Yesterday I posted a foto of JoAnne Reinauer III: there was a 1 and then the 3 . . . I wonder what happened to 2. Not so with Maurania. I just looked and there was a 1 and a 2. Maurania 2 was launched in Brooklyn in 1952 and still operates in New London as Towmaster.
Maurania was built in Delaware in 1925. Click here to see her beefy hull on a beach after Hurricane Carol.
Maurania sounds like it’s the name of a country in Africa . . . but sorry: it exists only in science fiction. A beach in Mauretania is home to
one of the world’s largest ship graveyards. Here and here are some recent tugster fotos of Maurania III. Now what I want to know is . . . what became of the golden eagle that used to adorn her house . . . .
Unrelated: Two HUGE objects are Thialf, here floating into Rotterdam . .. and here .. . the way to move ship’s propellors quickly from a Bahamian warehouse to an Italian shipyard.
And for some small floating objects to offset the huge, consider these ocean-going vessels from a recent post from a Brooklynite on Ice.
tugster: a waterblog 
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April 25, 2012 at 11:21 am
Steven Toby
Something isn’t quite consistent in this post. Looking at the photos of Maurania, the superstructure at least is all-welded, not a state of the art technique in 1925. Also, following the link, it says Maurania was scrapped in 1962, and the ship high and dry from the hurricane doesn’t look like the photo at all. The captions say there was only a Maurania I and II and both are accounted for. Is this wrong? Does the photo show Maurania III as shown in the title? If so, when was she built? I am no expert on tugs but those two big funnels certainly suggest a lot more power than would be common until recent times.
April 25, 2012 at 11:48 am
tugpower
The Name Maurania Comes From The Mauran Family Founders & Owners Of The Providence Steamboat Co. 11881-2007 Until Purchased By McAllister. http://providenceworkingwaterfront.org/index.php/providence-steamboat-company/
The Name JoANNE REINAUER III Derives From 2 Tankers Previously Owned By Reinauer Transportation With The Same Name. The JoANNE REINAUER II Was Built In 1923 For The Standard Oil Co. As AMSTERDAM SOCONY, & Later Was Sold To The Poling Transportation Co. To Become POLING BROS. NO. 8. http://www.tugboatinformation.com/tug.cfm?id=92 I Can’t Presently Find The Research Information On The First JoANNE REINAUER, But I Knew That She Did Exist.
The Present Tug JoANNE REINAUER III Was Built In 1970 By Main Iron Works, Houma, La. As DAD III For Doucet & Adams Marine Towing Of Galliano, La. The Name DAD Derives From D (Doucet) & AD (Adams). http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/5small/active/mainironworks.htm, http://www.doucet-adams.com/. The Company Formerly Owned Tugs DAD & DAD II. At Present They Own Tugs HARRIS B. DOUCET, & DALLAS J. ADAMS. I Have Photos Of DAD III Before She She Became JoANNE REINAUER, & Photos Of JoANNE III Shortly After Reinauer Took Ownership.
April 25, 2012 at 1:30 pm
tugpower
First Of All, Sorry For The Typo Error 1881-2007 In The Previous Post. In Reply To Steve Toby’s Post. The First Tug MAURANIA Built in 1925 In Milford Delaware Is Correct. The Tug May Have Been Fitted Between 1925 And 1962 With A New Pilothouse, Plus Other Modifications During Her 37 Year Career. Older & Newer Tugs Do Go Through Modification Periods Where Structural Modifications Are Quite Common As Well As Newer Engines Are Also Being Installed For Greater Horsepower. Hurricane Carol Was In 1954, Six Years Before She Was Scrapped. Tug MAURANIA II Was Built By Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. In 1952. She Is Still In Service As TOWMASTER With The Thames Towboat Co. Present Tug MAURANIA III Was Built In Providence Steamboat’s Yard In Fall River, Ma. 2004. She Is Twin Screw 4,000 hp, And Both Her & Tractor Tug RAINBOW (Also Built In 2004), Were The Last Two Tugs Built For The Company Befor McAllister Took Ownership In 2007. All Information On These Vessels Can Be Found At This Link, & By Clicking On Each Individual Tug In The Retired/Sold Section On The Right Hand Side. http://www.tugboatinformation.com/company.cfm?id=52
April 25, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Tom Turner
Amazing watching Thialf in the video from Rotterdam. What a monster!
April 25, 2012 at 3:41 pm
tugboathunter
Nice photos, Will! Maurania III is absolutely one of my favorite tugs.
April 25, 2012 at 5:26 pm
BM1
The Maurania III was a long on going build. originally started when I was a kid in Fall River Ma. by Mass Bay Towing I believe, which was then bought out by Providence Steamboat which was bought out by Mcallister. A home made boat originally started by Mass Bay Towing around the mid 80’s. Probably build and designed by the same people that were working on all of the former Sea Boats. The Church Family was heavily involved w/ Mass. Bay Towing before the started Sea Boats right down the river. The work started and stopped several times while I was growing up, and then the hull sat for quite some time until Providence completed it. around 2001 or 2002 Providence Steamboat hired Donjon Marine to launch the hull complete w/ engines rudders and wheels but no house w/ the Chesapeake 1000 derrick crane. then the super structure was completed a year or so later. So yes it does look a little odd because it was home made and because the keel and side shell are 15-20 years older then the rest of the boat.
April 28, 2012 at 6:11 am
Bobby
Her power plant was salvaged from the Great Lakes tanker Neptune that exploded in the late 80s I believe!
December 25, 2014 at 11:43 am
Anonymous
She is named for the Mauran family. The former owners of Providence Steamboat. She was designed by John Leiby and is the same hull as the Silver River, Hollywood, and Osprey(Allied). The 12cyl EMDs from the neptune were traded in as cores and remanufactured 16-645-e2s were put in. The eagles on the pilot house went to each of the 5 Mauran daughters. They still have them. The Church family was not involved with Mass Towing. The Mauran family owned it and purchased it from Sanchez.