Minor tugboat characters in TUGS

This article deals with a section of minor fictional characters who appeared in the 1989 television series TUGS, created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.

Sea Rogue
Sea Rogue is also known as "The Pirate". In darker times he stole barges for two mysterious green eyed tugs, who had captured Sea Rogue's Uncle, and threatened to scuttle him unless Sea Rogue stole more barges for them. The Green-Eyed Pirates were later caught out by Ten Cents, Sunshine, Grampus, and Sea Rogue himself, who divised a plan to capture the two fiends. Sea Rogue had been previously mistaken as the pirate himself, hence his nickname and he later forgave the Star Tugs for ever thinking that about him. He then returned to a peaceful life with his uncle. He was voiced by Nigel Anthony.

Sea Rogue's appearance was intimidating, especially his eye patch, a typical pirate trademark. He was a completely black tug in colour, and didn't seem to work for any particular fleet, although the "Mi" symbol on his stack suggests that he worked for the munitions company, as the same symbol is seen on the factory and warehouse doors.

His model was later repainted and modified to be used for Bluenose

Sea Rogue also appeared on the acclaimed TLC TV series Salty's Lighthouse except he became a villain who liked stealing cargo.

Sea Rogue's Uncle
Sea Rogue's Uncle was never named, although he was referred to as "Old Man" by his nephew Sea Rogue. He was an elderly tug with a brownish colour scheme, appearing only in "Pirate". He was kidnapped by the "Green-Eyed" tugs, who held him as ransom in order to make his nephew steal barges. He was later rescued by Grampus.

His body was reused as Boomer.

Bluenose
Bluenose is a navy tug, who has a blue nose, hence his name. He plays precisely by the rules and acts as a kind of stereotypical army sergeant towards the other tugs. He is annoying, pompous, and self-centered, and despite appearing in only two episodes of the series, he caused a major impact, and is often referred to as a major character. He speaks with a regimented Army English accent.

His major story line was involved with blowing up the midget submarine Grampus who was saved at the last minute and later became a member of the Star Fleet. After the episode "Munitions", Bluenose was left a nervous wreck, after a terrible night at the docks involving the death of the naval tramp steamer Krakatoa. He was voiced by Sean Barrett. In Salty's Lighthouse he was voiced by Gary Chalk.

Fire Tug
The Fire Tug was in his own right, quite a significant character, although he did not have his own individual name, he had a major role in the health, safety and well-being in Bigg City Port. He is seen as an authoritarian figure and was often around when chaos was stirring in the Port.

The Fire Tug is level headed and down-to-earth, he is usually bright eyed, although his stubble makes him appear quite rough, however he is alert and keen to get to work. He speaks with a Cockney accent. He is painted white and red.

Like Billy Shoepack, The Fire Tug could move his head and eyes rather than immobile features.

According to sources, The Fire Tug is voiced by British actor Nigel Anthony, who provided the voices of Big Mac, Hercules and Zebedee.

Boomer
Boomer was found floating adrift in the episode "Jinxed", by the Star tugs Ten Cents and Sunshine where he revealed he was a jinx, which Ten Cents was very sceptical about. After many incidents including sinking himself and his engine blowing up, just to name a few, Ten Cents finally believed that he had a bad luck streak. After he was repaired at Lucky's Yard, Captain Star decided that Boomer was to become a house boat, he now resides at "Dun Tuggin" were he can relax all day, and the jinx has finally left him.

Boomer was originally called Captain Harry, after his name was changed to Boomer, that was when the problem began. Boomer was the only tug except from the initial seven to become a Star Tug, even if it was only for a very short period. He also helped the Z stacks with a job, but after the barge exploded Captain Zero got rid of him. He can be seen towing barges in the background of the episode 'Up River' with this exception he was never featured in the series again.

Boomer speaks with a Irish accent. According to sources, Boomer is voiced by British actor Lee Cornes, who starred in Grange Hill for many years who also provided the voices of Grampus, Billy Shoepack and The Coast Guard. In Salty's Lighthouse he is still a House Boat and he was voiced by Brad Swaile.

Billy Shoepack
Billy Shoepack is an alligator tug. He is featured in the episodes "Up River" and "Trapped"; he was ridiculed a lot by the normal tugs who found his appearance amusing. He had great courage and spirit which he proved to them, and changed their minds for the better.

In Salty's Lighthouse, Billy was renamed to Anthony-George.

Billy has a fixation on dynamite which helped the tugs out of very sticky situations. Billy speaks with a strong West Country accent. Billy Shoepack is voiced by British actor Lee Cornes.

Burke and Blair
Burke and Blair were notorious scrap dealers, and scavengers. Burke was the one with a moustache, and Blair wore the glasses. They were always seen together, and had small appearances in many episodes across the series. Their most notable storyline was that of the time they tried to convince OJ he was ready for scrap, but failed to break the determined OJ.

They were often seen in the background of the series, most notably at the end of the episode 'Ghosts'. Their names come from the Edinburgh corpse sellers: Burke and Hare and they are sort of tugboat alternatives to their human counterparts, in that they deal in dead boats - not people.

John Baddeley voiced Burke and Sean Barrett voiced Blair.

In TUGS' American counterpart, Salty's Lighthouse, Burke and Blair were Movie Producers called Mr. Bocco and Mr. Socco and were voiced by Richard Newman.

The Pirates
A pair of villainous tugboats who slipped into Bigg City Port with the intension of stealing loaded barges that could be sold off illegally for trade. To increase their security, they used Sea Rogue as their decoy, and to make sure that he performed their bidding, they took his uncle hostage and threatened to sink him if Sea Rogue disobeyed them. With the unexpected help of Zip and Zug, the Star Fleet and Sea Rouge were able to capture the pirate tugs and hand them into the authorities. The pirate tugs were mysterious-looking vessels with black paint and a distinguishable pair of green-tinted spotlights. They are known among fans as 'The Green-Eyed Things'. The pirate tugs are among the few speaking tugboats among the cast that do not have faces. They were voiced by Sean Barrett.

The White Fleet
A fleet of tugboats who came to Bigg City Port during the midst of winter. They came from 'northern waters' in search of an iceberg, and travelled about the harbour at night with engines 'off', listening for cracking ice. They were mistaken by the Star Fleet, Zorran and Izzy Gomez for being the phantoms of a tug fleet that sank in the great storm of 1912. After an eventful night, Hercules revealed the truth behind the White Fleet. Since then, the Star Tugs found they could laugh it off, but never forgot the night when fog nearly drove them crazy.

Salvage Fleet
Sunshine's former upriver tugboat fleet. With the exception of Sunshine and Billy Shoepack, none of the members were ever seen.