World's TUGBOATS

[janihudi]

Lots of anchors stacked at the yard there. Is that by any change the VRYHOF yard?

that what you see is the schmitt anchor yard

last week been into that street and vrijhof is between the schmitt yards.

purple and red are the schmitt anchor aria
yellow is the vrijhof aria



the vrijhof yard





the schmitt anchor yard

choice enough









if you can`t find it there ,you can look at wortelboer achors and chains





regards thijs

[ombugge]

i had to go looking where rumbai and the siak river where,found them.
not the best of google earth.
how many meters are 290 ft.



it was just cruising the "street " to singapore

The GE take is actually not so bad when you zoom in.
I believe the Caltex Supply Base at Rumbai was at this location:

There has been a lot of development since 1967, when there was nothing but jungle all around and a road up to Caltex Camp (Now PT Chevron Camp)

The turning point was a bit up river, where it was deep into the bank on one side and relatively shallow on the other side, which is normal in such rivers due to the current flow in the bends.

By setting the bow into the bank on the deep side, the stern got in a current "shadow" when turning.

This is the turning point we used, as far as I can remember:

The white line indicate the width (290 ft. = 88.4 m.) with sufficient depth (15 ft = 4.60 m.) where we could turn ships.

Slogen was only 224 ft. ( 68.3 m.) long so we had no problems with the depth but with the current, since the stern didn't get much "shadow" at times.

Another Norwegian ship on the same run, MS "Sea Express" of about 270 ft ( 82.3 m.) length was the largest ship I know was turned at this spot.

The river is now extensively used for transport of logs, pulp and other commodities, plus by fast ferries from Batam.

I have only been there once since 1967 so my recollection is without guarantee.

[janihudi]

but you have bin there many times before,that you was as a pilot a board the ''loire''.

nothing find of the ''slogen''?

[janihudi]

probelly the left one,ombugge. the lines under the picture says that the loire,
maas and blankenburg and 2 coast tugs towing the Hr.Ms de Ruyter

[ombugge]

but you have bin there many times before,that you was as a pilot a board the ''loire''.

nothing find of the ''slogen''?

Yes, I sailed up and down the Siak River for a while, but as Mate. There was no official navigation charts or markers for the river then and no Pilot.

When the Loire arrived off the river mouth and anchored we got to hear about it through the jungle telegraph. I was sent down river in a speedboat to Pilot her up to Rumbai to hook up the tow. Since the Loire had a working radar and a good search light, we continued up river in the dark, which we never did with the ships. we would anchor somewhere in the wider part of the river to wait for daylight for the narrow upper part.

When we had made tow connection, we commenced down river again, still with me as Pilot, to covered the narrowest upper part in daylight, but didn't reach the river bar until well after dark, so we crossed the shallow bar in darkness. Not an easy task as there were no buoys to mark the channel, but we sometime did that with the ships as well, since we would be homeward bound to Singapore then.

The crew of the Slogen slept in hammocks on deck and cooked on kerosene burners since the accommodations were mostly burnt out.
Today they would have been taken off and returned by plane, but there were no flights.
The Slogen was the main communication to Singapore, carrying up to 12 of Caltex's foreign staff back and forward between Singapore - Rumbai v.v.(Replaced by MV "Caltex Kartika") For that she had been equipped with air-conditioning in the pax and officer's quarters. What a luxury then.

I'll post some info on the Slogen in the "My Ships" thread later, but here are two pics of the moutain for which sha was named.

Mt. Slogen, near Oeye, Hjoerundfjord, Norway in summer:

And in winter:


Both pics posted earlier, under the "Best fjord in Norway??/" thread.

[ombugge]

If you enjoy looking at a Tug burning a lot of fuel for no particular good reason, here is a link taken from Massmond Maritime today: http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=EaOFS...eature=related
It is quite impressive to see the way this tug handles, but it serves very little purpose.

[pilotdane]

The spin at 5:00 is impressive.

[pakarang]

If you enjoy looking at a Tug burning a lot of fuel for no particular good reason, here is a link taken from Massmond Maritime today: http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=EaOFS...eature=related
It is quite impressive to see the way this tug handles, but it serves very little purpose.

This quite simply has to be a Voit Schneider propulsion system I guess?

[janihudi]

images taken in 1986
from the time that holland was a big name in towing









engine controle room





engine,well a part of it



the bridge



the backstand



smitwijs,the beginning of the end

[ombugge]

She is still out there, doing what she does best, towing.
Dutch knowledge is is still the best when it comes to towage, only the names have changed.

[pakarang]

I saw on Discovery Channel recently that wherever in the world a ship is in distress, they will be able to have a salvage team on site within 24 hours of request.... that is pretty impressive, anywhere in the world within 24 hours!

[pilotdane]

A salvage team within 24 hours anywhere on the globe and I still cannot order a pizza delivered to my house.

[ombugge]

This funny contraption isn't an actual Tug but a Work Boat.
Seen at home base in Tuas, Singapore a few days ago:



A very handy little boat for many tasks, incl. handling anchors in shallow water.

Here she is a similar work boat, assisting in positioning an accommodation barge in very shallow water two years ago:

[ombugge]

A few Harbour Tugs seen working at Pasir Panjang Terminal, Singapore today:





Which end is the bow, I wonder???






And a MPA (Port Authorities) Launch keeping it all orderly:

[pilotdane]

Yesterday's picture shows all the crew wearing life jackets and hard hats. Do you find that safety or professionalism are different around the world or is it pretty uniform?

[pakarang]

Yesterday's picture shows all the crew wearing life jackets and hard hats. Do you find that safety or professionalism are different around the world or is it pretty uniform?

I think the maritime profession has become very regulated and hopefully now, people (as in crew members) will have enough brain power to understand the fact that safety equipment does save you from accidents and possibly death.

[pakarang]

The Smit Rotterdam as a plastic model:

http://www.captainsvoyage-forum.com/...1&postcount=35

[ombugge]

I have finally found the time to dig out some pics taken on board the "Rotterdam" in Nov. 2009 for comparison withe the pics taken in 1986, as posted by Janihudi in post # 129.
She had just completed a major overhaul and upgrading when I visited.

Here is some external shots. Not much has changed there:






The Engine Room is more or less the same, but she has been changed from IFO to HFO as fuel, which doesn't show much, unless you go into smaller details like pumps and heating etc.

Here is one of the Main Engines. (unchanged):


The Engine Control Room is changed, with mostly new instrumentation:


The most noticeable changes are on the Bridge, with new fwrd. control console:


And new aft engine control panel:


While the Winch Control panel is the same as before:


As is the view from the Bridge towards the stern:


This is the main winch, which is unchanged:


The winch is of the "traction" type and electric driven, which is fine for a long range towing tug, but not commonly seen any more, as most tugs are now dual purpose. (Towing / Anchor Handling)

Correction: The last pics show the storage drum below deck. The Traction winch is on the deck above. (I'll see if I have a good pic of that one as well)

[janihudi]

nice images ombugge,she is still a beauty among tugs.
still i hate to see her in that color and with that owefull name on her hull
i still have a hope that smit returns on the towing market with again the strongest tug

[pakarang]

Previously discussed ocean going tug: