Tugboat Tails

"When a young pup accidentally stows away on a working tugboat his world is turned upside down. Sailing and up and down the US east coast and into the Caribbean our pup has a lot of fun running into adventure after adventure and learns some life lessons as he does so."

A skittish young dog inadvertently ends up in the sea bag of an ocean going tugboat skipper. Onboard and at sea the dog, christened Tugboat by the crew gets acquainted with the workings of a cargo carrying tug and barge combination as it plies trade in the Gulf of Mexico and up the US East Coast. ‘Tugboat’ interacts with the various crew members, notably with the bad guy, JJ, and with the lonely skipper. Cap’n Billy is a talkative character. He is not particularly aware of the fact that he is a teacher. By his interaction with Tugboat and the crew the reader will learn the origin of many nautical terms that are in current everyday use as well as some fundamental life lessons. ‘Tugboat’ visits Veracruz, New York and Charleston during his time aboard. While in those ports and also while at sea Tugboat has his adventures and makes friends. Throughout the voyages cargo is loaded and unloaded from the barge and there is some mild, easy-going explanation of how this takes place.

Chris Jefferies is a 35 year veteran of the shipping industry, both in the USA and his original UK. He has a fascination for the origination of words and phrases and thought it might be a good idea to explain where some of these phrases, in everyday use, came from. Tugboat is a living, breathing -beagle/terrier mix who, as in the book, is a little skittish but also enornously brave. Chris can be contacted at junoinc@knology.net if your children would like to see a photo or two of Tugboat.