Dear Sir,

In response to the statements to reporter Jonathan Bell’s questions concerning the new tugs Faithful and Powerful, the spokeswoman for the Department of Marine and Ports was somewhat disingenuous.

No one, including myself, disparaged the tugs or intentionally disparaged the process by which they were acquired. There is a marked difference between the words “disparage”, “concern” and “freedom of speech”.

The Department of Marine and Ports did not respect the clarion call by one of the most senior tug captains at a meeting concerning the installation of a tow hook, a capstan and a small bollard at the stern, in the centre, for the use of a gob-line: the gob-line prevents the tow wire or tow hawser from moving too far off the centre line.

There are two plates that are attached to the port steps that lead to the forward deck to accommodate the tow hook. The tow wire or tow hawser would have to be fed through the main towing bollard, then put on the tow hook 14 feet away.

Ideally, the tow hook should have been attached to the towing bollard, but a tow hook somewhere is better than no tow hook at all.

The 1 per cent that the spokeswoman mentioned could possibly involve the most testing tow, depending on any number of scenarios. That is why the Bermuda tugs should be fitted out with these essential three requests by the concerned captains. Where are the tow hooks? No captain has been informed about these hooks.

There are no large shackles and no wire legs to form a bridle — necessary for offshore towage. There is no wire that leads from the towing bollard to off the stern; a hawser would tend to chafe, depending on weather conditions.

The saving of taxpayer money that would have been spent for the tow hooks is a shallow argument at best. The lay person is intelligent enough to know that by nature a tug does two things: push and tow by the stern.

I had received several calls and ran into people who are associated with these tugs who complimented me for speaking up. One caller was adamant that all were not unanimous in favour of these tugs; hence this story.

I have been informed that a senior branch pilot and a senior tug captain refused to sea on the Powerful towards the end of 2021 to assist the cargo ship Oleander some 30 miles off Bermuda because the tug was ill-equipped for the task. She went to sea with a junior branch pilot and a rookie tug captain — no slight against the tug captain.

Sometime this year, there was an oceangoing tug towing two barges and there was a need for a local tug to proceed offshore to take the barges in tow while the ocean tug came in for fuel and/or repairs.

When a senior tug captain was asked by someone at the head office if the local tug would be able to handle the task, his reply was no because of no tow hook!

There goes revenue for the Government. It would bode well for the Minister of Transport to insist on a meeting with the last two retired tug captains and the existing ones to get informed feedback.

Failure to look into this serious matter could cause great embarrassment to the Department of Marine and Ports, and to Bermuda.

ROY K. TODD

Southampton