GARTH FOSS, THE green and white tug that is as common a sight in the Strait of Juan de Fuca as the pilot boats, oil tankers and cargo ships, is one of the most powerful tugs in the world.
Known within the industry as an enhanced tractor tug, she was designed and built to be primarily responsible for providing escort and vessel assist services to oil tankers as they transit Puget Sound.
She is 155 feet long and has a 46-foot beam.
Power is derived from twin EMD diesel engines generating a combined 8,000 horsepower that drives a dual propulsion system known as a Voith Schneider propeller.
Unlike the typical configuration where the props are at the rear of a vessel, on the Garth Foss, the propulsion system is located about 50 feet aft of the bow.
Two sets of five vertically oriented hydrofoil-type blades arrayed on a circular plate hang beneath the boat and rotate around a vertical axis.
The captain of the vessel is able to control the velocity of the rotating plate as well as the angle of attack of the paddles.
This enables him to dictate the speed and direction of the vessel.
A trip on Garth Foss
At 8 a.m. Oct. 22, Bruce Biddle, captain of the Garth Foss, eased the tug up against Terminal 4 at the Port of Port Angeles.
After donning a life jacket and hard hat, I climbed aboard. I was met by the engineer, Jon Judd.
Foss Maritime, which operates nearly 100 tugs and a like number of barges worldwide, takes safety very seriously.
Judd immediately put me through a short but thorough orientation program on personal safety protocol.
He also acquainted me with the boat’s survival equipment as well as making certain I understood my role in the event of an emergency.
The crew aboard the Garth Foss work 15 days on and 15 days off.
Each 15-day shift has two captains and two able-bodied seaman, and each shift stands six-hour watches.
Each crewman on the tug has his own substantial berthing compartment, which includes a head and a shower.
There are three additional berthing compartments, two of which have four bunk-type beds for guests and a third space that was once used by a cook, a luxury that fell by the wayside a dozen years ago or more.
Cooking duties are split between the watches.
The able-bodied seaman on watch from 6 a.m. to noon prepares lunch for the crew.
The afternoon watch prepares the evening meal.
All hands are on their own for breakfast — and you clean up your own mess.
It’s a fireboat, too
Garth Foss is a fully capable fireboat.
The exterior of the tug is fitted with a sprinkler system similar to what would be seen in a commercial building.
This allows the tug to get close to a burning vessel or fire on a pier.
She is equipped with two nozzles each capable of spraying 6500 gallons of water a minute.
They can also spray foam fire retardant in a solid stream or blend it with water as the situation dictates.
Garth Foss can act as a mobile marine fire hydrant.
In the event a ship has lost power and has an onboard fire, the tug carries an inventory of adapters that will connect their water suppression system to that of any foreign vessel — and restore that vessel’s fire fighting capabilities.
Before 9 a.m. just east of Port Angeles’ Ediz Hook, we met up with the petroleum products tanker Overseas Los Angeles as well as another Foss tug, Pacific Star.
Hooking up with tanker
Rounding the end of the spit, the tugs approached from the port side matching the course and speed of the 675-foot tanker to await instructions from Capt. Alex Neuman, the Puget Sound pilot who had boarded the tanker prior to the arrival of the tugs.
Pacific Star took up her position off the port bow, with Garth Foss off the stern quarter.
When the time came to pass the tow lines to the ship, deckhands aboard ship dropped a small line into the waiting hands of the deckhand aboard each tug who then bent them to the hawsers which were hauled aboard the ship, fed through chocks and looped around bitts.
Onboard, the tugs the hawsers were wound around winches and a strain taken, at which point the tugs and ship become a triad under the control of Capt. Neuman.
As we made our way the last few hundred yards to the port terminals, Capt. Neuman began orchestrating the placement of each participant’s throttle setting, rudder angle and winch tension –as well as their relative position to each other.
Well in excess of 200 directions were sent down to the tugs by radio from the ship’s bridge by the pilot as he directed the maneuvering of the ship into her berth.
Mike Nimmo, the Port of Port Angeles’ terminal manager, could also be heard on the radio coordinating with the pilot the perfect placement of the ship relative to the pier.
What struck me during the docking process was the absolute trust and confidence the tug captains and pilots have in each other.
Capt. Biddle seemed as at ease in manipulating the paddles on the Voith Schneider propulsion system in response to the myriad commands of the pilot as one would be in their easy chair, operating a TV remote control.
I’m certain his unflappable demeanor belied a churning mind anticipating a plethora of contingencies.
Tips for waterwatchers
Nonethelesss, once the ship was docked and Garth Foss was released to move onto her next job, it was just another day at the office for Capt. Biddle and his crew.
In contrast to most tugs, the work platform aboard Garth Foss is on the stern of the vessel.
That is where their towing gear and equipment is set up.
So if a local waterwatcher happens to see either of these tugs steaming parallel to a tanker bow to bow, then the tugs are escorting the vessel.
When you see the stern of either tug up against the side of a ship or traveling stern first, then the tug is tethered to the ship.
A common example of this is when a laden tanker comes in to Port Angeles Harbor, and one of the Foss tractor tugs is providing a tethered-assist.
The bow of the ship will be pointed towards the Nippon mill, and the bow of the tug will be pointed toward Seattle.
Harbor watch
We shall all awaken this morning to Santiago Basin, a 587-foot log ship that anchored overnight to the Port of Port Angeles’ T-Pier after her voyage from Inchon, South Korea.
Longshoremen will begin loading the ship today with about 2.5 million board feet of logs that were debarked at the Pen Ply mill.
Loading of the logs from dockside should be completed by Tuesday, at which time the seventh log ship to make port this year will get underway for Aberdeen.
There her load will be topped off, and she will make her way to Zhangjiagang, China.
Last Tuesday, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to Overseas Los Angeles, a 675-foot petroleum products carrier that is now underway to Long Beach, Calif.
They also refueled Empire State, a 630-foot tanker.
On Wednesday, Tesoro bunkered Rea, a 620-foot bulk cargo ship that is due in Mariveles, Philippines, on Nov. 23.
To end the week, Tesoro on Friday refueled a pair of crude oil tankers, the 944-foot Alaskan Navigator and the 985-foot Polar Resolution.
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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.