Like any tugboat in the Halifax Harbour, the Atlantic Willow has to coordinate with harbour traffic control and the other boats sharing the Woodside Dock before the Captain can take it out.

"Halifax traffic, Atlantic Willow off the dock at IEL, we're heading southbound," says tug master Andrea MacDonald over the Atlantic Willow’s radio system.

It isn't a rare occurrence to see a tugboat in Halifax Harbour, but MacDonald’s crew can claim a unique achievement.

The Atlantic Willow boasts an all-female crew, making it the first tug in the port of Halifax to make that claim.

"It's amazing to see all of us girls here running this particular boat and doing what would usually be considered a man's job," says MacDonald.

MacDonald hopes her boat’s all-female crew opens the eyes of many young women to new possibilities, like the two young women who work aboard the Atlantic Willow.

Chief Engineer Kelsie MacLean is responsible for making sure everything is in order in the engine room. With two 1,600-cylinder diesel engines generating more than 4,000 horsepower, the Atlantic Willow packs quite a punch.

"I turn on the engines, I stop the engines, I do every maintenance on the engines, I fix everything that breaks on this boat, I take care of all the systems," says MacLean.

MacLean says she loves her job and it pays well. At just 23 years old, she's already been able to buy a house.

"I came up through Sea Cadets, I actually wanted to be a captain like my grandfather on his fishing boat, and I took a test drive of both marine engineering and marine navigation and I fell in love with marine engineering. I'd rather be turning wrenches than trying to drive the boat," explains MacLean.

Deckhand Jocelyn Smith, 29, also has family connections to working at sea.

"My father is an engineer on one of the other tugs, so it's pretty awesome to get to work with him on occasion," says Smith

As a deckhand, Smith says she is responsible for a little bit of everything aboard the Atlantic Willow.

"Putting up the ship assist line, releasing the mooring lines from the dock, I do maintenance, painting, help the engineer with anything she needs a hand with, and I also do cooking and cleaning," explains Smith.

Smith says there's no place she'd rather be than aboard the Atlantic Willow, but she still wants to move up.

"I have just about everything to go for my bridge watch, I look forward to advancing for my mate's ticket and maybe be just like Andrea as a captain someday," she says.

MacDonald herself started working on tugboats as a deckhand in 2009, before moving up to the wheelhouse. Before that, she worked as an insurance claims adjuster, and says her only regret is that she didn’t start working on boats earlier.

"When I was in high school, I thought working on a boat meant fishing or the Navy, and I didn't want to do either of those. I didn't realize there were more opportunities in the commercial world," says MacDonald.

The women are the latest in a long line, going all the way back to Molly Kool - a native of Alma, N.B., who was the first woman in North America to earn her master mariner certificate in 1939.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw.