THE COAST GUARD has a wonderful collection of art that offers a window into its multiple missions of search and rescue operations, domestic and international security patrols, vessel inspections and other duties both past and present.

This collection, which exceeds 1,700 works of art, is exhibited at museums around the country as well as in offices of members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, senior government officials and at Coast Guard facilities nationwide.

And currently in Port Townsend.

Thirty of the works are on view in the Treeter Gallery upstairs in the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.

This exhibit, which provides visual testimony to the unique contribution the Coast Guard makes to the nation in its role as a military, humanitarian and law enforcement organization, will be on display through the end of December.

Aiding ships

Last week’s column on the Garth Foss tractor tug prompted a number of inquiries with the overarching theme about tugs going to the aid of ships that have lost power.

In the mid-1990s, Foss Maritime received a patent for a transom link.

This apparatus is milled out of titanium, weighs about 375 pounds and sits in a cradle on the rear deck of the tractor tug.

Oblong in shape, it attaches to the tug’s towline and has a hinged gate that pivots open to allow the eye of a line to slip into it.

When a ship has lost power, Garth Foss almost always approaches her stern to stern. A crew member aboard the ship passes the end of a line that was already tied off to the ship’s stern bitt down to a crew member aboard the tug who slips the line’s eye into the transom link.

The two vessels are now connected.

When the captain of the tug pulls forward and simultaneously pays out the tug’s towline, the transom link will be pulled out of the cradle and suspended over open water between the two vessels.

The captain of the tug is now able to maneuver his vessel as needed to complete the rescue.

In for repairs

Platypus Marine Inc. has the Pelagial sitting on the hard in the company’s Marine Drive yard.

Pelagial is a 70-foot Hakvoort trawler yacht that is powered by twin 855 Cummins diesel engines.

The Dutch-built vessel that is flagged in Bikini, Marshall Islands, was recently under way to San Francisco from British Columbia when she hit either a deadhead or an errant piece of steel.

The starboard propeller was damaged, so she needed to come out of the water to have the prop repaired and the shafts realigned.

Platypus is also working on the commercial fishing vessel, Blue C’s, a 53-foot Delta.

She has been out of the water for a couple of weeks and will remain on the hard until the end of January for what the owner must think is an endless number of repairs and upgrades.

Among other things, the exterior bulkheads of the after cabin will be rebuilt, most of the topside decks will receive a new application of non-skid and the pilot house will be repainted.

Perseverance, a 58-foot Delta that hails from Sitka, Alaska, is up on blocks in Platypus’ Commander Building.

According to Capt. Charlie Crane, director of sales and marketing for the company, the commercial fishing vessel stays out of the water for the next two weeks so that Verne Braghettia and his crew in the fiberglass department can install a bulbous bow.

It’s in the stars

With the universal use of GPS — global positioning system — for finding our way around land and sea, celestial navigation is becoming a lost skill, certainly for the recreational and blue-water boater.

Although the likelihood of a vessel losing the use of its navigational equipment is remote, it is not impossible.

A functional knowledge of celestial navigation provides a skillset that boaters can use to find their way independent of technology.

It’s also a gateway into the world’s history undertaken by legions of explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Francis Drake and Capt. James Cook.

On Wednesday, the North Olympic Sail and Power Squadron will begin an introductory course in celestial navigation that is open to the public.

The class will meet three hours a week for 17 weeks.

Cost of the course, which includes printed material, is $70 for squadron members and $120 for all others.

For more information, phone Mark Lewis at 360-686-9497.

Weeklong visit

Alaskan Explorer, a 905-foot, double-hull tanker, moored to the Port of Port Angeles Terminal 1 North on Friday at midnight.

According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff, the oil tanker will be in port for a week to have her stern tubes inspected, repairs made to a couple of ballast pumps, a bridge window replaced and a weight test conducted on the lifeboat davit.

“Hollywood” also said HOS Eagleview will be back in service Monday after a two-week hiatus while one of her engines was replaced.

HOS Eagleview and HOS Arrowhead are the two ships under contract to the Navy that escort submarines as they transit the Strait of Juan de Fuca to and from the Bangor sub base.

Log ship coming

On Monday, Portland Bay will moor to the Port of Port Angeles T-Pier.

The 558-foot log ship will be in port for two to three days to take on a load of logs bound for South Korea and China.

Logs from the port’s Terminal 7 log yard will be formed into booms and towed to the ship for loading from the waterside.

Debarked logs from the Peninsula Plywood mill on the waterfront and Green Creek Lumber Co. mill at Industrial Park will be trucked dockside, where they will be loaded onto the ship.

Last Monday, Tesoro Petroleum refueled Santiago Basin, the 587-foot log ship that was in Port Angeles for a load of debarked logs and is now bound for China.

Tesoro also provided bunkers to British Swift, an 823-foot petroleum products tanker.

She is now under way to the Russian port of Kozmino on the Sea of Japan, which is close to Russia’s border with China and North Korea.

On Wednesday, Tesoro had its refueling barge alongside the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge, Commitment.

On Thursday, Tesoro refueled the 600-foot petroleum products carrier, Overseas Nikiski, which is on her way to Long Beach, Calif.

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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.

Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.

E-mail dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-417-3736.

His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.