Salvage

Ian Tew joined Selco Salvage of Singapore in 1974, and spent over a decade on the front line. Already an experienced master mariner, he learnt the salvage trade in the busy waters of the Far East before rising to command some of the world’s largest supertugs, eventually becoming a roving salvage master. In his odyssey he roamed the world, from the coast of Cornwall to the Southern Ocean, from the Gulf of Suez to the dangerous reefs of the South China Sea.

This is a vivid account of those ten tough years, including successes, failures, tows and rescues – a barge adrift in a hurricane in the English Channel  – a freighter aground on a reef hundreds of miles from land with a tropical storm approaching – a trawler battered by the surf on a coral reef, its bottom ripped out – a tanker hit by a missile in the Gulf during the Tanker War of the 1980s. In addition to the casualties, the tugs themselves play a major role in the story, as do the crews and captains with whom the author worked. This book is a tribute to the seamanship, courage and resourcefulness of those men. It is a gripping account of drama at sea, and also an exploration of the technical, commercial and human issues behind the headlines.

About the Author:
Captain Ian G. Tew has been involved with the sea all his life. He served with the British India Steam navigation company Ltd and he was a junior cadet on the ill-fated DARA that sank with heavy loss of life in the Persian Gulf in 1961. He joined Selco Salvage in Singapore in 1974 and was involved in more than 60 salvage jobs performed on Lloyd’s Open form, “no cure, no pay.” He is the author of Sailing in Godfather’s Wake.