Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
Just got back from delivering a 58' Hatt and saw this unfold in front of me on the upper Mississippi this past Tuesday. Came around a bend and noticed this tow was WAY outside the channel to starboard. The boat was up against the bank, and the barges were almost on top of a red. I couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing for where he was going. As we got closer, I was about to contact him, but we could see he was losing the set and was unhooking the boat. As I saw one barge break free, I grabbed my phone to shoot some video. Heard the captain asking for assistance from other tows in the area as he said he had lost his rudders and was in a bad way. Luckily there was a huge back up at Lock 26 (cost us a day), so there were plenty of them nosed into shore nearby. Would have been interesting to stick around and watch the action, but I was trying to make Rockport, IL before dark and had to keep moving.
A couple of minutes later, the USCG issued a securite, but it was wrong. Said the channel was blocked at river mile 221, but it wasn't. They said nothing about that breakaway barge, but quite a bit later, they issued another warning that said there were two barges loose. Luckily the dikes found them before they caused any damage as that would be a hell of a thing to try to get away from on the river. I've been running the rivers for over 40 years and had never seen anything like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPqIhGjNu1A
Re: Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
Wtf does he need rudders for if he has 2 engines
Re: Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
I think he may have 4 rudders. I am little bit of a tug boat nut so I have read a number of books. That by no means makes me an expert but it tells me that they need a lot of rudder to control those big tows in that swift current. I may be off base on this maybe some commercial guys will chime in.
Re: Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Boatsb
Wtf does he need rudders for if he has 2 engines
He probably has 6 rudders. 2 regular and 4 flanking (forward of the wheels). Think about going downstream in a significant current with a 1000 feet of barges in front of you. You can't outpace the current. Gotta control the tow in reverse.
Re: Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
Quote:
Originally Posted by
motoryacht lover
I think he may have 4 rudders. I am little bit of a tug boat nut so I have read a number of books. That by no means makes me an expert but it tells me that they need a lot of rudder to control those big tows in that swift current. I may be off base on this maybe some commercial guys will chime in.
They do have four, at least from what I've seen viewing them from a distance in dry dock. I just wondered if he swung too far out to line up his turn and took them out on a wing dam, or if his steering failed and caused the problem. He referred to losing his rudders, but maybe that's generic towspeak for not having steerage in general.
Current was around 4MPH, and barges do bad things when they're not moving. Would be interesting to know exactly what happened.
Re: Bad Day For Tow Captain On The Mississippi
Quote:
Originally Posted by
motoryacht lover
I think he may have 4 rudders. I am little bit of a tug boat nut so I have read a number of books. That by no means makes me an expert but it tells me that they need a lot of rudder to control those big tows in that swift current. I may be off base on this maybe some commercial guys will chime in.
Well had you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express you would be an expert. Get with the program! :{)
