Hank And The Big Canyon

One fine morning, the tugboats got their orders from the Dispatcher and set out to work. Foduck was assigned to patrol the harbour. Emily helped Sigrid take supplies out to Owan, the giant oil rig. George towed Shelburne, the giant barge salvage, near shipwreck rock to do some cleaning up, and Theodore and Hank were to tow in Cumberland, the container ship.

"Well, all the other tugboats were chosen to do something else," said Hank, "But we were chosen to tow in a container ship." Theodore and Hank towed the big container ship, Cumberland in together. "Well, this is easy," said Theodore. "Just right," said Hank.

Then Digby the cable ship motored by the two tugs, saying, "Hello you two youngsters." "Morning Digby," said Theodore and Hank. But Digby had accidentally dropped one of his cables into the water and it was caught Cumberland's rudder, but no one notice.

Meanwhile, George was getting impatient. Shelburne was working slowly, as usual. "Hurry up! Hurry up!" shouted George. "O-Kay," said Shelburne, slowly and worked even slower. George was fuming.

When the day was done, everyone went back to their docks. But the cable that was still stuck in the ship's rudder floated and got caught in Hank's propeller after he docked in. As it was time for the ship to leave, Foduck led Cumberland out into the open ocean.

A few seconds later, Hank started to move, while sleeping. Foduck was about to head towards his dock when Hank floated by him, backwards. "Must be playing backwards at night," he said to himself, "Better tell the Dispatcher that." He saw the Dispatcher sleeping. "Maybe tomorrow," said Foduck. Foduck didn't know the mistake. He went to his place to sleep. But Hank was still being towed out to the open ocean.

The next morning, Theodore was fast asleep. But when he woke up, he saw that Hank wasn't in there! Theodore was so alarmed that he blew his whistle and he went backwards really fast that he bumped into Foduck, who blasted his whistle that woke everyone in the Big Harbour up.

"Quiet!" shouted Benjamin Bridge. "What's the alarm?" asked Bedford Buoy. "Shivers me timbers!" yelled Digby. "Can't we get some nap?" asked Bayswater, Brunswick and Barrington the barges. Everyone tried to figure out what is going on. "Hank is gone!" shouted Theodore and everyone came and saw Hank was missing.

Far, far away, Cumberland was still towing Hank. Then the cable broke. Cumberland went forward while Hank drifted out further. Then, Hank ended up on near a rocky bank far away from the Big Harbour. When he woke up, he was really surprised!

"Where am I?!" Hank shouted. He was so shocked that he went in circles, helplessly. Then Hank wanted to go home. So he took a path that lead to a river that leads to a big place. He wasn't going where he wanted to go.

A few hours later, Hank ended up being in a river with very tall rocky edges. Hank was stunned. He had never seen a place like this. Hank was scared.

Back at the Big Harbour, everyone spread out to look for Hank. Theodore and Constance went out into the open ocean to find Hank. But the bigger tugs weren't having much luck.

Hank went further up the river between the walls. He began to notice he was in a big canyon. A rocky range that has rivers curved by rivers. Hank shuddered and said, "I want to go home!" Hank then decided to head back the way he came.

A few hours later, Hank was almost out of the canyon. But then, he hit his propeller on a shallow rock, denting it. Hank couldn't get under control. Then, Hank ran right into some jagged rocks and one rock torn a hole in his hull. Hank was sinking! "Help!" shouted Hank, but no one heard him. He was almost out of the river. Hank couldn't do anything.

Then, in the distance was a cargo ship. Hank called out for it. "Help!" Hank shouted. He blew his whistle in alarm. Then the cargo ship turned and saw Hank.

After a few seconds, it came towards him. The ship was Inverness. "Oh my," she said, "What's happened?" "I'm sinking, I hit a rock, and I want to go home!" said Hank in panic. "Well, I'll try to help you," said Inverness. But he couldn't do much. All he could do was preventing Hank from sinking more.

Then along came Dartmouth, the giant cable ship who was on his way to another harbour to lay cables. Inverness called out Dartmouth for help. Dartmouth used his cables to tie Hank next to Inverness, to keep him from sinking. And then, Inverness and Dartmouth took Hank home together.

Back in the Big Harbour, everyone was still looking for Hank. Theodore was missing his friend. "I miss Hank," said Theodore. "I'm very sure he's in a better place," said George. "Stop that," said Emily, "We all miss him." "Don't give up," said the Dispatcher, "I know Hank out there somewhere."

Just then, the Dispatcher got a long distance call. "I got a message from Dartmouth," he said, "He and the cargo ship, Inverness had found Hank, far away from here, and they'll bring him home very soon."

After hearing that, Theodore was so excited that he revved his engine and tooted his whistle. All the other tugs did, too. A few days later, Dartmouth and Inverness brought Hank home.

But, before, they took Hank to a nearby harbour to have him repaired. Then they took Hank home.

Theodore rushed to his friend. "Where were you?" he asked. "I had an adventure, but I didn't want to have one," Hank explained, "I went to a canyon, I wanted to go home, and then, I hit a rock, and these guys came to help me and I wanted to go home and I am at home."

"Well the important thing is that you're alright," said Theodore. "One thing, I'll never leave the harbour again," promised Hank. "Well, you take care," said Dartmouth, "We have to go." Theodore and Hank watched Inverness and Dartmouth until they disappear in the distance.

Hank told everyone about his adventure. "So how did you get there in the first place?" asked Foduck. "I don't know," said Hank. "Well I have something to say," said Digby, "One of my cables is missing. It happened before Hank disappeared. As I-Hey is that half of my missing cable?" asked Digby, looking at Hank.

The cable was in Hank's aft deck, was broken in half. "I got it," announced Foduck, "I must have fallen off of Digby and it got caught in Cumberland's rudder and got tied to Hank's propeller. When the ship left, it pulled Hank along with him. Then, it must have broken somewhere and that's how Hank got lost."

After that, everyone was glad that Hank is back home. "Hey, where is George?" asked Hank. Again, George was doing salvaging with Shelburne. "Hurry up! Hurry up!" complained George to Shelburne. "O-Kay," said Shelburne and worked even slower. George was about to explode! "Oh, well," said Hank. Theodore was just glad that Hank is home.