Rolling On The River
The shots below were taken by a tugboat crew pushing a barge north, up the Tombigee River. They shots are in chronological order; the first ones are a sunrise over the Mobile Delta. You can see the I-65 bridge over the Delta. The tug passes under a railroad bridge in Jackson, and the most recent shots are from Demopolis. You can see the barge going through the Demopolis Lock and Dam, followed by a shot of the Demopolis Civic Center, where our SKYCAM is located. Then, a great sunset follows. We had this crew live on the SKYCAM on our 5:00 news yesterday afternoon.
More shots have been added from the crew as they are now in the Tuscaloosa area… you can see the I-20/59 Warrior River bridge in the latest shots…
One of these days, a group of us are going to try and go all the way from Birminghamport to Gulf Shores via this same waterway. Sure looks peaceful out there…
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 am
I have worked on the water for years and enjoy the awesome sunrises over the delta. The boats that push barges are called push boats. A tugboat typically has a flared bow that is used as a pivot point against a ship hull in aiding docking or other manuevers. The tugboat also gets its name from attaching a line from the tugoboat bow to the other vessel and tugging on it to aid in manuevers. Therefore “push boats” push barges and Tugs, tug on vessels with an attached line. Thank for you the beautiful photos.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 am
James,
I will have to be in that group. I’ve said for
most of my life I was going to do it(just not
alone)!
Tugboat Rat thanks for the education. Now I can
quit telling my children they are tugboats.