Tug's trip surprises museum; Hoga expected to arrive today

The Pearl Harbor-surviving tug Hoga will be towed to the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock by mid-morning today, two weeks ahead of even the best of expectations from museum board members, former North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays said Sunday night.

The tug, a National Historic Landmark that is owned by the city, was to arrive at the Little Rock Port downriver sometime overnight, Hays said.

"We have to get busy with our preparations," said Hays, who established the Maritime Museum during his mayoral years and is a member of its board of directors. "We didn't expect it would be this soon."

Hays said a transfer between barges towing the tugboat up the Mississippi River and then the Arkansas River was "ready to go" when the first barge reached Rosedale, Miss., sometime early Saturday. Once the transfer occurred, the Hoga's latest tow began in earnest, he said.

As late as Friday, museum board member Steve Owen had estimated that the barge towing the Hoga would arrive by Sunday at Rosedale and possibly sit a few days before continuing its journey. That the trip continued so quickly caught board members who had been following the Hoga's transport "off guard," Hays said. An online marine tracker, known to be less accurate for river travel than for an ocean transport, still showed the Hoga at Rosedale on Sunday night, Hays added.

Museum board members have been planning a large Pearl Harbor anniversary commemoration for Dec. 7 with the hope that the Hoga would arrive in time, after starting its journey from off the California coast in late September.

Those hopes were all but dashed two weeks ago when an alleged maritime law violation detoured the cargo ship carrying the Hoga after it had arrived in New Orleans. Unable to unload the boat at New Orleans, the cargo ship was diverted to Houston with the Hoga still aboard. The ship and its cargo sat for a week in port at Houston while museum officials worked with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Border Patrol to find a remedy that would restart the Hoga's journey.

Once the situation was resolved Nov. 9, the Hoga was soon on its way to New Orleans again. A barge owned by Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel towed the boat along the Mississippi, then a barge owned by Jantran Inc., a subsidiary of the North Little Rock-based Bruce Oakley Inc., towed the Hoga up the Arkansas. Both companies donated their services toward the Hoga's preservation, museum officials have said.

The Hoga was awarded the National Historic Landmark designation in 1989 for its crew's efforts during and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The Hoga pushed the burning USS Nevada battleship aground to keep it from blocking the Naval fleet's harbor entrance and exit, and fought fires on the doomed USS Arizona battleship for 72 consecutive hours, according to historical accounts.

In 2005, the U.S. Navy approved a transfer of ownership to North Little Rock for preservation in a competition with a handful of other cities. The 100-foot tug will join the Razorback submarine at the Maritime Museum, making North Little Rock and Honolulu the only cities to have vessels from the first and last day of World War II. The Razorback was at Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, for the official Japanese surrender.

Metro on 11/23/2015

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