SOy .RS OF UNITED TOWING This interesting article traces the history of The City of Hull (or more properi:_ Kingston-Upon-Hull) has been one - the United Towing Company of Hull Britain's leading ports for centuries, ~ whose ubiquitous tugs will be familiar to many the birthplace of some of its finest seamec, Standing on the northern elbow of ~~ of our sea-going readers. broad Humber estuary in what was, unz; recently, the East Riding of Yorkshire, The company is linked to BSL through our joint venture Hull can trace its heritage of seaman "':;: United Towing (Star Offshore Services) Ltd. back to the days of Drake and Raleigh, While this pair of gentlemanly rogues were seeking fame and fortune on -:..~ Spanish Main, men from Hull sailed 0 flimsy wooden craft to search for the grea; schools of whales which inhabited U:= Arctic wastes around Greenland. Wbalin:::., however, was only one of the trades which the city's prosperity was found, - Timber from Scandinavia, wool fro=: Australia, wheat from Canada: all these and more helped to swell the seaborne traffic which rounded Spurn Point and headed up river towards the growing complex of docks clustering around if! Old Town. As trade increased dramatically during the industrial revolution of the 18th am: 19th centuries, Hull expanded and prospered. And with the ever increasing number of ships seeking a berth in *-~ Humber ports came a proportional in in the number of grimy little tugs, eager assist them. By the early part of this century ~ number of locally-owned tug fleets ~ grown to such a degree that it was :~ necessary for a Master to take his tug T'::.- into the North Sea in the hope of ~ out an incoming vessel and beating rivals to it. When no ship was to be fo s: tug men had little choice but to around in the vicinity in the hope picking up a damaged or becalmed Clearly, such a situation was to no advantage-except perhaps the Masters - incoming ships. The tugmen realised ~ too much competition was in no :.;- interest, and in 1914 an attempt was -'= to rationalise the business by forming == Hull Associated Tugowners. This 0 ~ sation sought to bring some sense _.~ operations by arranging towage conrr ~ and the like on behalf of its me Five companies were involved in == ~ loosely-knit association, operating between Dwarfed by her tow, the tug 'Scotsman' in SOS livery, shows her mettle during a recent jacket them a total of 42 tugs. Records show ~ move in the North Sea the organisation was relatively sue - 4 as both tug companies and shipowners were company history in 1925 when the vessel The confidence and experience gained able to make some definite financial savings. undertook to tow two small steamers from working in waters far away from home At any rate, it continued to operate well for Boston in Lincolnshire across the south was to stand them in good stead in 1939 several years, right up to the early 1920s, Atlantic to Buenos Aires, the first time that when war broke out. when a deteriorating situation made a total a vessel from the United Towing fleet had As in many other spheres, Britain was re-appraisal necessary. undertaken such a long-range ocean tow. not completely prepared. At the outbreak For her 124 days round-trip, Seaman of war there were only five ocean-going The birth of United Towing earned the princely sum of £3,400 for her tugs in the whole of the country and United For a start, most of the tugs in operation owners-less than £30 a day. Towing owned three of them. They, at that time were second-hand; Owners had Marathon Trek together with several smaller tugs from the never dared to invest heavily in new vessels company's fleet, were immediately requisi- and now they were paying the price. The This hardly compares with the marathon tioned by the Government. Managed and great depression of the twenties was also trek claimed as a record for the towing and crewed by United Towing, these tugs beginning to show its grim face and some- salvage business by one of the Company's played a brave and defiant part in Britain's thing had to be done quickly to improve on present Marine Superintendents, Captain fight for survival. Two of them, Englishman the loose union of 1914. So in 1921, several Bill Hopper and the crew of Tradesman. and Guardsman, were sunk by enemy Humber-based companies, able to muster Leaving Hull early in 1956, Captain action-but Seaman settled that score in 39 tugs between them, cemented their Hopper's first tow took him to Port part by shooting down the first four- futures solidly together by joining forces Moresby in New Guinea. He worked in engined German plane to meet its end in to form the United Towing Company. the China Seas for six months, and because the cold Atlantic ocean. The first priority of the new company the Suez crisis hampered his return, he Throughout the war, United Towing was to get its fleet into better shape. The continued to work all over the Far East. tugs continued their operations, frequently oldest tugs were sold and replaced by good, He came back to Hull 18 months later after rescuing stricken vessels and bringing them second-hand vessels, and at the same time, covering a distance of 56,000 miles, more safely in for repair. During these difficult an ambitious new building programme was than half of these with a tow following. times, United Towing management was started. Today there is a tendency to regard But it was the precocious little Seaman very closely involved with the Admiralty a vessel as being a bit 'long in the tooth' that set the pattern, and throughout the in co-ordinating the total operational after 10 or 15 years, so it may come as interwar years Masters and men from the pattern of the British salvage fleet. When something of a surprise to recall that Lady United Towing fleet undertook long and D-Day approached, the 'Men from United' Bute and the paddle tug Powerful, sold by difficult journeys as a matter of routine. were there again, helping to tow the huge United Towing in 1924 and 1925 res- pectively, were both built in 1857. But ancient was giving way to modern, and by the mid-twenties seven new vessels had arrived from the builder's yard. Six of them were steam tugs, but the seventh, Motorman, became the first diesel-powered vessel to fly the United Towing flag. It was to be another 42 years before United Towing could boast an all-diesel fleet, years during which the company's activities spilled out from the Humber ports to cover the globe, making vessels with the man suffix famous in harbours from New York to Singapore. As the power and size of its tugs increased, the company became more ambitious, gradually extending its zone of operation to include the North Sea and the Mad dogs and Englishman ... Well, one 'Englishman'-silhouetted here against Table Mountain Mediterranean. It was Seaman that made which forms a famous backcloth to the city of Cape Town A much colder clime for the 16,000 hp Lloydsman as she goes about her fishery protection duties during the recent 'Cod War' 5 the name of United Towing has been strengthened by the addition of four ne linked with many a famous and successful tugs, specially designed for anchor handling 50YEARS salvage operation-like the stricken tankers work. Even now they are busy in the North Marathon, Carlantic, and Gallant Coloco- Sea flying the fiag of our joint venture tronis. And as the size of tows has increased, operation,United Towing (Star Offshore OF UNITED so has the scope and power of the United Services) Ltd. The Star Offshore Services Towing fleet. In 1914, Hullman at 1800 hp Supply fleet, at present manned an TOWING was the most powerful tug in Britain- operated by United Towing, and a purpose- almost insignificant when compared with built mooring vessel, have added to the Mulberry Harbours which were to form United Towing's present flagship, Lloyds- company's involvement, and a deter- Port Winston at Arromanches. man, a 2,000-ton ocean rover with a mination to stay ahead of changing patte By the time peace came, United Towing formidable 16,000 hp at her command. of demand has resulted in the recen; tug-men were the proud possessors of a With quarter-million ton tankers now a placing of a £3t million order for two George Medal and many other decorations commonplace sight, these high-horsepower powerful new tugs, scheduled for com- and commendations for bravery and tugs have become an absolute necessity. pletion in 1978. meritorious service. It was a time for But there are other areas where their great picking up the pieces and the Company strength has been put to good use. It was Family traditions set to work with a will. Several tugs built little more than a decade ago that Britain But despite the organisation's rapid gro during the war by the Admiralty-all first began to take an excited interest in and an ever-increasing level of sophisti- prefixed Empire-were bought by United offshore oil and natural gas finds in the cation and development, United Towing Towing and immediately rechristened in North Sea. The United Towing manage- still regards itself as being very much 2 the Man tradition. Their first task was to ment was not slow to spot the potential, for family company based on Hull.