# zwarte zee Dutch tug, built 1963.



## tony Allard

hi does anyone have pics say in colour or back and white of the tug zwarte zee 1963 built, and did she have any sisters.

thanks for any info etc, you can provide.


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## Billieboy

Witte and Rood Zee, if I remember correctly, I think they were in Maassluis in 1965. Ruud, should have some photos.


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## todd

The 'Zwarte Zee' younger & older...B\)

Jim


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## todd

....And two of the Younger...

Jim


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## todd

The 'Witte Zee' younger and older.

Jim


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## tony Allard

thanks for the pics Jim.
thanks for the info Billieboy.


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## Jan Hendrik

*Zwarte Zee*

Tony, use the search engine, type Zwarte Zee and you get access to many previous postings on this vessel.
Jan


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## duquesa

*Dutch Tug,built 1963*



Billieboy said:


> Witte and Rood Zee, if I remember correctly, I think they were in Maassluis in 1965. Ruud, should have some photos.


As mentioned in another thread - for a very regular poster, Ruud has been conspicuous by his absense for some time. I hope someone can establish that he is OK


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## billyboy

I saw him online an another site (facebook) a couple of weeks ago. he has been making videos of ships transiting the Canal. Not seen him on for the last three weeks though.


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## duquesa

*zwarte zee Dutch tug*

Good to know he is about somewhere. Thanks for that.


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## Jan Hendrik

He is pretty active (daily) on a number of maritime sites.
Jan


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## meechingman

Rode Zee was 'straighter' in design than Zwarte and Witte, nowhere near as attractive in my eyes.

IIRC, Rode Zee and her sister Poolzee were 11,000hp compared to the Zwarte and Witte Zee's 9,000.


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## b.vellinga

Hello 
Zwarte Zee and Witte Zee were sisters
Poolzee-Rode Zee-Noord Zee were also sisters


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## DxbBob

*So many portholes*

*Opinion time: Like so many others, I think L. Smit's ZWARTE ZEE (IV) and WITTE ZEE (III) rank among the most beautiful ocean going salvage tugs ever built: two of several of what I like to call "clipper class" tugs of the fifties and sixties, the golden age of blue water towing. That class of tugs is well populated by Dutch designed and built boats but it includes the U.S. designed and Japanese built ALICE L MORAN (later UTC STATESMAN). Bugsier tugs back then (e.g. ARCTIC, OCEANIC, TITAN, WOTAN, PACIFIC, BALTIC, ALBATROSS, SIMSON and the like) struck me as muscular and tough-looking, hence more “handsome” than “beautiful”. I’m not implying anything negative as to their sea keeping or functionality. All I’m saying here is that from an aesthetic point of view, the large superstructure on several of them, together with the heavy for'd main masts and tall mid-ship kingpost/derrick boom and fire monitor structures preferred for German tugs of the day, was less pleasing to the eye. I also think JOHN ROSS, after her mid-ship derrick boom structure was removed, was a beautiful tug. Bottom line: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
But I digress ... I started writing this after reading Rass' comment regarding ZWARTE ZEE portholes, about there being a lot of 'em. How were there, 24 or 25 per side? 
I read somewhere that ZWARTE ZEE had accommodations for a crew of 31 and additional berths for 20 supernumeraries, presumably salvage crewmen or, perhaps, rescued seafarers. I've always believed (I'm no naval architect) that public spaces, galley and berths on Smit tugs of that era incorporated time-tested and somewhat crew friendly characteristics, given that some of those hands were aboard the boat for months, like 6, 7 or 8 months, at a stretch. Such characteristics included as much access to natural light as was structurally and operationally practicable. I attach an L Smit International photo of the captain's day cabin: roomy and bright. I don't have a picture of crew’s berths but I believe her ship's joinery (fittings or furniture) in those spaces included some items of wood, far more than would have been the case in ALICE L MORAN, which would have featured metal joinery and bunks, metal lockers, and, yes, fewer portholes, typical of the Spartan accommodations common in U.S. tugs of the day.*


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## DxbBob

Re. my post of 10 October, let me clarify that the portholes being discussed served the officers' cabins on the main deck. Crew's quarters were on the 2nd deck (the deck below main deck) from athwartship for'd to the collision bulkhead/chain locker. There weren't any portholes down there. Thanks.


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## Stephen J. Card

Here is ZWARTE ZEE in Rotterdam with the new little Bermuda tug FAITHFUL b. 1967. FAITHFUL ran trials and then went to Bermuda via Ponta Delgada for bunkers. Sold abroad some years ago... like 20 years ago and I believe still in service somewhere in the Caribbean.

FAITHFUL and sister POWERFUL were Smit & Co designs. Instead of having 650bhp they were given 1,400 bhp General Motors.

Stephen


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