On Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:55:28 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:

No, it was dark out when it happened.. If it had a flasher, it was not
visible or at least apparent from my point of view.. All I saw was a
bright star off in the distance and it started closing fast. Turned out
it was the tug light, I barely got out of the way with my little 2 horse
motor on the little aluminum skiff.

In that case, the barge captian should get a ticket. No lights, no
horn, night...

It happens all the time. In my experience it is unusual to see any
lights at all on a lead barge, and if so, they are small and very dim.
Think about it. There is no source of power on barges other than
batteries, and no way to recharge batteries. The vast majority of
barges are just a floating steel box with no machinery and no one on
board.