A QUARTET OF TUGS

Tiny they may be but they're tough!

By Derek Longly

Tugs are fascinating. 

They are small enough to go more or less anywhere, they can have lazy days when they just lay around snoozing and then at another time they can be seen pulling and pushing, straining at hawsers and generally throwing their minimal weight around as they move vessels far greater than themselves.  They can certainly be described as workhorses of the maritime scene. 

Here are four that have been employed in and around Newhaven, including our very own Meeching.

Photo:MT Kingston

MT Kingston

Derek Longly

Photo:MT Foxbay

MT Foxbay

Derek Longly

Photo:MT Meeching

MT Meeching

Derek Longly collection

Photo:MT Aatos

MT Aatos

Derek Longly

This page was added by Derek Longly on 04/08/2012.
Comments about this page

Dave Miller's little Kingston is still going strong for Griffin Towage, at Poole, I think. Not sure what happened to Foxbay after she left the port. Meeching looks well down by the stern which suggests she's light on ballast or fuel. And isn't that water awfully yucky!

By Andy Gilbert
On 07/08/2012

Kingston was originally Sun XXIV in Alexander's London Tugs fleet, taken over by Alexandra Towing. She was built in 1962 by Pollock at Faversham and had a Mirrlees K-type main engine driving through an MWD reversing gearbox. Foxbay, was a twin-screw ex-Admiralty tug with Blackstone main engines and was originally named Foxhound. Aatos, registered in Finland, made several trips with a barge loaded with granite blocks from Stavanger for the Sovereign Harbour construction at Eastbourne. The tow would be slipped a mile or so off and the charge taken over by a Dover tug, which would push the barge onto the beach. After discharge, which might take several days, Kingston would pull the barge off the beach, then transfer the tow to Aatos in deeper water. I took several snaps on one trip and will upload them if my limited IT skills permit!

By Bruce MacPhee
On 01/02/2014
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