The Big Ships

It was a big, busy day in the Great Big Harbour. Lots of ships were coming in and out of the harbour. The tugboats were working harder than before. Right now, Theodore and George were towing in Caroline, the cargo ship to the container dock while Emily and Foduck were towing Cocomagh out of the harbour.

So the tugboats were very busy today. After George and Theodore docked Caroline and Foduck and Emily towed Cocomagh out, they were really tired. "This is a wear-out kind of job," panted Theodore.

"Too many ships," said George. "Oh, so many," replied Emily. "Might be danger ahead," said George. "What do you mean danger?" asked Emily. "It can never hurt to be extra careful," said Foduck. George sighed.

"You are a nothing of heads," George said to Foduck. This time, Foduck didn't get offended. "But we have to keep going," said Emily. "Right," agreed Theodore. At the container dock, Clayton, the harbour crane was working as fast as he could. He kept unloading and loading the containers on and off the ships.

Clayton was having fun doing this job. An hour later, Theodore and George towed Caroline out of the harbour. "Keep the ships coming, guys," said Clayton, "I'm on a roll today." But the two tugs didn't have the time to reply.

Emily and Foduck were bringing in Jennifer, the big container ship. "Tired and weary," moaned Emily. "We have to keep going," said Foduck, "We must." The tugs knew they had to be responsible with the amount of ships coming in and out. Once the tugs docked Jennifer, Clayton set to work unloading her immediately.

Although Clayton was having fun, the tugs were getting tired. "If I have to move one more ship," moaned Emily, "I am going to melt." "You're right," said Theodore. "All right," said Foduck, "Time for a extra long rest."

The tugs were going to take a long rest when George looked out into the ocean. "Uh, guys," said George, "You better take a look at this- Uh, these."

Theodore, Emily and Foduck turned to see four cargo ships waiting to be towed in. "Oh no," groaned Emily. Out in the entrance were Clementine, Inverness, Canso, and Emma Sophia. "Oh my gosh!" George exclaimed.

"Well," said Theodore, "We better bring them all in. No choice now." So Theodore towed onto Emma Sophia, Emily towed Canso, Foduck hitched onto Inverness and George got Clementine.

All together, the tugboats towed the ships into their docks. But there will be trouble ahead. The tugboat's towropes were getting worn out from all the tugging. "After this, a loooong break time," groaned George.

The tugs were almost at the ship's docks when trouble happened. With a crack, Emily's towrope broke and Canso rammed into Inverness, causing her cargo to spill out into the ocean. Foduck let go of Inverness and pushed Clementine and George into Constance.

With a loud noise, all of Clementine's containers spilled on George and Constance. "My containers!" cried Clementine. Theodore couldn't stop in time and ran Emma Sophia right into Emily! They both collided into the Dispatcher's dock.

Then, Canso ran right into George and settled on the pile of Containers. Inverness also ran onto the piles, too. Everyone was in a terrible mess. "What is this all about?!" asked Constance in an angry tone of voice.

Foduck, who managed to escape, turned to look back and saw everyone in a big mess. Theodore managed to escape, too and turned to see the big mess. "Uh oh," Theodore groaned. The tugboats knew that had to clean the mess up.

Theodore moved Emma Sophia out of Emily's way so she can get free. Unfortunately, George and Constance couldn't get free. "Help," said George. "Can I get off of this 'Not-Yucky-Stuff'?" Canso asked. "Did he have to say that?" George mumbled to himself.

Immediately, Emily, Foduck, and Theodore went to get barges to clean up the mess. They got Shelburne, Bobby, and Brunswick to help out. Theodore and Emily used Shelburne to pull Canso and Inverness off the containers. Foduck used Bobby and Brunswick to fish out Inverness' cargo.

Theodore used Shelburne to fish out Clementine's Containers and to free George and Constance. Other than a few bumps, no serious damage was done to the ships. However, Constance's searchlight had been crushed. So she had to get a new one.

For the rest of the day, the ships decided to take their turns. And the tugboats took their turns too. Clayton continued working and having fun. "So while we were rushed on our propellers," said Theodore, "Clayton had fun unloading the ships."

"So when one ship is done, one of us will tow it out," said Foduck. Luckily, there were no more ships coming in for the rest of the day. So when Jennifer was loaded with new containers, Theodore towed her out by herself.

Then, George towed Clementine into her dock and towed her back out. Emily had Emma Sophia loaded and unloaded, towing her out of the harbour herself. And so the locomotion continued, until all the ships were towed out of the harbour.

So everyone got equal share and thus, the tugboats took a long sleep after all that. But from that day onward, there were no more than 3 ships coming to visit the harbour.