T&T: A rose by any other name - Tugs and Trawlers

[LRZeitlin at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/21/07 12:00:56 AM, Marin writes:


> You've got the same problem with "tugs."  The three biggies are Nordic
> Tug, American Tug, and Victory Tug.  You can take a Victory Tug and
> paint it in Crowley Maritime colors and probably convince most people
> that it's a working tug, especially the 49-footer if you hang some tires
> on it.  The earlier Nordic Tugs were reasonably true to the "classic New
> York Harbor" tug design.  But the new ones, I dunno.....  Same with the
> American Tug.  Now they've got flying bridges and forward-raked
> windshields and whatnot.  Are they still "tugs?"
>
Sorry about wasting bandwidth with the following passages. It is such a lousy
rainy day.

I am familiar with with only two true recreational tugs - real tugs, not
wannabees. The first is the "Emil Johanssen" owned by Fred Johanssen who runs
the
Viking Marina in Verplanck, NY. It is a former New York harbor tug that
Johanssen bought from the Moran Towing company to save from the scrap heap. He
patched and rehabilitated it until it is a thing of beauty. The metal gleams,
the
brass shines and the interior is all polished wood. Of course owning the
boatyard kept his costs in line. He cruises it up and down the East coast,
taking
part in occasional tugboat rallies and races. It seems that there is an
association for every interest.

The second tug is owned by my neighbor, Dave Williams, a marine lawyer who
would prefer to be a steamboat engineer. He and his wife bought a 90 foot
surplus Navy tug, moored it in shallow water, and fitted it out as a five room
house. The mechanicals were non functional but the hull was sound. Eventually
his
wife rebelled and they moved to a real house just down the street from me. But
the lure of tugboating was too strong. Unknown to his wife, Dave bought a 39
foot river tug in sorry condition. You could poke your hand through holes in
the bottom. It sat on blocks in the boatyard near my boat while Dave replated
the hull, rebuilt the engine and generally brought the boat into pristine
condition. I don't know what story he told his wife. She probably thought he
had a
mistress.

Eventually the small tug was finished and he used it to tow their former hulk
to a location off the Jersey shore where it was scuttled to help create an
artificial fishing reef. Since Dave is a very clever lawyer, he probably got a
big tax write off.

Interestingly there is such a demand for small tugs in the Hudson River
Valley that both Fred and Dave make enough money from occasional towing jobs
to pay
for their yearly maintenance bills. But most of the time they just sit on
their boats and drink beer.

Larry Z



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