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Here was #1 of this series, started earlier this month, featuring quite random fotos and thoughts. Here’s a shot looking toward Shooters and Elizabeth, NJ. In the foreground just off the street and that bell tower and to the left of the cement silo are three . . actually four identical brown brick structures; the fourth one is mostly obscured by the silo. I have no clue, although they look like pylons to a structure long gone. Help?
To give a sense of scale of vessels in the KVK, I’m fairly tall, measuring 1.8796 m by last calculation. If I could stand on the waterline, the spritz here would come up past my knees.
Standing here, I could barely reach up past the bottompaint green into the MOL blue.
Tides were quite extreme last week, although I haven’t researched beyond that. The indicator was
stuff like this long submerged engine showing off its transformation.
In a bit, I’m hitting the road . . . gallivant time, so many places to see along so much highway and way too little time. The blog may vacate for a few days . . . But on the 26th, whether I post or not, this blog has its fifth anniversary. This is post #1608 in the past 1825 days. Post #1 was prompted by my huge stone-bellied muse. Thanks so much for reading; I’ve had a blast. I’m eager to get gone and then get back.
PS: If you haven’t voted or asked a half dozen friends to vote for this blog as “best neighborhood blog” and “best photo blog” (#5 and 24), please do so now. A few of you have written to say you like thinking of the sixth boro as one of the overlooked neighborhoods of NYC, the place said to be comprised of five terracentric boros.
Next week I might pass through the Erie Canal town of Lyons, NY, where Grouper again appears forgotten, bereft of a future. Last spring had brought some hope, but . . .
These fotos come from Jason LaDue, who knew her while he was growing up in the vicinity of the Soo. Foto below by Troy Wilke. Jason writes, “That rare (and large) Kahlenberg smoked 
like no other but always delivered the power. I was onboard her several times when moving saltwater vessels to and from the Algoma Steel facility in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.”
Next year 2012, Grouper has a one CENTURY anniversary, 100 years of life, the last decade and a half of which she seems in a coma. Here was my original Grouper post, followed by 67 comments!
These fotos by R LaDue show what spirit this vessel had as Iroquois
in the Soo Tug Race, 1989.
Many thanks, Jason. I plan to use more of your fotos soon.
Uh . . . I miscalculated and got no new fotos of cutter Eagle today, but John Watson made a smart choice
and got these . . . . Bravo, John! Check out this Eagle/Horst Wessel crew reunion blog. And thanks to PortSide NewYork, this info on visiting hours this weekend aboard Eagle at Pier 7 Brooklyn Marine Terminal . . . Today . .. . 2 — 5 pm, Saturday . . . 1–7pm, and Sunday . . . 10 am–7 pm.
1) . . . Name the four sister training barques. Answer follows.
Still, serendipity gave me other fotos for another day. Instead, enjoy a few more Eagle I took yesterday . . . sans ceremonial escort boats and with some facts about the vessel.
2. In launch order among the five “siblings”, where does Eagle find itself? By the way, I can’t identify the cruise ship in the distance.
3. When did Eagle (ex-Horst Wessel) enter US hands and who crewed it to the US? Note the anchor ball just above a member of the crew.
4. How many aircraft has this vessel downed in its career and of what air force(s)?
5. What year was the orange “racing stripe” added?
6. How many of the sister vessels have NEVER visited the sixth boro?
1. Gorch Fock (1933 ex-Tovarishch), Sagres III (1937) , Mircea (1938), and Gorch Fock II (1958). Eagle is second . . . built in seven months and commissioned in September 1936.
2. Eagle was built in 1936, placing it as second oldest.
3. It was transferred to US ownership in May 1946 and sailed to the US in June of the same year by a joint German/American crew. Point of entry to the US and disembarkation of the German members of the crew happened at Camp Shanks, more or less across from Yonkers. Does anyone know of fotos of Eagle headed up or down the Hudson in 1946?
4. It downed three Soviet planes and one German “friendly.”
5. Racing stripe was added in 1976.
6. I don’t know which–if any–of the Blohm + Voss training barques have NEVER visited New York harbor.
The two fotos below show a plaque in what used to be Camp Shanks. Vessel in the distance below is Wanderbird, also
a repurposed vessel from Western Europe.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who took these fotos of Eagle five years ago. Thanks a bundle for the fotos from this morning, John.
Finally, the other Blohm + Voss vessel in New York harbor is Peking, languishing in South Street Seaport limbo. Peking is 377′ loa x 46 beam’ x 16′ draft; compared with Eagle‘s 295′ x 31′ x 17.’
Click here to read the reminiscences of Emil Babich, who crewed aboard Eagle in June 1946 for Eagle’s FIRST arrival in the Hudson on its way to Camp Shanks.
Angus Express got in about 24 hours later than had been predicted . . . that’s right on time, boat time. Many thanks to John McCluskey and John Watson for these pics.
I believe that’s Quantico Creek standing by with bunker fuel.
The top two fotos come from John Watson, and the ones below come thanks to John McCluskey, who shot these from Bay Ridge.
Around the same time the heifer vessel arrived, who came in . ..
Wooley Bully!!! Of course THAT’s as much a coincidence as my linking to this song.
Angus and Shorthorn are two of ten vessels in the Vroon fleet. Angus is two years older and about 50′ shorter than Shorthorn. The visit of these two vessels in the past half month raises a lot of logistical questions in the mind of this erstwhile farm kid; some answers are provided in this series of links: types of livestock carriers, relative size and capacity ( e.g., 14,000 cattle!!!) , problems/challenges associated with this transport . . . Here are many more such vessels. Questions NOT answered for me are: is the manure stored until reaching destination or treated/disposed of at sea? Ditto . .. fatalities among the animals? And although it probably bunkered “empty” of cattle, is a loaded vessel noisy . . as a stable with lowing and mooing? What type of feed is given to the cows enroute? Can cattle get seasick? Why have we seen two cattle carriers in two weeks, whereas I’ve not noticed one before? And facetiously, might a hull filled with several thousand lowing cattle be heard–conducted via water–by a pod of whales?
Angus arrived in the sixth boro yesterday in late afternoon, and as of this writing, it is about to enter Delaware Bay on its way to . . . Wilmington. So is Ocean Drover. Can anyone get me an invitation to tour a cattle carrier vessel there?
Related: Check out this cattle transport.
Quite unrelated: Samudio . . .I am GLAD you are still around!
Beat the heat . .. by imagining change: well, eastriver suggested the sixth boro annex the Conch Republic. Hmmm. Since the sixth boro is an archipelago like the Keys, maybe we could confederate the American archipelagos (besides the two already mentioned, we’d join with the Thimble Islands, the Thousand Islands, the Channel Islands, the Salish Islands, and maybe establish diplomatic relations with all archipelagos smaller than . . . Long Island, giving us many of the Antilles, a smattering of Pacific nations, the Aeolian Islands and Greek Islands. I know I’ve left many out, but it’s already sounding like good company in my heat-addled brain.
Or defocus on the scorching temperatures by looking at fotos below?
First one is a “tugster-sighting” just north of the sixth boro snapped by Joel Milton. Tugster is on the foredeck of Patty Nolan (1931) sans figurefigure as she tows sailing vessel sans-servingsails Lickity-Split some weeks back, here passing the Englewood Cliffs boat basin, I believe.
Next foto from John Watson . . . Eddie R (1971) towing a mystery barge. Any guesses its mission?
Answer comes from Les Sonnenmark, longtime friend of the tugster blog: it’s a cable-laying barge operated by Calwell Marine. Info on the barge can be found in this pdf . . . starting on the unnumbered page 6ff. In fact, this barge may be related to the work of Dolphin III in the sixth boro last summer: click the link to “marine contractor” above the last foto in this post you find here.
Foto by tugster near the Chesapeake City Bridge as 2011-launched Mako ensures Penn No. 81 makes
its way Chesapeake-bound. More info on the pilotboat in the background soon.
Foto by Jed of Vickie M McAllister (2001) docked at McAllister’s Blount Island yard on the St John’s River .
Foto by G. Justin Zizes Jr. of Kathleen Turecamo (1968) and
and Matthew Tibbetts (1969) both high and dry at Caddell Shipyard in Staten Island.
Foto from Lou Rosenberg of Aegean Sea (1962) near Rockaway Inlet. Aegean Sea used to
be called, in order, Francis E. Roehrig, Jersey Coast, and John C. Barker.
This yard tug in Mayport seems to have a protection bar, but in spite of the
the numbers on the stern, I’ve found no info on this type. Fotos by tugster. Orange bow on the right side of foto belongs to C-Tractor 13.
A final shot of Patty Nolan and Lickety Split headed upriver.
Thanks to Joel, John, Les, Jed, Justin, and Lou.
Only tangentially related: For info on YTB-832, previously based in Mayport and now possibly in Greece by way of Italy, click here.
And an even less tenuous tangential connection to these fotos of vessels of La Guardia di Finanza, which sounds like what our government is supposed to do but actually refers to something quite different . . . . What it is can be found here.
More fotos will be forthcoming from the Conch Republic, a possible future residence.
When January has ended and winter still holds us in its icy grip, some folks around the sixth boro get together and engage in group therapy to exorcise the demons of cold and isolation. Here and here are previous sessions.
Here’s a group shot of those seeking solace from the debilitation of February fevers and agues last evening at the Ear Inn about 8 pm.
Frogma, who issued the convocation to gather, launches into the treatment: evoke summer future and
conjure up villains of summers past, no
matter how toothy.
There’s always next summer, when spirits will be again youthful and carefree,
always.
Here’s Adam’s account of last night. Besides Frogma and TQ, also representing different takes on the sixth boro last night were Carolina of PortSide NewYork, Peconic Puffin, Rick Old Salt, John and Vicky (who drew the mermaid above) of Summit to Shore, Bowsprite (who shaded in the shark and breathed life into it) , and yours truly (whose fingers extruded the outline of the shark, as if from tribal memory of terror).
And this just in: Puffin Michael’s version of the events.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp . . who was particularly geography-challenged last night.
Look like Atlantic Salvor . .. or if you remember Barents Sea, like her? Well, the middle vessel, Mister Darby, now goes as Atlantic Salvor. And Mister Pete (launched from Halter Moss Point in March 1976 for Portland Tugs) operates as Barents Sea. Mister Darby came off the ways in February 1977 at Halter Marine, along with a litter of similar vessels for Tidewater Marine, like Mister Jean, Mister Andre, Mister Charlie, Raleigh Ann, … and the list goes on. Thanks to Duncan Merritt for this foto. Can anyone place the year?
Fairly new in the sixth boro is Lucinda Smith, 1975, ex-
Delta Trooper, Sound Eagle, and Sea Hawk.
Passing each other today in the KVK, Franklin (1984) and Zachery Reinauer (1971, ex-Tioga).
Here St Andrews (1978, ex-Melissa L.) gets a dock assist from
Captain Dann (1973), moved into
the berth just vacated by HMS Liberty (1978, ex-James William, Shirley Joy, and Douglas B. Mackie).
Extreme stern and below . . . it’s Bering Sea (1975, ex-Stacy Moran and Cougar).
All fotos by Will Van Dorp. Here is a past foto of the vessels formerly known as Mister Darby and Mister Pete. Is it true that Barents has returned to the east coast of the US?
The first and last fotos today come from Tom Mann, who–in spite of the port listed on this vessel’s stern–took them along the Cape Cod Canal less than a week ago. Justice . . . launched in 2009 by Martinac Shipbuilding . . . is one vessel I’ve NOT yet seen in the sixth boro, not that I see even most things or ever claimed to.
Hoss and Carolina I saw in the Elizabeth River in South Norfolk; they are ex-Chauncey 1962 and ex-Amy M, Robert P Jr, Bay Star 1958, respectively.
Here the Intracoastal Marine site.
ICM crews were moving a deckbarge at Jordan Bridge.
Great Point (2002) waited at the pier in Crisfield, MD with
this load; I imagined it pushing with housing away.
Knock Ha Shee, built by Higgins in 1954 as a US Army coastal freighter (ex-Morgan, Edgerton) is now USCG-classified as a towing vessel.
Is this a pushboat or a motorized barge?
Yes, seeing John P. Brown (2002) pushing an oversize Colgate box, that means we’re back in the sixth boro
But thanks to the fotos from Tom Mann, I can overshoot . . . here’s Justice traversing the Cape Cod Canal.
Thanks, Tom. All the “middle fotos” by Will Van Dorp.
For some Mexican tugs, see Mage’s Postcards.
This post is dedicated to one of my most devoted readers/commenters. It’s you, Mage!
Actually, this is what 3000 people stuck in traffic looks like. Carnival Fantasy was scheduled to sail at 4 pm New Years Day, but two incoming vessels had priority. Here was 4:18. Note the red flag hanging from the bow.
4:47.
5:06.
5:31 and some dolphins had just glided by.
5:47.
5:51.
6:02, and when the shore crew slipped the line over the bollard, passengers cheered from the upper deck. Thrusters move it laterally, Bahamas bound.
6:09. Notice the car carrier Hoegh Brasilia that has assumed a place directly astern of Fantasy at the Union Pier Terminal.
6:12. Notice the tug (Ann Moran?) assisting Brasilia.
6:15. Fantasy in reverse.
6:19. I imagine the lines of the Ravenel Bridge as masts and sails. Well, if I squint, of course.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who will post more “road fotos” tomorrow.
For the record, I’m back in the boros of NYC, but I think I’ll just catch up with the road trip one day at a time. I also went back and corrected/enhanced the “road fotos” posts I put up with the difficult iPad. Also, I added new fotos on the Flickr slideshow.
Out front of the Charleston Museum is a replica of the CSS Hunley, the first combat sub to sink a warship. Actually, it sank two, one of which
was itself. Notice the lethal tip of its bowsprit from hell. Click here for more Hunley pix. Label below was taken at Fort Moultrie.
With only the housetop above the surface fog, Ann Moran (I think) heads past Carnival Fantasy to meet a car carrier taking automobiles OUT of Charleston. A series on Carnival Fantasy soon. In the background is the 5-year-old Arthur J. Ravenel Bridge.
Near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, here is the restored 72-year-old Solomon T, a workboat built near Kitty Hawk on the northern Outer Banks. Much more on Solomon T soon.
I had the great pleasure of a short Cape Fear River tour with Captain Bert Felton, who pointed out that this stretch of Southport NC waterfront was once the location of the sixth boro’s lightship Frying Pan. More on this later too, but an attempt was made to create a maritime museum here using the lightship Frying Pan that for decades before had marked Frying Pan Shoals some 25 miles outside the River’s mouth. Use the search window of this blog for more posts I’ve done about Frying Pan, the sixth boro fixture. More Cape Fear River soon. By the way, Verrazano, namesake of the Bridge, once visited here.
On a personal note, this trip included a stop at my personal place of the Grail . . . Galivants Ferry, howsoever you want to spell it. This place is sacred–or at least inspirational– to the gallivanter in me.
And finally, on another personal note, a bird show at the southern terminus on the Appalachian Trail instructed me on my insult-of-choice for 2011. Can you guess it from this foto? It has nothing to do with the charming bird handler, but it does related to the avian on her left wrist. The befuddled expression on my face . . . reflects an unpleasant discovery I’d just made.
The bird is a turkey vulture. It’s “domesticated” as a result of a farmer’s finding a large stray egg and –wondering what bird’s it was–he placed it with the clutch his hen was sitting on. After hatching, the chick was unusually friendly, having imprinted on the farmer. Well, it was a vulture, who wasn’t interested in eating mash. Vultures, of course, clean up road kill and any other carrion. My discovery and term-of-insult? Vulture breath! It has to be the rankest smell on the planet.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp except the last one, taken by Elizabeth, the ablest navigator and interestingest conversationalist on the planet. She’s also talent at the stern of Hunley, above, and in spite of the illusion, she is NOT standing on the sub’s portside stabilizer.
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