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Since I’m not yet out of the bayou, and since Mage–who might need some cheering up– requested it, here are more photos from the currently ongoing flower parade on the waterways of Westland, a section of the province of South Holland in the low country aka Netherlands.
Hey . . . they brought out the king, or as the Dutch would say . . . the “koning van rock n roll.”
Since this blog is called tugster, and should NYS Canals do such a parade for the 200th anniversary of DeWitt Clinton’s trip, THIS is a role to play for small tugs, whether private of NYS owned.
In Westland, even local professionals get involved.
How about another shot of a small tow boat. By the way, is that a cheater tug with an excavator in the background of some of these photos?
I’m not even sure who might have sponsored some of these “floats,” but they do make me proud of my Dutch heritage with its attention of aesthetics and tolerance.
Have another push boat in the mix.
And let’s end with a string of floats towed by Walrus, another small tugboat.
Thanks to Jan for sharing these, to Mage for requesting more yesterday, to my friends at NYS Canals for paying attention, and to you all for reading.
Every day that passes, I’m closer to a lot of things, including getting out of the hot bayou near Avery Island. Click here because I know you know Avery Island.
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If you hop on a plane today, you might still catch the last two days of this flower parade in the land and specific region of my father; my mother grew up farther east on the Rhine. Here’s an English version of what’s going on; Westland is a region connected by waterways, not a town. Here’s a map, and here’s info on the boats. I’m going to send this blogpost to my friends at the NYS Canals, because I think the integrated boat/bike/camping event is a worthy model for Canals to study.
With my limited WiFi, I post these for you to enjoy. Let’s start, of course, with a prime mover, a small tugboat mentioned in an earlier post comments as an opduwer.
I’m guessing this float was sponsored by an automobile dealer who sells US vehicles.
The range of themes surprises me. Note another small tugboat.
I love this one.
Actually, I love them all.
And given my current long stay in the bayou, I had to include this.
I have a few dozen more photos, if you indicate interest in seeing more.
Many thanks to Jan van der Doe for sending these along, more photos of a summer festival in another place, maybe not entirely different than the mermaid parade, which I missed last weekend. Imagine if NYS coordinated a people’s event of this magnitude in 2025 to fete the 200th anniversary of the year DeWitt Clinton made the 10-day journey from Buffalo to NYC to unite the fresh and salt waters.
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.
Eight years ago, I had the opportunity to go to the steam festival on the waterways in Dordrecht NL. Here, here, and here are posts that came from that. That festival has just completed again, and thanks to Jan van der Doe, here are photos of some fine restored circa century-old Dutch steam tugs.
Hercules, for example, is 105 years young and new-build shiny.
By the way, the tower in the photo below is newer than Hercules. Info can be found here.
Adelaar dates from 1925, and looks brand new. The name means “eagle” in Dutch.
Kapitein Anna, a paddle steamer, entered service in 1911.
Scheelenkuhlen is German-built from 1927.
Furie is over a century old and looks pristine. Farther out, that’s Dockyard IX, 1942, and Maarten, 1926.
Hugo is from 1929.
Elbe, 1959, spent some time in the US as the mother ship Maryland for Chesapeake Bay pilots as well as Greenpeace vessel Greenpeace.
All photos sent thanks to Jan van der Doe and taken by Leo Schuitemaker.
We’re going west to east to south to farther east in today’s post, starting with the Missouri River north of Omaha by about 50 miles at the port of Blencoe IA. From here grain and soybeans are barged all the way to the New Orleans area for transshipment to foreign markets. That’s MV Tony Lippman stemming the current after dropping off some barges with fertilizer ingredients she’s pushed all the way here, fertilizer that arrived in the US by bulk carrier from foreign producers.
MV Tony Lippman is 144′ x 35′. For more specs on this 1971 build, click here.
These two boats, at the Upper Mississippi River port of Hannibal, almost look familiar, but they are Sir Josie T and Sir Robert. For more info, click here and see a photo by Tim Powell, frequent contributor on this blog.
CMT on the stack above stands for Canton Marine Towing. Near to far here are Sir Richard and Sir Robert.
Now we’re back in the sixth boro and at the south side eastern tip of Motby. From left, it’s Teresa, barge Acadia, Jane A. Bouchard, Evelyn Cutler, and Susan Rose. Note that Teresa has a small US flag high in the rigging. Might that be a courtesy flag in the wrong location, since she’s said to be flagged Liberian? I was hoping to see her stern to confirm that.
From Tony A and on a rainy day,
it’s Steven Wayne! She first became a regular in the sixth boro as Patapsco.
Courtesy of a son of Neptune aka Neptuni filius himself, the vessel alluded to in a recent post and now here for all to see, it’s M. A. R. S. War Machine, ex-Paul T. Moran. The photo was taken somewhere in the south.
And finally, from the mighty Ij River, it’s a 1907 or 1904 built Anna Sophia. Photo by een zoon van Ij.
All photos, except of course those by Tony A and the sons above, WVD.
Rumor has it that tomorrow is an unusual day that in years past I have acknowledged. I’m staying put.
Credit for all here goes to Sea Bart aka Zee Bart, which means the same thing. He writes: “When we moored in the Lekhaven in Rotterdam in August 2021 I saw a seemingly abandoned tugboat moored called Dynami, had some list, no lights on, etc. etc. During the following weeks we noticed more and more attention for this tug from the Rotterdam Port Authorities (RPA) that were regularly visiting.
One day they actually pulled a chain around the wheel house, not only to prevent people going in but also to detain the vessel. Every day one or more of the RPA patrol boats would check up on Dynami. End of last week suddenly there was a bilge boat alongside and they spent a full day sucking stuff (old fuel, bilges, sludge) out of the vessel. Later, one of the vessels from HEBO Maritime Services arrived to to nail boards over all the doors and close off the funnels with big bags.
And then last Wednesday another tug showed up and Dynami was pushed away to probably a safer, more secure berth awaiting her faith. I guess to be sold via auction in the near future and then off to the scrapyard.
“Dynami, from what I can find, was built in Spain in 1976 as Sertosa Diecisette, then in 1977 became Sertosa Dieciocho, and based in Cadiz. In 2016, she was sold to Iceland as the Togarinn, where she worked until 2020. She was then towed from Rekyavik with the destination of Belgium to be scrapped, renamed Dynami and flying the flag of Seychelles. For whatever reason, she never made it to the scrapyard; instead she arrived in Bolnes port near Rotterdam. In August 2021 Panamanian interests purchased her and a crew began a voyage to Colon PA. She never made it there either, because the next day she was back in Rotterdam, with oil leaking and her latest crew disappeared. She has since been laying in Lekhaven.
The little pusher tug called Gepke III is interesting as well, build in 1957 and still going strong….although it had some changes over the years: multiple times new bridge and accommodation, I guess it has been re-powered a few times in that time frame as well.
More info & pics here.”
Note the yellow RPA vessel off the starboard side of Dynami.
Many thanks to Sea Bart, one of the flying Dutchmen I have the pleasure of knowing.
Sleepboot . . .? it’s Dutch for tugboat. It’s pronounced more like “slape boat”
See the tricolor courtesy flag between the lower and upper wheelhouse? The photos were taken Monday (July 5) by Jan Oosterboer, in Het Scheur, aka “the rip”, a section of the Rhine-Maas-Scheldt delta near Rotterdam.
And those certainly are not buoys you’d see in the US.
Weeks tug Thomas recently arrived in Rotterdam area.
It’s just off the Nieuwe Maas in the Delfshaven section of Waalhaven. The Plymouth pilgrims ended their Dutch sojourn by departing from the port of Delfshaven. It’s not too far from all these kinds of sights.
Thomas towed barge Oslo and had an assist from Dutch telescoping-house tug Walvis.
Thomas may be doing crew change in Rotterdam; a few months back they were working off Ascension Island!
Many thanks to Jan and Jan for sending along these photos. Evidently, a US tugboat in the Netherlands draws attention! I’d love to hear more of the story.
A picture is worth a thousand words, even if the picture is a video still and grainy. This picture launched a 1000 (actually about 1300) words, which you can read in the embedded link at the end of this post.
So, just the basics will be in this post, since the story is in the link.
It was cold and dark in early December when Sheri Lynn S cracked some new ice in departing from the dock in Picton ON,
heading into Picton Bay
to meet this ship . . . delivering steel from Korea.
Communications describe how the ship intends to dock, and
Sheri Lynn S accommodates the plan, crew on the tug here prepare to send a line up to the crew on the ship.
Once the ship Lake Erie is secure, the tug heads into the frozen area of the Bay
to tie up until the next job.
Here are some shots on Picton Terminals last summer.
Click here for the article I did on the boat, crew, and operation.
Many thanks to Picton Terminals for assistance. All photos except the video still at the beginning by Will Van Dorp, who will have additional news from Picton soon.
Another tug Jed photographed in Rotterdam is
photo date 17 june 2018
Jaro II.
photo date 17 june 2018
The 1990 Damen STAN 2909 appears to have a stop in the Netherlands after having worked in the Dutch Antilles and before going to Portugal. Unlike a lot of Damen STAN products, Jaro II was built in the Netherlands.
photo date 17 June 2018
photo date 17 june 2018
Thanks much, Jed.
Jed–John Jedrlinic–has been busy, but recently he sent some photos from Rotterdam.
photo date 17 june 2018
ALP Winger is a huge anchor-handling tug: 213′ 59′ x 25′
photo date 17 june 2018
He got these photos in Rotterdam, but the boat is currently in the Azores.
photo date 17 june 2018
With her five mains, she generates over 18000 horsepower.
photo date 17 june 2018
photo date 17 june 2018
This is definitely a boat for a niche. Many thanks to Jed for these photos. more to come.
The other nine ALP vessels can be found here. Their largest, ALP Striker, was built in Niigata, Japan. Specs here, including over 24k horsepower, and dimensions of 291′ x 69′ x 28′
tugster: a waterblog 
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