Interesting and unusual boaty type things.

[Mr Larrington]

How does the steering of a barge train with a pusher tug work then? I'd have thought it was dynamically unstable...

Dunno, I only saw it going in a straight line   I suppose that if the whole think is lashed tightly enough together it behaves much like a rigid vessel.

What's on those barges: coal?

Couldn't say as whatever it is had covers over it.

I'm not being very helpful, am I?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Mr Larrington has the right answer. The barges and tug are tightly lashed together and behave as a large vessel, with the same sight distance, steering and stopping limitations.

[Jurek]

its not at all unusual to see pusher tugs strapped to the sides of full-of-landfill barges on the Thames.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Those barges are not just for landfill. There is quite a bit sent for incineration/ power generation.

[Panoramix]

its not at all unusual to see pusher tugs strapped to the sides of full-of-landfill barges on the Thames.

To the side is the common and easy way to tow in a retringed area, you just need to remember and anticipate that when you will have to go astern to stop the thing, it is going to veer toward the tug!

[cycleman]

Cables from the tug to barges pull the front barges left or right right I think it 

[Mr Larrington]

P9080013 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Deep submergence rescue vehicle "Avalon", Morro Bay CA


P9080041 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Yatch having a hard time into a mighty rushing headwind, just east of the Golden Gate

[Si S]

Unusual in that you don't get many wrecks in Cheshire, the MV Chica

[PeteB99]

P9080041 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

Yatch having a hard time into a mighty rushing headwind, just east of the Golden Gate

Interesting flag she's flying from the peak. Not a variety of the national flag not the US yacht flag and not the Massachusets ensign from where the original Tiger hailed.

Anyone recognise it?

[Oscar's dad]

This looks like Tiger's website.  She is on FB too.

[PeteB99]

Yeah I saw the website. Doesn't identify the flag though. It looks similar to some of the historical US flags but I can't see any quite the same. If they are keeping to the history of the ship it should be a flag from around 1830.

[The French Tandem]

Spotted on Tuesday morning somewhere between Dover and Calais (sorry for the poor quality). Anyone knows what it is?

[hatler]

I think that's called a jack-up rig. Legs can go down to the bottom to secure it in place.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Correct. They jack up enough that the hull stays clear of waves, giving a stable work platform, particularly when craning heavy items like wind turbines into position. http://www.seajacks.com is a jack up rig company with several rigs based in Great Yarmouth. Their website shows how they are used.

Most have three or four legs, six legs is quite unusual. There can't be too many rigs with six legs out there.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yeah I saw the website. Doesn't identify the flag though. It looks similar to some of the historical US flags but I can't see any quite the same. If they are keeping to the history of the ship it should be a flag from around 1830.

It looks like the flag 2nd from left, one up from bottom, in this pic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States#/media/File:US_historical_flags-United_States_of_America.jpg

Which looks to me like the 1861-3 version, Kansas, in this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States#Historical_progression_of_designs
Note it says at the top that until they got to 48 stars, there was no official pattern for the stars, so a circle was just as acceptable as rows.

Edit: I count 24 stars on Mr Larrington's photo, so bearing in mind free arrangement, that would place it at "July 4, 1822 – July 3, 1836
1831 term "Old Glory" coined" and new state Missouri on the Wiki list.

[JStone]

Similar to The French Tandem's sighting ^^ in the Channel - but bigger. The world's largest jack-up rig Noble Lloyd Noble sitting on the semi-submersible heavy lift ship MV Hawk off Cromarty last week.

[Oscar's dad]

Good grief!  You wouldn't want to get caught in heavy weather whilst on board that!  Scary!

[hatler]

I imagine there is an emergency 'jettison the cargo' procedure if things get too marginal. Release the tie-downs, flood the ballast tanks on the carrier ship, and then let the rig float off. Mind you, rather them than me if things have got that marginal.

[hatler]

Thinking about it, I would want explosive bolts securing the load so that they could all be fired at once, without requiring anyone to be on deck. And you could do that once the carrier ship was properly awash.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I don't know about explosive bolts securing the rig. When container cranes are delivered to container ports, the cranes are welded to the ship's deck and the hot axe is used before they are rolled onto the quay. Crane delivery ships will tend to avoid the worst weather in safe harbours.

http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/91012/four-new-gantry-cranes-arrive-to-hhla-container-terminal-germany-2/

I was fairly heavily involved with the London Gateway container port and the crane delivery ships (three separate shipments of identical cranes) look very lopsided as they berth.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/ship-to-shore-cranes-delivered-to-dp-worlds-new-londongateway-port-163056410

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't know about explosive bolts securing the rig. When container cranes are delivered to container ports, the cranes are welded to the ship's deck and the hot axe is used before they are rolled onto the quay. Crane delivery ships will tend to avoid the worst weather in safe harbours.

http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/91012/four-new-gantry-cranes-arrive-to-hhla-container-terminal-germany-2/

I was fairly heavily involved with the London Gateway container port and the crane delivery ships (three separate shipments of identical cranes) look very lopsided as they berth.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/ship-to-shore-cranes-delivered-to-dp-worlds-new-londongateway-port-163056410

The windage on those things makes me cringe. Steering must have been an nightmare.

[T42]

Rather sleek Swiss barge on the Rhine:

[The French Tandem]

^^ Swiss? Are you sure? The flag looks a bit more Dutch than Swiss!

[T42]

The badge on the bow and the flag at the stern are Swiss. The one on the mast looks like a house flag, and also bears the Swiss cross:

[Mr Larrington]

P9230056 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr.  Most of the Federal Weser passing through Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.


P9230058 by Mr Larrington, on Flickr.  Squint in the distance to see the Paul R. Tregurtha queuing in the background.