60 YEARS ;
 

I,ve been on the water about 60 years /& I,ve never saw this before ........................ a tanker [propane] no less ?towing a Tug boat ......& yes BTW .it is being escorted by 3 coastguard boats with armed 50MM in their bows ;

Wouldn,t ya think they would be concerned why a tug boat is getting towed ??????????:confused:

HAHAHA!! I saw them this morning as well from the Npt Bridge.. gave me a moment of pause.. the dog is walking the master.. ;)

Towed
 

I've seen the same with tankers at Hull Gut.

Mac ......towing a tug ??? or the coast guard with the guns ??? :confused:

Out of my wheel house (bad pun) but the tanker is probably under its own power and the tug is attached by line in case something goes wrong on the tanker. If something went wrong there might not be enough time to make the evolution from the tanker in control to the tug. If lines are attached there is a chance.

I think that the tug lost power and was being towed. You will never see a situation like this.. Or at least I have never seen this on the bay.. When I saw them, they were under the bridge and a 40'foot coast guard boat was there as well.
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Maybe it was just an optical illusion and it looked like it was being towed and the tubboat was actually pushing it.

Nope. I saw it from above and the side. The tanker was pulling the tug. You could see prop wash from the tanker and clean water behind the tug.
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Could have been a CG safety precaution. These armed escorts are commonplace in EverettBoston Harbor.
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I remember watching them take the North Cape up the bay after the oils spill off Moonstone. Talk about an armada. I think there was even an ocean going tug involved.

I think the tug is being "towed" but has not lost power. I would bet the that tug is in and out of reverse slightly giving the ship more straight line stability in tight quarters at lower speeds where they have lower velocities over the rudder making it less effective. Rudder force is proportional to local Velocity**2

By the tug pulling from the stern the ship can increase rpm a little without going too fast and allow for better tracking and control at low speeds and help control the stern if it starts to go off track by backing down and pulling to the side slightly.

It is possible that the tug is being towed without power but unlikely. That would be my guess. The escorts are probably a safety measure because of the cargo and proximity to congestion.

no. it was getting towed for sure ..

as as far as the the CG with the guns ;its been like that since 9/11 ................ they have just backed offon how far they would take it ......... when it started ........ you couldn,t be fishing , digging or anything else when those tanker & the C/G came to port ....................... noW .you just have to be way out of the way ><><><

Tow
 

The times I've seen it there has been strong wind and the tug was in reverse. As Sandman says the gut is fairly tight quarters and it wouldn't take a lot for the stern to get a little squirrely in those conditions.