If I have these dates right, Pieter Boele was built in 1893! Clearly this hull was built for towing, that bow not built for pushing.
Of course, the same would be true of the 1913 Jan de Sterke.
Dockyard IX dates from 1915. I know the small tug is called Furie, considered a push boat. I can’t make out the name of the third and fourth steam tugs in this photo, beyond the small pusher.
Noordzee is a 1922 tug.
Roek dates from 1930, built in Vlaardingen, my father’s hometown. He would have been three when it was launched.
Volharding 1 dates from the same year.
Dockyard V, as seen here, was built in 1942, although the sparse design suggests it’s older than that.
As with part A, all photos in part B here were sent thanks to Jan van der Doe and taken by Leo Schuitemaker. Scroll through here for some fabulous photos of the event. Maybe I’ll go back there again in 2024.
Posting by tugster tower robots at the behest of WVD, who wonders why the Dutch are able to field such a rich field of restored and fully functioning steam tugboats.
tugster: a waterblog 
6 comments
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June 15, 2022 at 3:37 pm
Lou Carreras
excellent photos, top notch vessels.
June 15, 2022 at 6:31 pm
sleepboot
Re. Dockyard IX dates from 1915. I know the small tug is called Furie, considered a push boat. I can’t make out the name of the third and fourth steam tugs in this photo, beyond the small pusher.
The third is the “CHRISTIAAN BRUNINGS” Christiaan Brunings was a Dutch hydraulic engineer.
June 22, 2022 at 6:50 am
D. Schwartz
What would a tug like Furie be used for?
June 22, 2022 at 9:18 am
tugster
Thx for the Q, D. Technically, Furie is referred to as an opduwer. Here’s an explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opduwer Maybe frequent commenter Jan van der Doe can add more info. I’d add that in NL and other W European countries, waterways come in all sizes, requiring equipment in all sizes. Maybe a story: my father had no love of boats; an explanation is that before WW2, he was a farm hand; as such, he needed to load cow manure on a scow–up the bank–then pole the scow to the field, then throw the manure down the bank onto that field. Granted, the scow was small, but it left a lasting distaste for boats with him.
November 4, 2022 at 7:30 pm
D. Schwartz
Ah yes. So maybe the progenitor of the tug barge pairings we see here on your blog?
November 4, 2022 at 9:23 pm
sleepboot
There is not much to add to the explanation that you mentioned already. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opduwer. It is not a pusher as we see on rivers here and in Europe, as the story already tells you. Around 1911 by Skipper O.H. Koudenburg of the clipper “VIA PUGNA” started to use it for the first time. When need the “opduwer” could also be used for towing over a short distance. It was a way of helping the ship/barge to move a sailing barge when there’s not enough wind to move the barge in a harbor. Some used two persons to operate one who was steering the barge and one to operate the little pusher, or one man could do it too. Now the ‘opduwer’ is used for pleasure craft and still being built.
Regards,
Jan.