Two Barges, Same Tug

These are two images of the same tugboat, the Salvor, captured at different times and under very different conditions on the St. Lawrence River.






The first image is a collage of video stills taken of the Salvor and barge stuck on a shoal near the town of Alexandria Bay, NY, July 2004.














The second is of the Salvor pushing a different barge through rough water a half mile from the accident site, about five years later.

Salvor is a common name among nautical vessels, as it means "one who carries out Marine salvage." That's an ironic name for a tug that almost caused the St. Lawrence Seaway its worst possible PR nightmare, as the barge that hit Frontenac shoal in 2004 was on a direct course with the "Playhouse" building at the head of Heart Island, the site of the hugely popular 1000 Islands tourist attraction, Boldt Castle.



















Sadly, public outcry over a barge hitting a shoal and leaking hundreds of gallons of liquid cargo was not nearly as angry as it might have been had the barge smashed into a long-since-dead billionaire's mansion.