There are many hidden incidents, of which we are all unaware, where what could have been great disasters were averted in the nick of time thanks to the courage of a small band of men whose courage often goes unnoticed.

They are the crew manning the tugboats in our harbours.

Speaking at a book launch at the Maritime Museum on Friday, Dr Ann Fenech had some hair-raising episodes to tell, which the general public is surely unaware of. But the tug crews who were present in droves for the book launch shook their head, no doubt recalling many memories of battling against extreme odds and averting disasters.

On 1 February 1995, the Chesapeake Bay, a big (at that time) container ship with 1,956 containers on board, travelling from Algeciras to Jeddah, ran aground at Benghajsa Reef on its way to the Malta Freeport. It was pulled off the reef by four tugs.

On 4 April 2000, fuel tanker Clipper Spirit entered Grand Harbour and berthed at Bighi when a storm blew up from the south or south west, with Force 9 wind. In that particular area, such storms create a micro-climate of its own. The ship dragged its anchors and touched bottom near Ricasoli. It risked being dragged across Grand Harbour to the Valletta side possibly causing huge pollution. But thanks to joint and courageous action by pilots and tugs, it was blocked and taken to a safer place inside Grand Harbour.

On 28 November 2008, MV Carl C ran aground between Xrobb l-Ghagin and Munxar Point in a Force 8 storm from the southeast, with six-metre-high waves and with gusts up to Force 9. It dragged its anchors and ran into a fish farm causing huge damage, which in turn filled the sea with lots of flotsam that could get caught in the propellers of any tugboat sent to help and cause damage to them in turn.

Two tugboats were called out, the Pawlina and Melita 2. The latter fortunately had its propeller covered with netting so it could manoeuvre better.

The only solution in those circumstances was for Carl C to slip its anchors and then Pawlina was hitched to the ship and dragged it backwards, all the way to the safety of Grand Harbour.

Just a month before, almost the same accident had happened in Spain but the rescue effort was not so successful and the ship ended up smashed against the cliff, as Carl C would have ended had it not been for the brave sailors on board the tugboats.

The book launched on Friday is ‘Malta Tugs – Commercial Towage in Maltese Harbours 1856 – 2012. It is written by Michael Cassar who was brought up and still lives within sight of Grand Harbour. He has written many books on maritime, transport, industrial and general historical heritage. Last year he published a book about HMS Hibernia, whose figurehead is now at the Malta Maritime Museum.

The book is actually a sequel to an earlier work on Royal Naval tugs in Grand Harbour.

Mr Cassar too had his scary story to tell. A ship with a full load of explosives and bombs was berthed in the shadow of Bighi and Ricasoli. Although the ship was disabled it was about to slip its moorings and could have been pushed by the waves and the wind in the direction of Valletta, with possibly lethal consequences.

A duty policeman noticed the danger and alerted the authorities. Tugs were called in and they pulled the ship to safety.

Fortunately, not many days can be so dramatic. Tugs carry out some 8,000 operations a year, mainly guiding and piloting ships in and out of Grand Harbour.

Remarkably, tugs have a rather long life. Some tugs that came into operation right after Independence are still in use today, although they have changed names many times, thanks to the Maltese penchant for renaming them.