I've always been fascinated by tugboats. Maybe this reflects memories of Little Toot, the little tug who preferred making figure eights in the harbor and otherwise having fun, until the day he was alone on a stormy ocean, with no one else around to help save an ocean liner in distress. In any event, it is interesting to see them guiding ships, or pushing huge barges for long distances. You can get a glimpse of life aboard as well. In the South, there is invariable a barbeque on the back deck. The huge bumper on the bow is sometimes made of rope, woven in an intricate pattern. The ones you see here are from a variety of places, the East River in New York, the Chicago River, and the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston. The photographic quality suffers a little, as these are 'action photos' taken from the flybridge of my boat passing nearby.
