It was a beautiful Summer Day on the island of Sodor, and all over the island engines and machines alike were working their hardest. On the Ffarquhar line, Thomas, Toby and Daisy were busy handling passenger duties, while Percy was pulling a freight train. On the main line, Gordon, Henry and James were handling the summer crowds from Tidmouth to Vickerstown, while Bear was pulling a freight train to Barrow-in-Furness. On the Little Western, Duck and Oliver were busy pulling their auto-coaches up and down the line, while Donald and Douglas handled freight duties. Over on the Brendham branch, Edward was handling passenger duties, while BoCo was taking a freight train to Tidmouth. Bill and Ben were hard at work in the clay pits and Salty and Porter were busy shunting in Brendham Docks. Everything was quiet until disaster struck.
A cargo ship was coming in a few knots too fast, but it was a few knots enough that the crew soon lost control of the ship. As it turned in to line up with the dock, it ended up running into and crushing part of the dock. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but this section had sustained severe damage, and the it appeared that the ship's integrity was compromised.
The Harbormaster was cross "Sir Topham Hatt is not going to like this... this shipment is supposed to go out in an hour." Hatt arrived as soon as he received word that this shipment was going to be delayed.
"This isn't your fault Harbormaster; that boat captain should have known better than to come in so fast."
The boat captain, furious, approached the Harbormaster and Sir Topham Hatt " Are you kidding me? Of course this is all your fault! If there were tugboats at this harbor like every other major Harbor in the world, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
The Harbormaster was cross. "Now look here captain, we both know you came in too fast..."
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a cargo ship that long do such tight turns to line up with the harbor? Its not easy! We always gotta come in fast on this harbor because the faster you go, the faster you turn. With tugboats however, all it takes is some pulling and pushing and the ships are in place."
The Harbormaster sighed "we will see what we can do. In the mean time we will arrange for temporary lodging for your crew while the ship is repaired." As the captain walked away, the harbormaster confided in Sir Topham Hatt "I regret to say it, but he has a point... we need tugboats in this harbor."
But as chance would have it, a young man approached them, and came forward with the answer he was looking for "excuse me sir, but did you say you need Tugboats?"
The harbormaster looked at him. "yes, I did. Can I help you?"
"Actually, I can help you. You see, years ago my Great-grandfather was captain of a whole fleet of tugs. He passed away some time back and left me his fleet. They are in need of repairs, but I can sell you them at a discounted price."
The Harbormaster smiled at his fortune. "All right, I'll hear you out. Please come into my office Mr..."
"Star. Roger Star."
