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Willpower of Southampton

Willpower towing the landing craft Forth Guardsman of Leith into Great Yarmouth.

 

Name: Willpower

Vessel type: Tug

Design: Stantug 2207

Home port: Southampton

Flag: United Kingdom

IMO: 9220691

MMSI: 235104618

Call sign: 2HLL2

Accommodation: 10

Cabins: 2 x single, 2 x double, 1 x 4 person

Length overall: 22.5 m

Beam: 7.25 m

Moulded depth: 3.75 m

Draught: 2.95 m

Gross tonnage: 140 ton

Max deadweight: 62 ton

Fuel capacity: 34.9 m3

Engines: 2 x Caterpillar 3508B DI-TA/B

Engine output: 2 x 1,000 hp (746 kW) at 1,600 rpm

Speed: 12 knots

Bollard pull: 28.4 ton

Builder: Damen Shipyard, Gorinchem, Netherlands

Year built: 2000

Owner: Williams Shipping, Southampton, Hampshire

 

Previous names:

Sidi

Sidi Moussa until August 2014

 

TUG DISABLED OFF THE MERSEY.

The RNLI's Hoylake’s lifeboat Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood was launched to assist Willpower and the barge it was towing on 18th.January 2015. The tug, with a crew of 4, lost power whilst underway to the west of the Mersey Bar and was unable to proceed on course. The Holyhead Coastguard requested the launch of the lifeboat and coordinated the rescue for the first time since the closure of the Coastguard station at Liverpool. The lifeboat crew were paged at 6.45 p.m. and the lifeboat reached Willpower, west of the Mersey Bar, at 7.27 p.m. The tug MTS Valour had also proceeded to assist. The two vessels stood by the disabled tug and the barge. Another tug, the Millgarth, with a pilot on board, was dispatched from the Mersey to assist in the rescue due to the size of the 80 m barge. Conditions were difficult for those attempting to take up the tow in the darkness with a rough sea and a heavy 2 m swell. The Liverpool port authorities closed the Mersey to outward bound ships during the rescue due to the risks involved with the situation. At 9.50 p.m. Millgarth was able to pick up the tow wire and held the barge in position to the west of the entrance to the Mersey until those ships which had been held up by the emergency were able to safely sail and clear the buoyed channel. The lifeboat was requested by Holyhead Coastguard to standby the casualty while the tow was established and the barge brought safely into the River Mersey. Once this had been achieved, the lifeboat was released and it returned to Hoylake at 01.20 a.m.

 

 

 

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Uploaded on July 17, 2024
Taken on July 9, 2024