Definition
Towage refers to two distinct but related concepts in maritime and admiralty law:
1. The service of drawing or pulling a vessel through water by means of another vessel — historically by men or horses along a riverbank, and in the modern era almost exclusively by steam-powered or diesel-powered tugboats. The towing vessel and the towed vessel typically enter a contract establishing the terms of the service, and the relationship is governed primarily by admiralty jurisdiction.
2. The compensation paid for that service. In historical river navigation, this also included fees paid by bargemen to landowners whose riparian property they traversed while towing vessels along the bank.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of towing; a charge for towing.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of towing; the price paid for towing.
The common and legal meanings are close but not identical. In ordinary usage, "towing" most naturally evokes road vehicles — cars hauled from parking lots or accident scenes. In admiralty law, towage is exclusively a maritime concept with a distinct legal regime: it creates specific contractual obligations, implicates admiralty jurisdiction, and triggers questions about liability allocation between tug and tow that have no parallel in terrestrial towing. The fee dimension, while present in both contexts, carries additional legal weight in maritime law because unpaid towage charges can give rise to a maritime lien against the vessel.
Common Confusion
Towage is frequently confused with salvage, and the distinction is legally critical. Towage is a routine service rendered under contract to a vessel that is not in peril — the compensation is the agreed contract rate. Salvage arises when a vessel is in imminent danger and is rescued by a volunteer or under emergency conditions — the compensation is set by the court and is typically far greater than a contract rate, reflecting the risk taken and the value preserved. As Bouvier's notes, when towage is rendered in the rescue or relief of a vessel from imminent peril, the service transforms into salvage and is compensated accordingly. The line between the two can blur when a tug responds to an emergency, and courts have long examined the actual circumstances — not the label the parties attach — to determine which regime applies.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in admiralty and maritime law need to track towage in at least three distinct analytical frames.
First, the contract dimension. Modern towage is almost always governed by a written towage contract, and disputes typically center on allocation of liability for negligent navigation — particularly which party bears responsibility when the tow is damaged. Standard form contracts often include exculpatory clauses limiting the tug owner's liability, and courts have varied in their willingness to enforce these clauses. Researchers looking at 19th- and early 20th-century sources will find different default rules than those prevailing today.
Second, the towage-versus-salvage boundary. This is a recurring litigation flashpoint in the corpus. When a vessel calls for assistance, whether the service rendered is towage (routine, compensated at contract rates) or salvage (extraordinary, compensated at elevated rates) is a question that has generated substantial case law. Researchers should not assume that a document labeled a "towage contract" conclusively establishes the legal character of the service — courts look to actual conditions at the time of service.
Third, the maritime lien dimension. Unpaid towage charges historically supported a maritime lien against the vessel, giving the tug owner an in rem remedy in admiralty. Researchers examining vessel ownership disputes, bankruptcy proceedings involving vessels, or historical admiralty dockets should look for towage lien claims as a distinct category.
Historical sources in the corpus will also reflect the pre-steam era, when towage by horse or manpower along riverbanks was standard practice, and the associated land-use fees paid to riparian owners were themselves a recognized form of towage compensation. This meaning is entirely obsolete in modern usage and should not be imported into contemporary analysis.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's 1st and 2nd editions are in near-verbatim agreement on towage, reflecting the definition's stability across the period of their publication. Both define towage as the act or service of towing, note the role of steam tugs, and include the older riparian fee meaning — money paid to landowners along riverbanks for the right to tow over their land. This historical dimension is present in both editions but has no surviving practical significance.
Bouvier's is the most analytically useful of the three sources. It alone draws the towage-versus-salvage distinction explicitly, noting that towage service applies to vessels that have received no injury or damage, and that rescue from imminent peril elevates the service to salvage. This is the critical doctrinal fault line, and Bouvier's flag on it is a useful pointer for researchers even though the specific reporters cited (9 Fed. Rep. 53; 6 N.Y. Leg. Obs. 223) represent 19th-century authority that should be verified against later developments.
None of the three historical sources addresses the modern contractual framework for towage, standard form towing contracts, or the significant body of 20th-century admiralty case law addressing liability allocation between tug and tow. Researchers should treat the historical dictionaries as a foundation for understanding the basic concept and the salvage boundary, but should not rely on them for the operative legal rules governing modern towage disputes.
Jurisdictional Note
In the United States, towage falls within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the federal courts, and federal admiralty law governs the core issues of towage contracts and maritime liens. State law plays a limited role. In jurisdictions with significant inland waterway commerce — particularly along the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes — historically distinct towage practices developed, and researchers may find state-court decisions on riparian towage fees that predate the dominance of federal admiralty doctrine.