Ahhh, but think of the therapy factor . Mid winter, take the ICW North to the Chesapeake, bust a little ice, run into things and not get into trouble, back and ram. Might even make a buck or two taking out stressed executives on the three hour Gilligans Ice Breaking excursion.
Seriously though, the Univ. of Wash. has one out here for a reasearch vessel, I saw one in terrible shape in Sitka a few years ago, and the rest must be getting close to lay up time.
The Towline is owned by Mike McDevitt the nephew of CWO4 (ENG) Jimmy McDevitt in Hull. Mike also owns the old Joes Nautical Bar in Hull, MA in the gut nect to Station Point Allerton. Massachusetts Maritime owned it for a while and it was in rough shape and Mike purchased her. Mike used her for the Duane reunion held at his place a few years ago.
I wish I had that kind of dough as my tour as XPO of Pendant was one of my finest during my career
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Dave, Good to hear that. She's tied in with a good family then. As the mist clears up, I do recall she was down at Buzzards Bay.
Not a bad price for a vessel like that. I'm cuckling at the idea of taking a 6 pack catered group up to Lynn Harbor, bust a little ice, work out their frustrations, and back to Rowes Wharf for the evening commute.
Give 'em an honorary Mike Healy button or somesuch.
By the way, had a retiring MKC in one of my safety / lifeboatman classes a bit ago. He is an old shipmate of yours from the Boston days, name slips my mind right now, but spoke extremely highly of you. You've left a mark. Regards Dana
I saw her down in Sandwich last year or the year before and she looked tough. I hope the new owner is able to keep her up. I remember the McDevitts well from when I was at The Graves Light.
Ahhh, but think of the therapy factor Big Grin. Mid winter, take the ICW North to the Chesapeake, bust a little ice, run into things and not get into trouble, back and ram. Might even make a buck or two taking out stressed executives on the three hour Gilligans Ice Breaking excursion.
Ice breaking was certainly fun.. Nice going places no one else can... We were treated pretty good back in those days.. of course in todays CG much of the fun factor would be removed.
I hope the link that was removed gets put back on.. I'd like to have seen that. Those Boston guys really stick together, don't they I'm thinking he didn't know he had to put them in quotes or brackes or something just to remove the "direct" part of the link... oh well. Maybe the moderator that did that snet him an e-mail explaining things.. I hope so.
The Towline is owned by Mike McDevitt the nephew of CWO4 (ENG) Jimmy McDevitt in Hull. Mike also owns the old Joes Nautical Bar in Hull, MA in the gut nect to Station Point Allerton. Massachusetts Maritime owned it for a while and it was in rough shape and Mike purchased her. Mike used her for the Duane reunion held at his place a few years ago.
I wish I had that kind of dough as my tour as XPO of Pendant was one of my finest during my career
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Dave When I was MKC at Group Woods Hole in the late 80's the CAT MDE was rebuilt and shortly after it was turned over to MMA. I would suspect that the engine has few hours on it and would have some longevity, athough I was dismayed to see it several years later at MMA not looking very Bristol Fashion as the BM,s used to make it look. Still a great old boat with alot of history. Just ask Doug Cooper and Jack Downey! There are some good stories they could relate as I'm sure you can imagine!
What a cool tour. I served on the CGC Wire out of GI from 92-94. Loved it. Breaking ice in the Hudson river was cool but fireworks security zones got old. Oh yeah, setting up an 8 hr security zone around the downtown heliport so Bill Clinton could get some bagels. That was awsome. One of my favorite tours in the CG.
I didn't get a chance to meet the new owner, but as we were breaking ice down in the Weymouth area (last winter), we stopped by and took a look at the TOWLINE. She isn't in that bad shape. A lot has changed...I'm currently the OIC on the PENDANT and technologies abound on the PENDANT in comparison. We actually had three WYTL’s in Hull, MA last week. The SHACKLE was done from South Portland picking up the AtoN Barge; the TOWLINE was moored in Hull. We were in the area for training. Yes, it is fun to break ice! Jeff
Breaking ice with a 44 footer was indeed an adventure and risky. I don't think they were built with ice breaking in mind.
I did two tours on SWIVEL, breaking ice in Casco Bay; Penobscot Bay; Kennebec River and Penobscot River. SWIVEL had to be towed out of the Kennebec by the TOWLINE because of cracked frames. Sam Harris was OIC of TOWLINE at the time.
Also had a tour on EASTWIND to Antarctica, and SNOHOMISH. They were all good duty.
Thanks for the picture. I was on the Messenger for a short time while waiting on "A" school. It was a retired Army WWII era ocean going tug that we used at the Yard to move cutters around. It had firefighting duties too, but the only exciting fire we ever had was when the tug caught on fire. It looked alot like your tug, only had more super structure area. I believe it was 83' long. The torque specs for the cylinder head were two big men and a 6' bar. I still have pictures of my grandaddy wearing the Messenger hat that I gave him back then. Wonder if it was sold for scrap? I know it is gone from the yard now.
. Mid winter, take the ICW North to the Chesapeake, bust a little ice, run into things and not get into trouble, back and ram. Might even make a buck or two taking out stressed executives on the three hour Gilligans Ice Breaking excursion.
I'm thinking he didn't know he had to put them in quotes or brackes or something just to remove the "direct" part of the link... oh well. Maybe the moderator that did that snet him an e-mail explaining things.. I hope so. 
One of my favorite tours in the CG.
