Back in the mid 90's I was in Halifax Nova Scotia on business. As old seadogs do, I gravitated to a pub with a folkgroup and a lively atmosphere. Adding to this was what seemed to be the entire crew of gigantic tug anchored in the harbour. it's tow was an oilrig in transit to Newfoundland and the crew of the tug were all Shetlanders. This pub did not serve jugs of beer on folk nights to cut down on the more entusiastic regfulars from trying to drink the place dry. However, they quickly abandoned the "Thursday night rule" on this night because they couldn't keep up with the rate of re-orders from the Shetlanders. I got chatting to one of the guys as the NS girl HE was chatting couldn't understand his accent and so I "translated". Included in has chatup was a background to Shetland's history and also that his vessel was the largest tug in the world and the Trans Atlantic tow was also record breaking. They were a great lot and I wonder if anybody knows the name of this tug,any photos maybe? Crew members?

Ian McKinlay