I confess that I know almost nothing about boats, so I was not sure what I was looking at when I spotted this enormous floating object in the Potomac River off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge last week. Eventually I figured out that it was a boat pushing some kind of barge up the river. It looked a bit like a tugboat, but instead of “tugging” the boat, it seemed to be pushing from behind.
I have seen the difficulties that some folks have in towing a trailer, so I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to steer something like this. Fortunately the tugboat seemed to be taller than the barge, so presumably the captain was able to see where he was going, and it appeared that he was able to stay on course pretty well.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow! Blue Rock HorsesFrederick County, Virginiabluerockhorses.com
Barges and their tugs or tows are everywhere here. ‘Tugboat’ does for both in general conversation. Whether a tugboat will push or pull depends on where it’s happening. A barge being moved across the ocean will be pulled with a tow line, because there’s so much open space and precision isn’t needed. In a harbor or tight passageway like the Intracoastal Waterway, it’s easier to push. Watching captains of barges traveling opposite directions pass one another is something to behold; the precision they’re capable of is amazing. Also, in places like the ICW, pushing allows the captain to push the barge up against the bank in a case of bad weather, a channel-closing accident, and so on.
Thanks for all of that additional info about tugboats. Wow! The only ones that I have seen before were in sea ports, where they were were pulling barges or big ships with a tow line.