Tugs Today

Patrick Stevens Ltd, 1996,reprinted 1997; 200pp; illus: line drawing and photos, some colour;0-85260-521-9; £19.99;

As a Deep Sea Tug master in the last war, I was both enthralled at the detail covered in this volume and amazed at the immense changes that the last fifty years have brought to the tug scene. In the early days there were really only two categories: harbour tugs and deep sea tugs. Now there is every form of tug specialisation: ship handling and coastal, escort, pollution control, fire-fighting, ocean-going and offshore support vessels.

Tug design and construction is discussed in very readable detail. The chapter on propulsion systems is quite fascinating with bow thrusters, midship systems that can be steered in azimuth and a variety of stern props and jets. The net result is a tug that can rotate in its own length or even travel sideways.

Sizes range from a 35foot harbour tug up to an ocean-going leviathan of 5,000 tons, with 24,000 BHP engines giving the pull of 248 tons needed to tow a 500,000 ton vessel.

Some things never change though. The problems of ship handling and capsize remain. I well remember seeing a harbour tug pulled over with loss of most crew, when handling a liner. They had the “Gog” rope in the wrong position. If you wish to know what that is and enjoy a fascinating and unusual read, then get this book! MJ