Historic sisters meet in the Netherlands

Once sister ships in the deepsea fleet of L Smit & Co International, they had very different careers but are both now in excellent condition. Seawolf was completed as the Clyde in 1957 and Elbe entered service in 1959.

When Elbe joined the Smit fleet it was growing rapidly in size and capability. A tug of 58.09m in length overall, the vessel was powered by two Smit-MAN six cylinder, four stroke diesel main engines generating a total of 2,780 shaft horsepower, driving a single screw. The Clyde was Elbe’s one close sister ship. Both tugs carried out or participated in a wide range of deepsea towing and salvage operations worldwide.

Elbe was sold in 1976 to the Association of Maryland Pilots of Baltimore USA for use as a seagoing pilot vessel bearing the name Maryland. In 1985 the vessel was purchased by Greenpeace to replace ill-fated Rainbow Warrior. The vessel served with Greenpeace until 2002, taking part in numerous projects and travelling round the world many times.

A project to preserve the Elbe as a working museum began the same year, when the Foundation Maritime Collection Rijnmond (Stichting Maritieme Collectie Rijnmond) acquired the tug. The massive task of completely restoring the Elbe to its original 1959 condition has been difficult and the project suffered several major setbacks. Thanks to a resolute team of some 70 volunteers the renovation task has been carried out to a very high standard and the tug is now underway and participating in some of the Netherlands’ various maritime festivals.

Towards the end of its career with Smit, Clyde was renamed Smit Salvor and in 1977 sold to Matsas in Greece. After having served there for almost 13 years, a German towage enthusiast purchased it and changed the name to Seawolfe. In 1998 a Dutch yard owner in Mallorca noticed the attractive vessel and decided to transform it into a yacht. After five years the work was complete and the result was stunning. The graceful outline was maintained but inside it is a completely different ship. Initialy sailing as Seawolfe, it subsequently became Seawolfe C, Dolce Far Niente, and finally, six years ago, Seawolf.

When Elbe and Seawolf moored together it was an emotional moment for the many people who had worked for Smit or as part of the renovation process. The event was orgainised by Hans Hoffman, Captain and leader of the Elbe renovation project and Mr Potter, the owner of Seawolf.