Towboat Chewing Up Buoys and Trees

During summer of 1963, I worked on M/V Lipscomb (Vicksburg). It was a buoy tender working between Mouth of White River to below Natchez. During buoy retrieval & releasing, I wasn’t allowed on deck (too dangerous), but sat in pilot house keeping tabs on labor hours to charge Coast Guard. My other job was redlining the previous week’s Navigation Bulletin for new minimum depth and number of buoys. Have lifelong memories and great appreciation of all work done on the Mississippi. Stay safe. RIP Captain Tandy Lemay. Edit I want to say that red buoys were called “cans” and black w/ white reflective tape on top were called “nuns”.

I tow a cooler with a jon boat sometimes, so basically the same thing.

What could be better? A Saturday morning, ice tea, croissants and cream cheese and a video from my most favorite Captain! Hope you're feeling better.

Wrapped up a sunken bank line once when backing in to drop our tow inside the mouth of Green River. Just happened to see it rising slowly up out of the river as it was being wound up on the starboard shaft just outboard from the rudder room. Immediately stopped that side and used the port side to steer out and keep the line tight and then came ahead slow on the starboard. Managed to unwind it and thankfully it dropped in the river. Riding on the Ohio another time and the pilot ran over a buoy and it got fouled up under the stern and had its wire wrapped around the shaft. The wire would bang the underside of the hull when backing up. That led to an unplanned drydocking at Jeffboat a day or so later.

Lots of activity packed into a 34 min video. Nicely done. 👍

I really enjoy these videos. Love the time-lapses. Thank you.

Good to see you here again.

MAN! That time lapse part is way COOL. Thanks for another great viewing experience.

Good morning from Northern Illinois

Now I have the urge to play Ship Sim 2008 while smoking a spliff. Hello from Wyandotte, MI. Continued success.

Captain a buoy is following behind you about 200 yards. Probably better pull over and see what it wants 😆

This is a great video representation of what you do. Great video content with a real insight. I love the river locks.

Woohoo been waiting for a new video patiently. Thanks Caption Kyle!

I was wondering how tows deal with hitting things like buoys and trees. Apparently sucking up that nun buoy didn't hurt your boat's running gear. I remember one season on the Ohio. Once the spring high waters had receeded, there was what had to be one huge ass tree deposited smack dab on the Sailing Line in a tight part of the river. It was in around 40 or so feet of water at normal pool. There was no way the tows were going to miss that tree and over time it was clear it was getting chewed up by prop and hull strikes of tows. Eventually it either got pretty well chomped up or the Coast Guard, the USACE or a contractor snag boat removed it. Have you ever had a boat you were on get put out of service by hitting something nasty?

Nice vid love it.

You just want to bend on about 20 knots when you see a "No tow boats" sign and really give him something to complain about!

this stuff is way cool! I was a b.t. in the navy 3 west packs but the river has got to be hard!!

The best vid. yet !!!

Hello from Arizona

Lock 18 has a picture hanging on the wall of a man who was struck by a breaking capstan line. He was knocked OUT of his boots AND socks, and is right there for you to see.

glad to see you back when did they bstart having helper tows at the locks and who pays for them you have a save trip when you going thtough19 again see you at 18

33:34 Nice digs up on that hill. I wish I had that kind of money!

TS 18 bar ,, and that my buddies cabin in that view, Lonnie Simpson,,, that my pontoon boat

So I guess it didn't hurt your wheel or running gear when the buoy got caught up in it.

What do you do when your consist is longer than the lock?

No catfish were hurt in the making of this video

Does the Captain report that he hit a buoy or does he just keep boogying?

You just looked up mercer street where I live ,, 2 blocks from river

What's the type of those "pointy" lights HID, LED ?

I wonder if I saw you guys when I was surveying the locks and dams for USACE summer 2021. I marched across the entirety of the locks and dams from upper st Anthony falls to 26 and back up the Illinois to Lockport with a gps on a pole

What weight license is required to Captain a vessel like yours? Love your vids

👍👍

Why would anyone give your videos a thumbs down? Jealousy? Too slow moving for them? I don't get it. What is your KZhead competition?

Okay bear with me I can't remember which Marquette boat I was on but we had a relief pilot. The river was up we were northbound somewhere around Cairo. It was real fast and real high. Couldn't see the buoys sometimes you'd see the tops of them dragging water. he kept hitting them buoys we all kept hearing them scraping the bottom. And the one time he got one wrapped up in the wheel and it shut the engine down. I'm running mate for the first time ever on any boat. We had assistant oiler training came on as a deck end ended up back in the engine room. we didn't get along too well story for a different day. I get a call from the wheelhouse it's the relief pilot middle of the night he said you might as well go wake that engineer up. I said yes sir I went woke up the engineer said we got engine down. I said okay so we're scrambling seeing what's going on trying to get info so we can let the wheelhouse know. I go up to the wheelhouse, standing on the stairs I said, I went ahead and got the engineer up he's down there looking. He said "WHAT ENGINEER" I said the engineer that's on the boat, he said God damn it Donnie I didn't want you to wake up the engineer I meant go wake up brandon whatever that guy's name was the oiler. I looked over and said man we got an engine down we can't get it to fire. He turns around looks at all his gauges and says, oh I guess we do don't we. He didn't even know that one of the engines was down on that damn boat. turns out the cable from the buoy was just all wound up in the wheel real bad. And the story goes... we ended up tied up. calling a diver he couldn't do it the river was too fast. we had to go in to cut tie up the boat. We're in the cut, light boat I'm on the fore trying to catch a line and he keeps moving the boat forward and moving the boat back and moving the boat forward moving the boat back where I'm trying to catch a cavel there's a wire fence every time I throw the damn line he moves the boat again. I finally I hollered up to the wheelhouse from that deck and I said stop moving to God damn boat. Finally he just adds it in there and stop hitting the goddamn throttle boy I was mad. They told us all the pack and go home. In the galley, about 5 minutes before we was all step out of the boat, this smart-ass pilot looks at me and says maybe you should practice a little bit you know on your line handling and things like that you know and stuff. I looked right up at this guy I said man you ain't got no sense driving no boat at all I said you need to get your ass out of the wheelhouse and go find something else to do in life and I was keeping my tongue. The last time I ever seen that dude. The only good thing about it... it was a week before Christmas.

Hitting a buoy is like running over a duck. White stuff flying everywhere

kinda looks like l&d 21 at quincy. but im sure they all look pretty similar.

Towboat, brush chipper, same thing...

Have we ever discussed the Shitter in the middle of the wheelhouse?

Don't know if you've been down through Vicksburg yet but Delta point is tight. They've brought the blacks in just off the channel.

That Ol Boy with the no towboat sign if you was to put it to the hill there is there anything he could do? I understand a boat not goin in there for common courtesy

A friend of mine runs Towboat Diver Services. It that who helped out?

Another Can bites the dust, hope it didn't bend a fluke.

Those deck guys really have it bad when it rains, or even worse you have ice or snow.

turned a can into a nun

Buoy’s are expendable but their anchors chain can destroy your prop😅

Quincy lock lots of logs I c lol how often you up this way

Thats my buddy Lenard Hass place in Oquawka

Do you get in trouble for running the bouys over

Do you ever go up the Illinois river?

Good thing it was reported. Can't have those tows running aground. You will be surprised by people who run them over and do not report it. When I was stationed at Group Ohio River when it was in Owensboro KY (83-86), as a radioman, we use to get calls all the time about missing buoys. They are a "dime" a dozen. Besides, tows hit and drag buoys off station all the time so not the first, won't be the last. Now, taking out a day board, we need to talk.

Where did you go

River way low this year

What is that air purging sound?

Do you ever run down the Tombigbee?

Why don't you put the tacking on your boat where it will leave a line where you passed

Sounds to me like the guy calling you into the lock could have a back-up career as a tobacco auctioneer . . . ??

Two buoys downvoted this.

Is that a bob-a-bouy? Lol