The twin-screw articulated tug Jane Ann IV was built in 1978 at Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Tokyo, Japan, as Ouro Fino for Petroleo Brasilero. In 1981 she was renamed Bomare. In 1993 she was sold to Secunda Marine Canada and renamed Tignish Sea. In 2000, she was sold to Halifax Grain Elevators Ltd. in Canada and renamed Jane Ann IV. She was converted to an articulated tug with the installation of a Hydraconn coupler system and paired with the self-unloading barge Sarah Spencer (formerly Adam E. Cornelius, built in 1959 for the American Steamship Co.). In 2006 the combo was sold to TGL Marine Holdings.
Tug and barge laid up after the 2008 season in the Welland Canal, and in early 2009 were moved to the Old Rouge River in Detroit for long-term lay-up. Sometime in 2010, she was towed across the river to Morterm in Windsor. In 2012 she was towed back across to Nicholson’s in Ecorse, where the Jane Ann IV sank. In May 2014, the pair were towed to Toledo and laid up at the ADM elevators. Tug and barge broke away from their moorings March 15, 2015, when strong current propelled large ice flows down the Maumee River. The tugs Mississippi and Nebraska went to the aid of the vessels. After that incident, both were moved to the Frog Pond for continued layup.
In mid-2018, Jane Ann IV was stripped of her barge coupling system for use on another tug. Tug Manitou departed the CSX Frog Pond dock in Toledo at the evening of August 9, 2018, with Jane Ann IV lashed alongside headed for Calcite, MI, where she was hauled ashore and scrapped.
Written by Roger LeLievre.
| Ship Particulars | |
| Length | 150′ 11″ (46.0m) |
| Beam | 42′ 08″ (13.0m) |
| Depth | 21′ 02″ (6.46m) |
| Midsummer Draft | 18′ 01″ (5.51m) |
| Engine Power | 8,000 bhp diesel |
| Previous Names | |
| Ouro Fino | 1978 – 1980 |
| Bomare | 1980 – 1993 |
| Tignish Sea | 1993 – 2002 |
| Jane Ann IV | 2002 – 2019 |
| Barges paired with tug | |
| Sarah Spencer | 2000 – 2019 |