THE TOWAGE CONNECTION

The continued growth in size of ships and marine structures requiring towage has meant that large, modern ocean-going tugs now have to be equipped with stronger and much heavier towing gear. The weight of this gear makes it extremely difficult to establish a reliable connection between the low afterdeck of the tug and the high forecastle of a ship requiring towing assistance. It has therefore become necessary for the ship to provide certain components of the towage connection. At least the "strong point" and the "bow chock" should be proYided by the ship if only because it is factually not possible for the tug to provide these components. The paper examines the comparative merits of chain stoppers and Smit Type Brackets for these applications. Ideally, all the components of the towage connection up to and including the forward thimble of the pennant wire should be provided by the ship. This is the basic idea of the "Smit Safe Fast" concept.