The crow's nest was installed to improve visibility when she was pushing The large newsprint barges. She was built to tow the barges from Saint John, New Brunswick, to various ports, including Miami (thus her orginal name Irving Miami), but she pushed the barges whern she got to the ports, which were usually inland on rivers where towing was impractical if not impossible.
She also pushed Irving Oil barges from a stern notch, and the bird's nest was used regularly when moving around in ports.