that tug boat owner - qld hero

[Chamelion]

I agree with FishHunter.. The bloke was brave, showed courage, determination and strength of character to get out there and take care of it.. I'm not so sure it can be described as an act of heroism though?

Sure would buy the bloke a beer..

[caster226]

comment removed

[Ratman]

Excellent work by Dougie.

I bet thats one 'risk' that the authorities have penciled in for next time or maybe that already have...dunno.

Mick

[Barry Ehsman]

Quick thinking and a good effort on his part but this is what I understand the word hero to mean.

"hero (male) and heroine (female) came to refer to characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good of all humanity"

Leave the word for the real hero's out there

You have got to be #@%$# joking !!!!!! Give him a bit of credit & stay away from your bloody dictionary...

Baz

[scarby]

Agreed Sandbankmagnet, the bloke sacrificed the hull of his boat with all that rubbish floating down to protect the Gateway Bridge for the "greater good of all humanity"

[timddo]

The government officals and engineers would have done some calculations that recommended let nature take it course. As the walkway hitting the bridge will be nill effect. Hey the bridge is $1,000,000,000.

He did a good job though

[TREVELLY]

As an engineer I would say that lump of boardwalk hitting the bridge with square on impact would do serious damage and be potentially catastrophic to the bridge support structure.

[Steve B]

Agreed Sandbankmagnet, the bloke sacrificed the hull of his boat with all that rubbish floating down to protect the Gateway Bridge for the "greater good of all humanity"

Agree too with sandbagmagnet and scarby, what he did was heroic, he put his life and boat on the line to perform a task the authorities (and i dont blame them) didnt know was going to happen....there are so many unknown issues that occour in these events, the authorities cant be all over them all the time....this bloke is a legend.

Now I am no tug boat driver, but I would imagine it would be damn hard to manouver a tug boat in fast flowing current (thats not what they are designed for as far as I know) I am sure they have the power, but the rapid manouvering would be difficult (correct me if anyone knows better)......then to manouver a massive chunk of metal (an unknown quantity in itself) through the gateway and potentially avoid a disaster that would have long lasting impact on all of us for a long time....yep he is a hero....along with many other unsung ones thoughout this ordeal.

Cheers Steve

[NAGG]

Certainly will go down in Qld folklore ....... "The little tug that could!"

Chris

[turkeyslapper]

There is always going to be 1or 2 dickheads trying to take the gloss off someone who has done a truely remarkable job.I wonder where they watched all this drama unfolding from? Not in the Brissy River I would guess.

[Getout]

I was close enough to watch all this unfold from the riverbank. It is hard to understand why the authorities sat back and a couple of private enterprise guys had to step in to take this action off their own bats. The fact that the authorities closed the bridge, means that they considered the imminent collision as serious! I suppose that, because the river conditions were dangerous, (there was a mass of serious debris in the river and the current was ripping between the bridge pylons at over 10kts) they decided that the bridge was not as valuable as human life?? I think that the walkway was more likely to take out the City Cat fleet, than damage the bridge!!
By all reports, Doug is just like all the other tug drivers in the river. He knows his shit, like they all do. It was no big deal to him, but it sure looked impressive.
BTW, I watched the bridge for two days. I didn't see one object actually strike any pylons. The current was sucking everything through in a very orderly fashion!!

[samsnap]

If they want to raise more money for the flood appeal - I'd pay to go for a ride on Mavis! Only an idea - I'v always loved tugs. Sammyxx

oh - IMO HE is A HERO & A LEGEND and so is Mavis

[PinHead]

The government officals and engineers would have done some calculations that recommended let nature take it course. As the walkway hitting the bridge will be nill effect. Hey the bridge is $1,000,000,000.

He did a good job though

and the World trade centres cost ..????????????????
and we all know what impact did to them.

Give the bloke some credit..he did a top job.

[theangryangler]

You have got to be #@%$# joking !!!!!! Give him a bit of credit & stay away from your bloody dictionary...

Baz

Could not agree more the bloke is a hero, legend and his act was and could be defined as heroism as they could have been killed driving something of that size around with a tug and in the dark!???

Better then these other Idiots out there trying to steal from moored boats cause the owners have evacd!!! LYNCH THEM I SAY and make an example of them!!!!
Good post too
ANgry

[FishHunter]

I am not detracting from what he did but if that makes you a hero then society is indeed getting soft.