Patent ID: 8356567

Claim:
A fueling system for securing and fueling a water vessel at a floating station, the fueling system comprising: a parent ship having a fuel supply and a pump for delivering fuel from the fuel supply; a floating station remote from the parent ship, the floating station comprising: a tow opening; a fuel-delivering arrangement connected to the fuel supply of the parent ship, the fuel-delivering arrangement comprising: a hose; and a hose feeder for feeding the hose, wherein the hose feeder comprises: a movable funnel forwardly movable to create a continuous hose-feeding path from the fuel-delivering arrangement; a funnel actuator for moving the funnel; a rotatable reel carrying the hose; and a bidirectional driving arrangement for driving the hose from around the rotatable reel; a water vessel having a bow end and a stern end comprising: a latching probe extending from the bow end, and releasably latched within the tow opening of the floating station; and a fueling port for receiving fuel via the fuel-delivering arrangement.