• 8"x 12" image size (10"x 14" paper size) / 150 prints / 14"x 18" matting size

Awaiting the next call to service, two tugs stand moored alongside the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, bobbing gently in the swells of a late afternoon.

The first tugboat was built in 1802 by a Scottish engineer and fitted with a Watt steam engine that powered a paddle wheel. By 1850 tugs had substituted screws, or propellers, for paddle wheels and by 1900 diesel power had replaced steam.

Tugboats are used primarily to maneuver large oceangoing ships in the confines of harbors, to move barges on inland waterways, and to tow salvage and dredging equipment. They can be up to 200 feet long with engines producing as much as 3000 horsepower.