“The Tug Orange” Pinellas County Utilities - South County Reef

By Jim Cline, Pinellas County Reef Construction Program

Probably once a week someone calls the Pinellas County Reef Construction Program offering to “donate” some kind of material they believe would make a “Wonderful Reef’ usually it is a disposal problem and they are looking for a way to get rid of it.

When Richard Noble from Seabulk Towing Inc., A Seabulk International Company called, it sounded interesting and we decided to go take a look.

After we worked our way through the heightened security at the Tampa Port Authority we found a real Prize- in the eyes of a reef builder.

The Tug Orange is an 80 foot steel-hulled harbor tug. She is a hundred years old built in 1903. The owners had tried to sell her. No one wanted to buy her. The Liberty Ship Museum People were interested in her, but it would have cost too much money to restore her. The tug was now a burden that was taking up valuable dock space and had the potential of becoming an environmental problem.

I told Richard we would love to have her, but the problem was the same problem most feel-good government programs experience, no money. The cost to properly clean a hull to the strict environmental standards is very expensive. I told Richard he would have to remove all the fuel, clean the tanks, remove the huge Fairbanks-Morse main engine, two generators, two compressors, hydraulic lines, electrical wires, the wooden pilot house, and 100 years of stuff accumulated in the bilges, that I don’t even want to think about. I really had my hat in my hand when I told him that the Pinellas County Reef Construction Barge the “M/V Tortuga” was too small to tow the Tug Orange, and we couldn’t afford to pay to have it towed. I was waiting for him to kick me out of his office, but he said, “let me see what I can do”. I honestly thought I would never hear from him again.

Months later he called back and said the corporate office had approved it, and the Tug Orange was sent to Gulf Marine Repair Shipyard to be cleaned and prepped.

The fishermen and divers, and the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico can thank Seabulk Towing for the generosity of $60,000.00, the approximate cost of this project.

The Orange passed the Coast Guard inspection and the proper paperwork was filed with the Army Corps. Of Engineers.

On April 8th the Seabulk Towing vessel, “Canaveral” wrapped her lines around the Orange and started her last voyage. A 40- mile waltz from Upper Tampa Bay to her final resting place 45 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico. When the two tugs arrived on site they were lashed together with so many lines it looked like they were hugging. I wonder if boats talk to each other.

The first week of April the Coast Guard Cutter Joshua Appleby had placed 80 tons of obsolete, unserviceable concrete buoy sinkers on the South County Reef, the sinkers were positioned North, South, East, West. The plan was to 4- point moor the Orange, and sink her by flooding, using multiple pumps and massive amounts of water; it would take over 62 tons of water to put the old workhorse down.

It is always exciting when we sink a wreck. You may plot and plan, and try to control everything you possibly can, but when the last gasp is made and the ship starts to go under, Mother Nature and the Gulf of Mexico take over. The forces of nature will have their way.

We anxiously waited ten minutes to let her settle and allow the water to clear up, we then went down to make our inspection dive.

The sinking went perfect, the lines and the sinkers held. The Tug Orange sets at about a 45-degree angle on her port side. The depth of water at the reef is 45 feet. The water temperature was about 72 degrees; the visibility was 23 feet, all the conditions for a good dive.

The wind and the current was strong out of the south, so that is the way we moored her, and that is the way she lays, her proud bow pointing to the south, and sleeping peacefully on her side.

All mariners know boats have personalities and characteristics of their own, but boats also have memories. The sounds of the deckhands, working the lines, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, playing hearts, cribbage, and talking about what they are going to do after the next crew change. Dark, moonless, rainy nights when the Captain couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, and he gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles were white. Sunny days when her powerful bow plowed the bay making a wave of white water that the dolphins surfed, and played on. Early mornings when sheepshead and mullet swam around the pilings while the Orange was tied to the dock waiting for the next call. The memories they give to the sailors, who ride and work on them, the Orange gave a lot of memories to a lot of mariners in a hundred years of service.

The memories will continue for the fishermen and especially the divers that visit her. When the divers visit her they should realize they are making memories of their own. Remember the fish you see, the grouper, and snapper. The schools of bait that change direction and flash in the light like a million mirrors hit with a powerful spotlight. The loggerhead turtle, and Goliath Grouper that let you approach them. Stop to wonder why, and continue to be amazed. Remember the season, the exact water temperature, the tidal stage, was the current out of the North or the South? Did you see more fish this time or last time? Be aware of everything you possibly can during the dive, remember it and take it home with you.

The Reef Program would like to thank Seabulk Towing for the generous donation, and the U.S. Coast Guard, and Pinellas County Sheriff Marine Unit for their support.

Tug Position N 27*43.375 W 082*58.450 Jim Cline Pinellas County Reef Construction Specialist