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Salvage tug

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
French salvage tug Abeille Bourbon which also serves as an emergency tow vessel (ETV)
French salvage tug Abeille Bourbon which also serves as an emergency tow vessel (ETV)
USNS Grapple Example of modern naval rescue and salvage ship
USNS Grapple Example of modern naval rescue and salvage ship

A salvage tug, known also historically as a wrecking tug, is a specialized type of tugboat that is used to rescue ships that are in distress or in danger of sinking, or to salvage ships that have already sunk or run aground.

Overview

Few tugboats have ever been truly fully dedicated to salvage work; most of the time, salvage tugs operate towing barges, platforms, ships, or performing other utility tugboat work.

Tugs fitted out for salvage are found in small quantities around the globe, with higher concentrations near areas with both heavy shipping traffic and hazardous weather conditions.

Salvage tugs are used by specialized crew experienced in salvage operations (salvors). Their particular equipment includes:

  • extensive towing provisions and extra tow lines/cables, with provisions for towing from both bow and stern and at irregular angles
  • extra cranes
  • firefighting gear
    • deluge systems
    • hoses
    • nozzles
  • mechanical equipment such as:
    • common mechanical repair parts
    • compressed air gear
    • diving equipment
    • steel for hull patches
    • welding equipment
  • pumps

Modern development

The total demand for salvage tug services is significantly down from its peaks in the years around World War II.

The increasing sensitivity of societies and legal systems to environmental damage and the increasing size of ships has to some extent offset the decline in the number of salvage operations undertaken. Accidents such as major oil tanker groundings or sinkings may require extensive salvage efforts to try to minimize the environmental damage such as that caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, or the Amoco Cadiz and Torrey Canyon disasters.

Discover more about Modern development related topics

In popular culture

In film

In television

  • Shipwreck Men (2013) is a reality TV series that follows crews who salvage and raise wrecked vessels.[1]

In literature

  • Farley Mowat's historical books The Grey Seas Under and The Serpent's Coil detail North Atlantic salvage operations in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s by salvage tugs operated by the firm Foundation Maritime.
  • Wilbur Smith's novel Hungry as the Sea is a tale about the master of a salvage tugboat and her operations

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Jan de Hartog

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Admiralty tug

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Admiralty tugs were tugboats built for and operated by the Royal Navy. These were vessels built to Admiralty specifications and in specific classes during the First and Second World Wars. They were built to meet the Royal Navy's demand for auxiliary vessels and to supplement the civilian tugs requisitioned by the Admiralty for war service.

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Ghost Ship is a 2002 American supernatural horror film directed by Steve Beck, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington and Karl Urban. The film follows a marine salvage crew in the Bering Sea who discover a mysterious ocean liner that disappeared in 1962. Despite its title, the film is unrelated to the 1952 film of the same name.

2013 in American television

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Farley Mowat

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Farley McGill Mowat, was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian north, such as People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). The latter, an account of his experiences with wolves in the Arctic, was made into a film of the same name released in 1983. For his body of work as a writer he won the annual Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970.

The Grey Seas Under

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The Grey Seas Under is a non-fiction book by Canadian author Farley Mowat about the Atlantic Salvage Tug Foundation Franklin, operated by the firm Foundation Maritime in Canada's Maritime provinces from 1930 to 1948.

Wilbur Smith

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Hungry as the Sea

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Hungry as the Sea is a 1978 Wilbur Smith novel.

Source: "Salvage tug", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 11th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_tug.

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References
  1. ^ "'Shipwreck Men' Premiere: Dangerous Job Of Salvaging And Raising Wrecked Ships (VIDEO)". Huffington Post. 2013-01-15.
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