TUGS " KINGSTON " & " AATOS "

With stone-carrying barge

By Bruce Macphee

Finnish tug Aatos made several trips from Stavanger with a barge laden with granite blocks for the construction of Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne.  A Dover tug would take over to push the barge up the beach as far as possible at high water, then its ballast tanks would be flooded so that it settled.  When discharge was completed after several days, Kingston would pull the empty barge off the beach into deep enough water for the ocean-going tug to take over.  The pictures of Kingston alongside Aatos and  Aatos full-away give scale to the size of the barge. (More details of Kingston appear on the page "A quartet of tugs")

Photo 1: Dave Miller's tug Kingston alongside Finnish tug Aatos at ferry berth, East Quay. Aatos had brought a barge laden with granite blocks for the construction of Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne.

Photo 2 & 3: Kingston pulls the barge off the beach after discharge.

Photo 4: Aatos prepares to take over the tow.

Photo 5: Aatos "full away" with tow; photos 4+5 together give some idea to the size of the barge.