BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)

Subject: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:08 PM

If I had made this up, you wouldn't believe it.

Click here: http://www.cnc-owners.com/tugboat/tugboat.htm.

(This URL was e-mailed to me. I know nothing about it other than what is evident in the pictures and captions.)

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:25 PM

It says a lot for the costruction of that tug!

Subject: The little tugboat that DID!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:33 PM

WOW!!

There's GOT to be a song in that somewhere!!

LOL!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:33 PM

ABSOLUTELY FREAKING AMAZING!!!

Thanks Jim!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:35 PM

Truth or urban myth? No hands lost - what did they all DO while they were under the lock? WOW indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:37 PM

"what did they all DO while they were under the lock"

I suspect there was a lot of "Browning of the trousers" eh...

LOL!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:37 PM

SHIVER ME (bridge) TIMBERS!!!!

Arrrrrrrrr. I think I just damaged me innards. (More than the boat did.)

Willie-O

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Amergin
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:44 PM

holy shit! that must have been quite a mess to clean up.....

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Justa Picker
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 04:59 PM

(Somehow I think if this was a video, Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog" should be the soundtrack accompanying it.)

Funny stuff! Thanks for the link.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Melbert
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 05:20 PM

In the words of Cyril Tawney...."another day on the old grey funnel line......"

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 05:28 PM

Was Kendall the Captain?

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 05:35 PM

I once attended a roll clinic for kayak paddlers. I wonder when they started having roll clinics for tugboat captains.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Hollowfox
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 05:54 PM

It's real, all right. It happened in the late 1970's at the Demopolis Bridge on the Black Warrior River, near Demopolis, Alabama. I'm not skilled at cut and paste yet, so I'm going to send the information I got to another 'catter to see if they can do it for me.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: gnu
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 05:57 PM

Horseshoes up the ass !

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: gnu
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 06:00 PM

Not to mention tight a**hole.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Gareth
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 06:08 PM

" And the (Name unkown) Shall rise, Shall rise again "

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: InOBU
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 06:42 PM

This ex-mariner was gritting the teath, explosive exhalation, praying for the crew... laughing like a madman, thanks for that, I'd love to email the cap. Jeeeeezzzeeeloueeeeeze! Larry

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Banjer
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 06:59 PM

WOW!!!! In the last frame it looks like a chopper in the air, think what it must have looked like to them. Not to mention that once they landed they were probably whisked off to the loony bin because no one believed what they were telling!!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Willie-O
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 07:46 PM

Just wondering: you can see the bridge clearance height sign (for over, not under it I presume) is in both feet and metres.

Is that really something you'd see in Alabama in the 70's?

So I guess that's just standard towing technique, eh: when you're going downriver you don't actually tow the barge, you just put a line on its stern and try not to let it get away. Which begs the question: how come the barge didn't get miles away while this tugboat roll was going on?

Anyway, next time I go shopping for a tugboat for inland use, I'll be sure to check the seals on all the hatches.

Like I needed another thing to worry about.

W-O

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Feb 02 - 08:17 PM

This is not as different and rare as you folks seem to think it is.

Time on the river is 95% boredom and 5% panic. These photos, which I got 5 days ago, definitely represent the latter category.

During the decade I was singing on the rivers I saw something like this at least half a dozen times. It was seeing these embarrassing moments for the pilots that made things "fun".

The most extreme situation I recall was when two diesel locomotives slid off the waterlogged right-of-way and tracks onto a passing towboat. The boat wasn't sunk then either. There was a large hole in the starboard side of the lower deck however. The towboat, whose name I've forgotten, continued to push barges on the Mississippi River near Dubuque, Iowa until the river froze over. The next year, after winter repairs, the boat looked as good as ever except for nicely rendered paintings of the locomotive on both the port and starboard sides of the vessel.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Banjer
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 05:45 AM

I can recall the time we were at a CW reenactment in Selma AL, camped right near the river. The Pettis Bridge was not oo far downstream from where we were. Late one Saturday afternoon I felt the ground shaking and a tremendous roar coming from the river. The shaking got more intense and the roar became deafening. We looked around in a sort of awe/panic mode thinking surely our time was near!! It was with great amazement that I realized it was a giant tug boat pushing a number of barges down river. The sheer power that craft must have had!! That is one of those had to be there moments that I will never forget as long as I draw breath. It was AWESOME!!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 08:55 AM

Willie-O: That looks like feet and inches to me, not feet and metres.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 09:47 AM

Just awesome - -

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 12:11 PM

Here's the story on the tow that Hollowfox promised. Interesting how it happened......
**********************************************************************

This incident occured in the late 1970's on the Black Warrior River at Demopolis, AL. Further investigation procured this response from Captain Robyn Strickland:

"I am assuming that you are speaking of the photos of the M/V Cahaba being pulled through under the Demopolis Bridge. A series of 20 photos showing the passing of the vessel under the bridge and her uprighting on the other side. This occurred when the crew attempted to turn their barges loose and let them pass under one span of the bridge so that the vessel could pass through the other side during high water conditions which, at that time, was pretty standard. When the crew was unable to release the starboard face wire the vessel was pulled under due to the currrent. To everyone's amazement she resurfaced and the engineer was able to start one of her engines and they reconnected to the tow and went on down the river. The vessel belonged to Warrior and Gulf at that time. These pictures were sent to me by Warrior and Gulf when I was doing some research on how the vessel came to have a dent at the top of the second cabin. Madison Coal (Charleston, WVA) had purchased her and I was curious as to how this dent occurred. She is now named the Captain Ed Harris. I used the photos in river history displays and gave copies to various people and the Ohio River Museum."

From Captain Robyn Strickland of the M/V City of Sisterville, formerly the M/V Judge Hickman of Nashville.
**********************************************************************

"And now you know the rest of the story"..........

Thanks Hollowfox!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: MMario
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 12:21 PM

This may be a stupid question - but why does the superstructure on the bridge shift from the right hand side to the left hand side when the tug goes past?

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 12:26 PM

MMario: Probably because the person taking the pictures walked from one side of the road to the other, to get a better view.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 03:33 PM

When a friend sent me these pictures, I was thinking of renaming the tug "Roll & Go."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble
Roll & Go

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 04:19 PM

Darn it! I want to see this, but the link won't work, now. You all have got my curiosity up! I'll check it, again, later.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: jup
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 04:19 PM

AND NOW THE JUDGES.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY ..8/10

ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION..9/10

JUDGES.France,gimme 10 bucks and ya WIN. U.S. We WIN, WE WIN! RUSSIAN, We missed it. AUSTRALIA, Goodonyamateibetyashityaselfs. Ireland, English bridge. Britain, Stiff upper lip chaps,TALLYHO!

YOUR TURN CATTERS.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 04:50 PM

Kat: If the other link doesn't work, try this one:

http://home.attbi.com/~nwigen/TowBoat/towboat.htm

It contains the same pictures and captions.

There are several large pictures, so it may take a while to download.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Hollowfox
Date: 27 Feb 02 - 07:51 PM

Thanks for the techie help, 'Spaw. Us obsessive librarians need a helping hand sometimes.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 04:09 AM

Jim,

That alternate site is down too :-(

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Hrothgar
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 04:34 AM

The Australians were on the next boat along, waiting for the ones in front to fall over.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: JudeL
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 06:53 PM

The alternative site is back up - someone obviously put in lots of effort, shame from their comments it sounds like they had some nasty emails.

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 07:37 PM

Thanks, Jim. I see that poor person had to move them to several different sites in order to cope with the traffic. It's too bad people seem to have been so nasty to him. I sent him a thanks and an invitation to come join us in this thread. Who knows? Incredible pix!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 07:53 PM

This site seems to be still functioning:

http://users.arczip.com/otto/towboat.htm

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 07:57 PM

What happened to the coal barges during all this?

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: alison
Date: 28 Feb 02 - 09:05 PM

wow

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 08:23 AM

Apparently, after the towboat released the coal barge, the barge shot through on its own, and was later recaptured downriver. Anyone know who the captain was?

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: JudeL
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 09:36 AM

It seems the owner of the site has some problems as can be seen from what's written prefacing one of the sites now running:


* "A post to an online journal seems to have started
* this one. The original site for these pictures was
* here, but the site accumulated a hell of a lot of
* hits in a short time (naturally). The text from
* site owner to the journal writer:

-- * Justin, The two sites involved drew 85,000 visitors
* in about 2 1/2 days. I'm stuck with over $3,000.00
* in over limit bills from my server owner
* (Rapidsite). This has become a nightmare. I'm disabled
* and this money will have to come out of
* our life savings. I only sent the site to a few
* friends (now ex-friends) who sent to everyone in
* the whole world. I've never heard of such a thing
* happening. Needless to say, the sites no longer exist.

* I did find out a lot about the incident though.
* The boat is the MV Cahaba owned by Warrior and Gulf
* Navigation of Mobile, AL. The pictures were taken
* by an amateur photgrapher named Barger. This
* happened in April, 1979 at Demopolis, AL on the Warrior
* River. Nobody was seriously injured and the boat
* continued to it's destination with the barges. To
* my knowledge, the boat is still in service. The
* bridge has since been replaced. "

Sorta feel rather sorry for the guy - we all enjoyed it and he gets landed with the bill!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 12:22 PM

Welcome to the harsh world of the net... One never knows what web site is gonna get rocked, and what one is gonna go unnoticed...

Too bad he didn't have a couple of wee banner adds up, so he coulda maybe even MADE money off those pics!

They certainly are fantastic!

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 01:53 PM

Following the alternative link which Jim posted, then that link, I found this at the bottom of the page:

If you want to donate funds so I will be able to handle this sort of load in the future, and to compensate for the amount of time I have had to devote to this you can go to www.paypal.com and donate to your heart's content. My address in paypal is '[e-mail]'.

I wonder if that is the same person who said they were having to pay the $3000 to their server. I also wonder why the server didn't shut it down when they saw what was happening and didn't work with him on that and the bill. Doesn't seem fair to an unsuspecting amateur.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: The little tugboat that could. (Pics)
From: GUEST, Nemo
Date: 01 Mar 02 - 09:16 PM

Viscerally, it was distressing as hell -- can you imagine being on the bridge, sweating bullets as that bastid swung beam-to and started turtling over on ya? All your fancy controls are useless; you're instantly transformed into a speck in the hurricane of natural chaos, where a moment before you were a proud operator of mechanical wonders. You're stripped down in a flash, a rabbit in headlights, staring at a wall of lethal water that doesn't care whether it bears you or buries you. Not a fun break in anyone's expectations, that!! :>)

And then, just when you're sure you're dead meat, and preparing to exit to Jesus, up she comes and you get a second shot at daylight and the surface -- the river draws away like a resentful fist letting go one inch at a time and you think it might be okay to breath for one more time.

Whoof!! Sunlight? Greenery? THIS is a fucking miracle, and you're half stuck in a near death experience. Whoooof!! I think he'd be shaking in his dreams for a week. And he knows damn well through it all that this slam into the brink of extinction was the immediate product of his own error in professional judgment!!! Oh, the pain. Oh, the fucking humanity!!