That's because barge-pushing tugboats 

 handle heavy, bulky, expensive cargo. Tugs 

 push barges laden with stuff impractical to move 

 via transfer truck or rail — super heavy 

 transformers, entire bridge beams, 1 ,000-foot 

 pipelines, and in our case, 22-ton steel dough- 

 nuts. To move our load via transfer truck would 

 have required 106 trips — or 106 tracks. Over 

 the years, Donnelly has hauled "a bunch of crazy 

 stuff," he says. Sonar domes for submarines. 

 Vintage airplanes. A 7,500-square-foot 

 plantation house. And lots of ammunition for the 

 armed forces. 



"Everything from rockets to cruise missiles 

 to bombs," he laughs. "But we're not supposed 

 to know that." 



All told, according to the U.S. Army Corps 

 of Engineers, tugboats took 17,612 trips on the 

 ICW in North Carolina in 2000, moving 

 1,614,000 tons of cargo. 



Donnelly pilots this load from a wheel- 

 house perched 28 feet above the water. It's a 

 million-dollar view. As the tug chugs north up 

 the waterway, small flocks of glossy ibis wheel 

 over the barge, and wheat-colored salt marsh 

 gives way to dark woods. At one point, a pod of 

 porpoises suddenly appears beside the tug. 

 Donnelly's eyes light up. "They always look like 

 they're so happy to see you," he croons. 



From his tug, he watches duck hunters 

 setting decoys in the wan light of morning. He's 

 seen wild hogs, manatees, black bear, and an 

 alligator that swam up and bit the fender tires 

 hanging off the side of the ship. 



Once, crossing Albemarle Sound, the crew 

 braced for a huge band of rain picked up by the 

 wheelhouse radar. "We watched it come, got 

 ready for the storm, but when it got to us it was 

 mosquitoes," Donnelly says. "Billions of them, 

 boiling out of the woods at Coinjock. The 

 wheelhouse was covered. The engine breathers 

 sucked so many in that we had to stop and clean 

 them out." 



Tar Heel Trek 



North Carolina's stretch of the waterway 

 involves some of the most intriguing — and 

 challenging — portions of the entire route, and 

 not only because of prodigious insect life. 



Although maintained 

 channels score a number 

 of tidal rivers and 

 sounds, the official 

 number of ICW miles in 

 North Carolina totals 308. 



From Bird Island 

 on the border of the 

 Carolinas, the waterway 

 skirts the marshes behind 

 Sunset Beach and Ocean 

 Isle, Holden Beach, 

 Long Beach and 

 Oak Island. From 

 there the waterway 

 turns north, 

 following the 

 mouth of the Cape 

 Fear River to 

 Snow's Cut, a deep, 

 dredged, razor- 

 straight canal that 

 spills into Myrtle 

 Grove Sound 

 behind Carolina 

 Beach. 



Trending 

 north the rest of the 

 way along the state, 

 the ICW sneaks 

 behind barrier 

 islands as 

 frequently as 

 practicable, but still 

 it must cross the 



big, open waters of Pamlico and Albemarle 

 sounds, among the most challenging stretches 

 of its entire length. After crossing Albemarle 

 Sound waterway, captains have a choice of 

 routes: through the Great Dismal Swamp via 

 the Pasquotank River or up the Coinjock Canal 

 and Currituck Sound. Both routes wind up at 

 Norfolk, the official end of the ICW, although 

 dredged channels continue north. 



Along the way, there's plenty of time to 

 gawk, for few things happen quickly on a 

 tugboat. Depending on the tide, Islawl Express 

 moves along at a ponderous three to eight knots 

 an hour. Each crew member works six hours on 



TOP: Keeping lines straight keeps mate Thomas Dingee on the move as tug 

 and barge chug through cypress-lined river passages. 

 BOTTOM: Pushing from behind, tugs are lashed and cabled to barges with 

 oversized gear. Here mate Thomas Hutson checks the connection. 



and six hours off, for 17 days aboard. 



While Donnelly and mate Frank Litaker 

 trade shifts at the helm, deckhands Thomas 

 Dingee and Thomas Hutson monitor engines 

 and check every onboard rope, cable, and light. 

 There's plenty of deck-swabbing, to be sure. 

 Each surface and window is mopped or 

 scrubbed at least once during each 24-hour 

 period. 



One afternoon I watch Dingee clean the 

 tops of spice bottles with a wet paper towel. "It's 

 not a yacht," he says, in a deep, quiet tone. "But 

 it's home for most of the month." Still, it's not all 

 housework and tedium. 



18 SPRING 2003 



