# harbour tugs



## reg (Nov 24, 2006)

Can any person tell me how do the harbour tugs winch a tow line in?
do they have a capsten at the stern, Reg


----------



## GeeM (Mar 2, 2009)

Having been Involved with the Coastal Tug and Barge ship docking tugs based In Miami as a Technical Superintendent when I first came to the US In 91 , I have the following comments. As far as US practice goes, they mostly do not employ winches or capstans. The line handling is done off the bow of the tug and they are secured to bitts. As the tug is manouvered directly below the vessels fairleads or chocks there isnt must weight of line for the tug crew to handle and the tugs use a very short scope. US Tug designs tend to be very conservative and they look like they did in the 50's except with modern machinery. Azimuth thrusters and / or Voith Schnieder units are rare. the normal configuration Is twin fixed pitch screw with twin rudders. They keep the skeg small so the boats can screw them selves sideways.


----------



## reg (Nov 24, 2006)

Thanks Geem,I thought the vessel that the tug is towing, that vessel would use its winch to take up the rope/wire, but I am just on with a painting depicting a tug towing a barge and I did not think that a barge would have a winch I hope that the information applys to british tugs, regards reg


----------



## Corrimeala (Jan 2, 2009)

reg said:


> Thanks Geem,I thought the vessel that the tug is towing, that vessel would use its winch to take up the rope/wire, but I am just on with a painting depicting a tug towing a barge and I did not think that a barge would have a winch I hope that the information applys to british tugs, regards reg


I can tell you that as a Thames Lighterman in the 50's and 60's it was all done by hand. You either threw a light line to the ship ( a traveler) and then heaved in the towing cable by hand or they lowered the towing cable and the tug ran alongside the ship and picked it up with a Hitcher (what people mistakenly call a barge pole!!!!).

As far as towing craft (barges) the tug backed up to the barge keeping it's head into the tidal flow and the tug had it's own tow rope that was passed to the towing hands, again all done manually. 

Of course it may all be done differently now. Having seen Cory's new tugs with air conditioned mess quarters and wheel house, microwave ovens and refrigerators, I bet they wear suits to go to work in!!!


----------



## Mike S (Dec 27, 2005)

Modern ship handling tugs have very high bollard pull. 50 tons upwards and some of the new Rotor class tugs being used in the Iron Ore ports in NW Australia are 85 ton. This requires a very strong line of around 140 ton breaking strain and they are all worked from a winch. Some of the newer tugs even have tension winches to handle surge. 

Every new tug I have worked since the early 80's here in Australia have been Z-peller ASD, Voight or Aquamaster ASD. They all use winches both fwd and aft. The high breaking strain lines are just way to heavy to be manhandled.

No we did not wear suits but we were ordered to wear hard hats in the wheelhouse and ER by some OH&S nutcase in the office once.

I cannot print the reply he got in this august Forum however you can guess. He did not last too long.


----------



## bob2bob (Mar 2, 2009)

Manchester Ship Canal Tugs used their own cables, Head tugs normally 2 on the hook to the ships port and starboard, stern tug 2 of the forward bollards, port cable to starboard quarter, starboard cable to port quarter, all manual handling. The stern tug was towed by the ship till required to put the brakes on, or given a quarter order.


----------



## reg (Nov 24, 2006)

Thanks lads for the information, reg


----------



## Mike O'Brien (May 12, 2014)

On our harbour tugs there was a length of towing rope and then a wire to the ship. On letting go the towing gear was hauled in by a winch man on the bow of the tug. There was a wire running from aft to for'd under the bulwark rail and this activated a bell near the windlass. There was a rope with a hook at the end, known as a messenger that was attached to the towing rope and hauled in the length of the deck. When the towing gear was pulled the full length of the deck the bell was rung the deck crew aft secured the towing rope with a short piece of rope known as a stopper and the deck boy then pulled the messenger aft to haul in the next fleet of rope. When the wire was hauled in an open snatch block was used which was hooked onto the messenger.


----------



## Pete D Pirate (Jan 8, 2014)

Thanks, Mike.
For the benefit of the ignorant (me), can you tell me what the difference between a Z-peller and a Duck-peller is?

Cheers,
Pete.


----------



## Mike S (Dec 27, 2005)

Essentially the same beast in that they have two propellers in nozzles aft. They operate in opposition so that when you clutch in they rev at the same speed 180 deg opposed to each other. When you move the controls forward they both rotate in axis and the vessel will move forward and moving the controls astern will move the vessel aft. They move independently and all control of the vessel is brought to the steering levers in conjunction with the throttles which are also independent. 
The duckpeller until rotates through 270 deg azimuth and is steered by two small levers and the throttles. The remaining 90 deg is blocked to prevent the props pointing at each other.
The Z-peller so named because the shafting from the engine runs in a "Z" which the Duckpeller does as well but one is Dutch design (I think) and the other started out in Japan.
Now all these tugs are called ASD tugs (Azimuth Stern Drive) and there are also other manufacturers in the market place like Aqua Master where the controls run both the steering and the throttle.
From a mechanical point of view the Duckpeller unit uses electric motors to provide the hydraulic power to steer the unit and on the Z-peller unit the power comes from the main engine driven hydraulic pumps. This gives the vessel the ability to run and get home "black ship". With two alternators and able to run the whole vessel on one and 6 hours of battery back up for controls the Z-peller soon took over from the Duckpeller.
Handling them all is an interesting and once mastered, fulfilling experience with a vessel that can produce very high bollard pulls, turn 360 deg in seconds, stop almost in it's own length, move side ways there are plenty of ways of getting into bother and more ways of getting out of trouble!
Duckpellers are also quite an old design and my description is based on the Wandilla built in 1971. There are other designs out there now with the units fwd and tug towing over the stern and even the Rotor class tugs with three drive units and three engines.


----------



## Pete D Pirate (Jan 8, 2014)

OK. Thanks for your time and trouble, Mike.

I seem to remember the Wandilla from around that time - a Sydney tug, if memory serves.

Cheers,
Pete.


----------

