I don’t know when the first Vane Brothers tug came through the sixth boro, but I posted fotos of the first ones on this blog in September 2007, when Patapsco participated in the Hudson river tug race, here and here. Now some days, it seems that half the tugs in the sixth boro have the black V superimposed on the green ribbon. Like the 3000 hp Sassafras, or
4200 hp Nanticoke, or
sibling Potomac all in the space of a
few hours on an otherwise quiet day.
Or take yesterday . . . while two unidentified Vane units lay anchored over toward Red Hook, Patapsco strapped on DoubleSkin 55 and with
assistance from Charles D. McAllister, spun
the unit 180 degrees and headed over to the anchorage as well.
Click here for details on the Sassafras and Patapsco class fleets, and here for Vane Brothers ThomaSea building record.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Tomorrow I’ll share fotos of the shipping line that dominated the sixth boro on Monday afternoon. Any guesses?
Unrelated: For a recent Vancouver Sun article on the outlook for towing operators on the West coast, click here.
Below . . . bonus foto from 2007 tug race showing how much water Patapsco can push.
tugster: a waterblog 
6 comments
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January 11, 2011 at 4:55 pm
John van der Doe
Re:
Tomorrow I’ll share fotos of the shipping line that dominated the sixth boro on Monday afternoon. Any guesses?
Maersk ships?
January 11, 2011 at 5:11 pm
tugster
are you in the harbor at present? it seems an astute guess.
January 11, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Mage Bailey
RYN: Thanks for liking that top picture. I liked the bottom one, but I couldn’t get detail. There was a whole nest of blue and white, older tugs out here in the middle of the desert just tied up to a short pier. I was dashing by in a bus….which altered the color, and had a bit of distance between us.
Nice stuff today….but cold.
January 11, 2011 at 8:01 pm
John van der Doe
No Will, unfortunaly I am in the snow and cold in Fergus. Tomorrow I will be in Toronto.
Kind Regards,
Jan.
January 13, 2011 at 9:06 pm
eastriver
Might the proliferation of Vane boats have something to do with the fact that they are nonunion, don’t pay well, and thus might undercut others? Hmmm….
January 13, 2011 at 11:28 pm
tugster
it wouldn’t be the first time that strategy has been used. by the way, i saw you at anchor on … monday?? happy sailing