Boatnerd Discussion Forum

In this video posted below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2u3hgNyB0

What is the purppse of the small red buoy that appears to be passed over by the Victo between the 1:20 and 1:45 mark? I would think that having this happen would be avoided even for a dead ship tow. Or, was it placed there specifically for this tow?[/quote]

The small red buoy is a channel marker in the Welland Canal. It's always there during the season.

There was a decent east wind that evening that pushed the Victo away from the east wall when they were trying to dock. The Victo was basically a giant sail

Okay got it and thanks for the clarification tugboathunter very much appreciated. Not trying to confuse people and I also sent in a report to boatnerd news as well. Hopefully if I had that on my news report, they will clarify that as well. Basically I was just trying to make a point was all on the changes that were made on the Port of Montreal’s website as far as her name change and agent change was all. Thanks again for your help tugbosthunter and for clearing that up on her agent.

Gresco isn’t the owner, just the agent. When the scrap tug shows up on the port website, it usually shows Gresco as the agent as well.

Noticed today on the Port of Montreal’s website that the Victo which is the former American Victory and the Middletown has had two changes made since their arrival in Montreal recently. The most noticeable of the two changes is that her name has been shortened yet again and is now the Icto instead of the Victo. In other words, the V has been removed in the name Victo. The second noticeable change with her according to the Port of Montreal’s website is now she is owned by Gresco Ltd. whereas before Algoma Central was the owners before the most recent changes. All of these changes I’m sure are in preparation for her tow overseas to Turkey for scrapping. Still very sad though to see her career ending!

She'll be towed by a much larger and powerful ocean going tug across the Atlantic. Here's the tug that just towed the Algosteel for an example of what it will likely look like.

https://img4.fleetmon.com/thumbnails/fa ... 0x1140.jpg

Both McKeil tugs appear to be docked at different areas in Montreal. Is another company taking the Victory the rest of the way, or are they just taking a break?

Although not a Seaway trip, the Middletown did venture through the Welland Canal on at least one other occasion after its delivery voyage when it was towed to Port Weller Dry Docks in April 1979 after losing its rudder in Lake Michigan the previous December. It cleared the shipyard on April 16, 1979 for Silver Bay.

Was this only her 2nd Seaway trip?

Looks to be the west marker for the Welland navigation channel at Port Colborne:

http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=42.88 ... 4.946'%20W

The water between the marker and the west wall of the canal is a relatively busy tie up area for commercial, pilot and pleasure boats. Most of the big lakers usually stay toward and tie up along the east wall, unless a gust sends them t'other way, as appears to be the case in the video.

Mac Mackay wrote:Just watched the You Tube on the Welland Canal approach! Ouch - I am surprised they can get away with that kind of mayhem - even for a scrap tow.
Surely they could find a proper ship handling tug for the trailing tug. McKeil Marine must have underbid Ocean Group by a ton.

In this video posted below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2u3hgNyB0

What is the purppse of the small red buoy that appears to be passed over by the Victo between the 1:20 and 1:45 mark? I would think that having this happen would be avoided even for a dead ship tow. Or, was it placed there specifically for this tow?

Just watched the You Tube on the Welland Canal approach! Ouch - I am surprised they can get away with that kind of mayhem - even for a scrap tow.
Surely they could find a proper ship handling tug for the trailing tug. McKeil Marine must have underbid Ocean Group by a ton.

I caught up with the scrap tow at Marine City and Algonac last week, but really just now got around to looking at all of the pictures I took of the American Victory's final transit. It is interesting that in some stern shots I have and have seen on the internet it appears to be almost in its original straight decker appearance without its boom and the with the stack obscuring the top of the conveyor belt housing.

Stationary Capstan Winches at both end of the Welland Canal locks were removed in the late 80s

I've often wondered about the lack of stationary capstan winches at both ends of the Welland Canal locks.

MANY other canals (such as the Erie) have them at every lock so that long unaccompanied, unpowered barges can be "slung" out of a lock to be picked up on the other end by their tug (usually running in a pusher configuration).

The Erie ones don't get used much any more, but certainly got a major workout during the 2017 transit of the barges carrying the new Genesee beer tanks, as the locks couldn't accommodate both barges in a float and their tug at the same time .

I kind of assumed that the depth/amount of lift in the St Lawrence/Welland locks would make their use more problematic than the dinky heritage canals where you're most likely to run across them.

Thank you very much for that explanation. I was wondering if there was room at the tapered ends for at least one tug. Otherwise, there had to be some kind of winching operation going on with the tow ship onboard winches doing the work but that would require onboard auxiliary power.

Regards, John

Victo at Port Colborne on Friday night

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ndj42/alb ... 0410644048

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2u3hgNyB0

Although the St Lawrence (including the Welland Canal) locks are specified as being able to accommodate 740 foot ships, they are actually quite a bit longer. The extra distance is a safety buffer for normal operations/ship entry speeds and includes a 60 (or more in some cases) foot distance between the arrester cable and the downstream lock gates. It looks like some of the locks (#7 for example) could accommodate a ~900 foot ship if it were allowed to enter, but that's not going to happen.

The tow entered the locks VERY slowly under the control of the highly maneuverable tugs, so the mandatory use of the arrester cable was waived, freeing up more space in the lock than usual, but it was still a tight fit, requiring the overlapping of tapered bows/sterns as previously noted.

The oddball Welland Canal Lock 8/"Guard Lock", at 1,148 feet, handled Victo and all three tugs at the same time, with room to spare

StClairBN wrote:But how do they proceed through the flight locks in the Wellend?

For the Victory tow, they locked the Tim McKiel through all the way down through Lock 1, and the smaller tugs Evans McKiel (on the bow) and Vac (on the stern) handled the tow through the locks. By not lowering the arrester booms, and tucking the into the spaces between the lock wall and the ship’s tapered ends, they were able to squeeze all three of them (the ship and two tugs) through the locks together. When they came out of Lock 1, the Evans McKiel unhooked and came out first, then they backed the Tim McKiel in and hooked her up to tow the ship out.

Bookworm wrote:Backtracking a few years: I photographed her at Toledo in 2008 and can't recall whether she was towed or made the trip from there to Duluth under her own power.

After these lay up photos you took, she sailed for 1 more season. Her final 2008 season was cut short due to the severe economic conditions at the time, laying up in Superior in early November that year

I can understand the process of taking a scrap tow through a single stage lock with the lead tug locking down, trailing tug pushing the tow into the lock and backing out, the tow locks down and gets pulled out and trailing tug locks down. But how do they proceed through the flight locks in the Wellend. There's no room for the lead tug to pull the tow out of lock 6 at the lower level, into lock 5 at the upper level if it also has to fit into lock 5.

I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me how this is done.

Regards, John