Roseway - veteran tug soldiers on

 The little tug Roseway despite its many years of service is in almost daily use for Dominion Diving in Halifax harbour. This morning I caught sight of it while en route to one of its regular assignments, as line boat for the Irving Oil jetty in Woodside. That is one of two regular docks where line boats are needed (the other is Autoport). A third dock at Nova Scotia Power in Tuft's Cove rarely sees ships anymore since the plant is now normally gas fired.

Roseway passes the IEL pier in Dartmouth, site of one of the tug's rare embarrassing moments. It sank at the dock December 23, 1991 but was immediately raised, repaired and returned to service better than ever. The two screw tugs has engines totaling 300 bhp. Their sound is distinctive and they can be heard across the harbour when it is hard to see the tug.

I have referenced the tug many times over the years on this blog, so here are some posts from the past: Roseway

Roseway dates from 1960 when it was built by Steel and Engine Products Ltd in Liverpool, NS (then owned by K.C.Irving) for the Department of Public Works. It was paired with a small dredge and dump scow and put to work in small harbours, chiefly in Nova Scotia. The tug's name comes from the community of Roseway on the western shore of Shelburne harbour, and Cape Roseway on McNutt's Island at the entrance to Shelburne harbour, site of the second oldest lighthouse in Nova Scotia, built in 1788.

Just about 40 years ago I caught Roseway and its dredge D.P.W.No.16 and a dump scow in Eastern Passage.

 

I don't have many pictures of cars that I have owned, but that is my 1977 Volvo on the pier in middle of the photo. One of the dredge spuds blocks a view of the spire of St.Andrews Roman Catholic Church, immediately behind the car.

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Which Way Did He Go

"Which way did he go?" would have been a good question today after tugs could be seen going frontwards and backwards in Halifax harbour.

McKeil Marine's Lois M arrived this morning towing the barge Atlantic Swordfish and after dropping the tow line, took the barge "on the hip". However the berth at the IEL dock in Woodside was blocked and the pair had to wait until another barge was moved out of the way.

Lois M and Atlantic Swordfish moving northbound (left to right) and Roseway heading southbound (right to left).

The small tug Roseway was called in to  move the other barge, but that operation had to wait until Roseway completed working the headlines for the arriving tanker East Coast.

In the meantime Lois M did a 360 degree turn and began backing against a stiff wind from the north until the berth was finally clear and available.

Meanwhile HMCS Moncton was underway on a cold move from Bedford Basin to HMC Dockyard.

Wearing commemorative camouflage Glace Bay is southbound (from right to left in the photo) with the Voith-Schneider tractor tug Glenevis providing the power (while going astern). Not visible is the pup tug Listerville pushing on Glace Bay's flat stern.

It is a common sight for Dockyard tugs to work astern since their V-S systems are omni-directional. I am sure the operators will miss this feature when the new ASD tugs are delivered.

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The Warrior has landed

After a stormy day yesterday that prevented unloading, Dominion Warrior took to the water today from the heavy lift ship Stellaprima.

The new acquisition was shepherded by Dominion's Roseway to the Dartmouth Cove base, attended by Dominion Bearcat and Halmar. Both of these boats have been rebuilt by Dominion's own forces during their tenure with Dominion and it is likely that Dominion Warrior will receive similar treatment before it enters service.

As per the previous post, Dominion Warrior ex Coastal Warrior will expand Dominion's capabilities to support its diving and marine service business by being a multi-tasking vessel with tug / cargo/ and other capabilities.

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Dominion Diving Flotilla

The annual Dominion Diving  work in Bedford Basin began this afternoon when the barge DD 2000 was moored in the #10 anchorage area. A small flotilla of DD tug/workboats towed the barge from Dartmouth Cove..

Leading the way is the twin screw tug Roseway , rolling a bit in the wake of a passing powerboat. It's work was completed when the barge was safely moored.

Multi-purpose Dominion Victory, a tug, diving tender, research vessel, assists in powering the flotilla, and will provide accommodations for divers working from the barge.

Veteran tug/workboat Westport Ferry will be the tender during the dive operation.

The barge will be moored in the Basin for 20 days as divers work on maintaining the RCN's sound range.  take the Nova Scotia Community College's deep dive course. The operation will be 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Water Barge

The Halifax Port Authority provides potable water to ships at a variety of hydrants located on most of its piers. However, when a ship at anchor needs water, it is barged out on vessels such as Dominion Diving's Dominion Boann. Built by Marine Industries Ltd of Sorel, QC in 1956 as one of two 100 ft. self-propelled ammunition lighters for the RCN it was originally named YSF 219. At some point in its career it was converted to a potable water tanker and carried the name YSW 219.
When sold by the navy in the early 1990s it was named YW 219 for a time, then unofficially renamed Water Dog. By this time it no longer had an operational engine.
In 2009 Dominion Diving registered all its surplus naval barges, which had never been registered under government ownership, and gave them distinctive names.

Despite the need for a paint job on the hull, the boat is in very good condition and is usually handled by the small tug Roseway. Today's assignment was to load 100 tons of water for the tanker Maersk Katalin at anchor in Bedford Basin.

Dominion Diving also operates the sister barge Dominion Branwyn which is now a grey/blackwater barge, and was originally YSF 220 (and had several other interim names).

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Roseway and the reef balls (and more)

A project to promote marine life in Halifax  got underway yesterday and part one was completed today. Since the commissioning of a new sewage treatment system, marine life has experienced a slow comeback in the harbour waters. Scientists have now developed a perforated concrete cone or ball which, it is hoped, will accelerate the growth of some marine growth in shallow water where sunlight can penetrate. Called reef balls, the devices also promote eddies and currents and provide a sheltered enclosure for some types of plants and animals.
Irving Shipbulding Inc is funding the balls, and they being placed by Dominion Diving Ltd. Using their tug Roseway (built in 1960), their work barge DD 2000 (built in the mid-20th century*) and the scow RB Barge (built in 1994) Dominion Diving placed a series of the balls close to shore near Point Pleasant Park's Black Rock beach.

1. The reef balls were lowered to the bottom by crane and divers ensured their correct placement. The barge DD2000 is secured by four anchors.

Once work was completed today, Roseway began the tow back to Dominion Diving's base in Dartmouth Cove.

2.Roseway gets under way. The scow RB Barge was used to transport the reef balls from base to site.  (In the background a pusher tug handles a barge** headed for the Northwest Arm.)

3. The deckhand lets out a little more line for the tow home.

3. Underway again.

Foot Notes:

*  The barge DD 2000 was once the Dartmouth Marine Slips Work Barge No.1:

4. Pictured in 1976, it was not new then!  I have always suspected that it was acquired in the United States with a number of other scows used in construction of the oil rigs at Halifax Shipyard in the 1960s, but have never been able to confirm it.

** The bandy legged legged spud scow in the background of photo number 2 is this item:

5. T.K.L. No.6 was built in 1976 by Sydney Engineering + Dry Dock Co Ltd as the cable ferry Angus MacAskill for the Province of Nova Scotia. It is now owned by R.J.MacIsaac Construction Ltd of Antigonish, NS. In photo 2 it appears to be under the control of the pusher Lina see: http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2012/04/tug-lina-history-not-known.html

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Sandra Mary and pair of veteran scows

Sandra Mary put in to Halifax today en route to a dredging job in southwest Nova Scotia., towing a pair of veteran mud scows.  Due to restrictions against double tows in Halifax harbour, Dominion Diving's tug Roseway went out and took over the tow of one of the scows.
All four vessels are veterans in fact. Sandra Mary was built by Russel Hipwell in Owen Sound in 1962 as Flo Cooper, a name she carried until 2000, through a variety of owners, starting with C.A.Pitts Construction, She is rated at 1360bhp on a single screw.
Roseway is a twin screw tug of 300 bhp, built originally for the Department of Public Works, but has been running for Dominion Diving since 1989.

Roseway took control of scow S.12, built in 1962 by Ocean Steel and Construction in Saint John, NB. as DPW No. 152. It measures 214.47 gross tons. It was renamed "s" for "scow" in 1995 when DPW disposed of its dredging fleet.

Sandra Mary kept towing S.11, which was built in 1977 by McNamara Corp in Whitby, ON as DPW No.77 - a name she still carries on her flanks thanks to welded letters. It was acquired by Beaver Marine, which was later taken over by McNally Construction.
Both scows are bottom dumping type (as opposed to the more modern split hopper type).

Sister tug to Sandra Mary, is Mister Joe which is being rebuilt over the winter in Belleville, ON.

Big tug, little tugs at pier 9

More tug activity in the northend on Friday involved moving the old supplier Intrepid Sea a.k.a N-29, along pier 9B to pier 9A. The long dead Neftegaz 29 could not move on its own, and so Dominion Diving provided the motive power, and deck crew, using Halmar and Roseway - also two veterans.
Neftegaz 29 was built in Poland in 1983 as a pipe carrier/supplier for the USSR and acquired by Secunda Marine Services in 1998. Secunda rebuilt three sister vessels, with this one providing a lot of spares, but never reaching the conversion stage.

1. Its current name Intrepid Sea appears nowhere on the ship, so it is referred to as N-29. 

2. Neftegaz 29 was registered in the port of Kholmsk, which is on Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan in the eastern part of the Russia. Lloyd's Register never listed a registry port for the ship.

Friday's move was carried out by two classic boats, that have spent many years in Halifax. The more travelled of the two is Roseway, the former Department of Public Works tug, built in 1960 and acquired by Dominion Diving in 1989. It has performed numerous coastal tows but is most commonly seen these days as the line handling boat for Autoport.

3. Roseway reports for duty.

4. After moving a containment boom, Roseway takes a bow line and gets the ship moving using her 300 bhp on two screws. 

 Also built in 1960 is Halmar, one of the former Shipyards workboats. Its name is an amalgamation of HALifax Shipyards and Dartmouth MARine Slips,and it worked in both yards and all around the harbour until 1992. It was completely rebuilt and repowered in 2008-2009, with new superstructure and even a bow thruster. It can often be seen ferrying pilots to ships at anchor in the harbour when the pilot boat is out, but also does numerous other chores.

5. Halmar takes a stern line to keep the ship in line.

 

6. Her bow thruster was put to use several times during the move.

7. Roseway is often seen handling the head lines of ships at Autoport, where they are tethered to large buoys. 

8. On December 23, 1991 Roseway sank in 60 feet of water (and muck) while approaching the IEL dock. She was lifted off the bottom by slings and barge and moved to the pier where she was raised on December 28. Her electronics were replaced and and after cleanup was back in service within two months. [The tug in the background is Canmar Tugger, which became Atlantic Oak(i) and is now working on the west coast as Island Tugger. Coincidentally, it sank at its dock in Sydney in March 1993 and was raised by Dominion Diving.]

9. Halmar as she looked shortly after Dominion Diving acquired her from the Shipyards. [That is a lifeboat from CSS Hudson, and the retired icebreaker John A. Macdonald in the background]

10. In her Shipyard days Halmar worked around the harbour to assist in repairs, often with divers aboard. 



Roseway Returns

Dominion Diving's tug Roseway returned to Halifax late this afternoon after a summer working in Shelburne. In tow was the former La Have river cable ferry La Have II now used as a work barge.

Roseway was built in 1960 in Liverpool, NS by Steel and Engine Products for the (Federal)Minister of Public Works and assigned to the dredging fllet. Usually working out of Liverpool, but ranging up and down the Nova Scotia coasts, it tended a pair of small mud scows and the dredge D.P.W.No. 16 in the maintenance of numerous small harbours. Measuring only 36 gross tons, it was fitted with two engines generating 300 bhp.

As DPW began to exit the dredging scene, the tug was acquired by Dominion Diving in 1989.

In 1991 as it was returning to port it began to take on water and sank just off the IEL wharf in 60 feet of water. The next day (December 24) the tug/workboats Saint M, Little Saint and barge Coneco III lifted the tug off the bottom and moved it alongside the IEL dock. It was then raised by shore crane and taken to Dartmouth Marine Slip. There was very little damage except to the the electricals and electronics, which were replaced. The tug was back in service in 2 months, and later in 1992 was re-powered by Rolls Royce engines totalling 420 bhp.

The tug had provided sterling service as a tug, diving tender, workboat, crew boat, lineboat and any other job that Dominion has had for it.

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Tugs of All Sizes

All tugs are important to Tugfax!

One operator of small tugs (some would call them workboats- more on that later) in Halifax is Dominion Diving Ltd. As their name implies, they do diving work - much of it offshore, but also in the harbour too. They also have contracts with the Atlantic Pilotage Authority and others for launch services in the harbour and approaches.

For this purpose they operate a fleet of launches and other vessels, including a growing fleet of scows used for a variety marine work, including stores and water barges and lineboat work at Autoport.

They also operate three tugs (you can tell because they have towing bitts- this makes them tugs!)

Their home base is in Dartmouth Cove, and the photo taken this morning shows their fleet in repose.

In the foreground - with no name visible- is Roseway built in 1960 for the Department of Public Works. She is a twin screw tug and packs 300 horsepower. Orginally used to tend a small dredge and mud scows, she is now a jack of all work, often working as a line boat at Autoport and handles stores and water barges.

In the middle is Big Steel, built in 1955 for the navy as YFU/ YMU 116, with 250 bhp. She also works as a line boat, but also handles scows. She was rebuilt by Dominion Diving with a new wheelhouse.

On the right is Halmar, also built in 1960. She is also single screw. Built by Halifax Shipyard for their own use, she was rebuilt by Dominion Diving in 2009 with a new house and possibly a new engine. Her old engine rated 110 bhp. She is used for in harbour towing too.

Their distinctive colour makes the highly visible, as they bustle about the harbour.