[Hootowl99]

The two huge tugs as you call them are ocean going anchor handling ships that work offshore oil fields such as the North Sea. It’s a pretty good chance they sailed from Scotland or Norway.

[woodbutcher1963]

Years ago I read a fictional book about the crew of one of these large ocean salvage tug boats. They literally might have come from half way around the world to pull this vessel off the sand.

The story I read was about a cruise ship that ran aground in Antarctica. They abandoned the ship and the race was on to be the first tug to get there and attach a rope/chain to the abandoned vessel and declare Lloyd's Open Salvage rights to the ship.