Tugboat Race 2011 in

Detroit . . .  it’s international and freshwater, although a number (anyone KNOW that number?) of saltwater vessels pass through for such still-distant “ocean ports” as Chicago and Duluth.

Vessels in the race below are, l to r . . . Sheila Kaye, Josephine, Elmer Dean, J. M. Westcott II, and Sindbad.  By the way, J. M. Westcott II could also go by the “floating zip code” of  48222.   I’d love to see a floating post office take part in NYC’s 2011 tugboat race . . . you mean the “sixth boro” does not have its own zipcode??  I wonder if the Terreform ONE folks anticipate a zipcode in their visions?   Then again, will the USPS even exist in 2050 or 2111?  Anyhow, more Westcott pics soon.

Again, Sheila Kaye, Josephine,  Elmer Dean, and Marvin O.

Sindbad was the overall winner in the race from the Ambassador Bridge

to the Dieppe Gardens. If the info in this article is correct, Sindbad was built in 1925 in Buffalo, but  I haven’t corroborated that.  It’s not on the Buffalo DryDock site.

Elmer Dean . . . pretty . . . can anyone confirm that it was built in 1998?

An international race implies vessels from more than one country.   You might not have suspected that Josephine began life as Wambrau, 1956, in Den Helder.  In 1987 she became Sea Driver II, out of the VOC city of  Enkhuizen, and at some point after that, became the Toledo, OH Josephine.

I’d wager Josephine is the only Toledo tug powered by Werkspoor.  Here’s an English language site on the company.

Wheel,

galley, and

after portion of the house.  The engine room must be light and airy with this many port holes in a hatch over the engine

All fotos come thanks to Jan van der Doe, frequent commenter who watched the race from the Ontario side.  Thanks, Jan.

And I’m supposing that some of these tugs may have passed through the sixth boro at some point in their careers.