Browsing: tug boats

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Ends Search for 3 Missing After Tugs Collide

The Coast Guard suspended its search for three crewmen who were missing after two towing boats collided at mile marker 123 in the Mississippi River near Luling, Louisiana. The collision occurred about 5:30 on Sunday morning. The Coast Guard says the towing vessel Cooperative Spirit was going upriver when it entered a barge fleeting area and hit some barges before colliding with the towing vessel RC Creppel. Four crew from the RC Creppel were thrown into the water. The boat sank in the river. A good Samaritan boat recovered one of the crew. The Coast Guard sent three search-and-rescue boats…

Cruising Life
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The Onboard Life of an Ohio River Tugboat Captain, in a Photo Essay from Reuters

Here’s a beautiful photo essay from Reuters about the life of a tugboat captain on the Ohio River, as well as about all the changes taking place in communities along the river itself. It’s about Joe Gray, the captain of the 126-foot-long tug Tommy H, who grew up along the Ohio River and started working as a towboat deckhand alongside his brothers in 1988, when times were good. Gray is now 46 and works 28-day stints on the river between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cairo, Illinois. He earns $45 an hour, and often has to maneuver his tug and barges, which…