in Halifax, it seems to mean two tugs towing one object. McNally Construction has the job of building large concrete cribs that form the pier face of the new pier 6 at Halifax Shipyard. In order to move the cribs from their construction site to the shipyard, they are using two tugs, Jamie L and Oshawa as shown here before.

2. Oshawa's line is bar taut to Jamie L. 

3. Oshawa is really digging in and her engines are running at full revs.

4. Jamie L is also running with the pedal to the metal and setting up a bit of a rooster tail.

The advantage of using two tugs is that once at the pier 6 site Oshawa peels off and gets into position to place the crib. Once located, the  crib is "gentled" into place using a system of wires and come-alongs and then sunk in place.

5. The crib is moved the last few feet into position with wires. The motorboat is allowing a man to install a sleeve in the sidewall which will allow water in for sinking.

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McNally - still working pier 6, pier 9 and Fairview Cove

Three McNally tugs in Halifax involved with pier expansions at Fairview Cove and Halifax Shipyard. One new concrete crib, built by McNally, will soon be placed at Fairview Cove to extend the pier. They are currently using Derrick No.3 to place steel sheet piles in the area.
Meanwhile using pier 9c as a base McNally is building cribs for the Halifax Shipyard pier 6 expansion. So far five cribs have been positioned.  Derrick No.1 and the semi-submersible Beaver Neptune are in use along with the previously shown Dexter scows and workboats.
McNally's tug Jamie L seems to be the tug most in use, but Oshawa can also be seen from time to time. Bagotville does not seem to be very busy by comparison.

1. Oshawa gives Jamie L a tow while floating off a concrete crib at pier 9 September 17.

2. Jamie L makes up to tow Derrick No.1 from pier 6 to pier 9c.

3. Tow under way, September 20.

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