Talk:Samuel de Champlain (tugboat)

What was that?

Recently, saw Samuel de Champlain with Innovation pretty far on the horizon (I checked on the https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/LAKE-MICHIGAN/ship-traffic-tracker ). There was something peculiar about it -- it had something strange attached to the tugboat's structure, but I couldn't see what exactly it is. Looked almost exactly like two sections of solar panels in this image — one before the tugboat's central "tower" structure, and one behind. It was very far at the distance, and my binoculars were not good enough to tell what exactly it was. Any ideas? -- Wesha (talk) 02:18, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Sounds more like the boom of a self-unloading bulker - perhaps another vessel out there in beyond the tug/barge? Davidships (talk) 12:09, 27 December 2022 (UTC)

Good theory, but that doesn't explain a few things. First, it was such boom, then why there were TWO of them, one ahead of the tug's tower (where the barge is indeed), and one behind (where there's no cargo), both of these "wings" having exactly the same length (at least, to the naked eye)? Second, I haven't seen any close-up pictures of this particular tug+barge in such configuration. -- Wesha (talk) 02:04, 28 December 2022 (UTC)