Salvage Tugs – North Europe

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In those areas of the Globe with high ship’s traffic and subjected to severe WX conditions like in North Europe since long time has been established special Tugboats dedicated to salvage operations, big and powerful Tugs find employment also in special towage of barges, platforms, ships, or performing other utility tugboat work.

One of our colleague, R/O Hans Van Den Toorn sent me an e-mail remembering his embarks on board SMIT’s Tugs based in North Europe, one of the oldest Tug, the “ELBE”, now has been opened to visitors as Museum Ship, below Hans e-mail and some clips he sent me:

Dear Alfredo

For your information I did not sail on Smit Houston but on other tugboats of the Smit Towing and Salvage Company in the seventies. At that time the tugs were not as big and powerfull and big as the Smit Houston. Her radiostation of 1959 is also restored with the original equipment and is fully operational, callsign PDWN.

Website of SMIT Salvage Company:

https://www.smit.com/services/salvage.html

Here you can see a short video of Albert PA5ABW operating the amateurstation PI4DWN/MM in the restored radioroom.

And here you can see me operating the same amateurstation.

Here you can find all information about the tugboat Elbe which is stationed in Maassluis, a small city west of Rotterdam.

http://www.zeesleperelbe.nl/en/

Best 73

Hans PA3ERE

Last year I made a daytrip on the fully restored tugboat Elbe, which is now a museumship and makes regular trips on the Northsea.

I made that trip together with my old collegue and friend Albert Woutersen PA5ABW.