Back in the Sixth Boro 2

Here was the first post by this title.  I’ve been back for a few days, but it’s been hard to transition from my jaunt in Utah areas of wilderness back to the densely settled areas in and around the sixth boro of NYC.  I didn’t take the foto below of Binghamton, but her time is clearly running out.  If you notice human/mechanical demolition (as opposed to destruction by natural erosion . . . as in the desert) happening, please get in touch or  send me fotos? This was taken Friday during the rain by Allan and Sally, whose sweet vessel you’ll see later.   I did three posts early October 2011 about Binghamton, then ravaged by Hurricane Irene.

I caught this foto of Miller Boys yesterday when it seemed the winds were blowing more rain in.

Ellen McAllister was moving this “unmarked” McAllister tug (anyone recognize it?) around the yard. Info follows, thanks to Birk Thomas.  That’s Cashman’s Lynx in the background.

Also in Mariner’s Harbor, it’s Mark McAllister, not typically a sixth boro boat.

And slightly west, lined up from left to right are Barents Sea, Yankee, NaHoku, and Taurus.

Potomac stands off with Lower Manhattan in the background after an assist.

Over in North Cove, expedition yacht Copasetic costs more than twice any of the tugs appearing in this post; that bow is inspired by much larger ships.

And finally, my host vessel for a jaunt and great conversation . . .   the Lord Nelson Victory tug Sally W, operated by

Allan and Sally, who’ve kept this blog during their recent jaunt up to Ottawa.  By the way, has anyone seen Chase, the long distance padleboarder?

Binghamton fotos by Sally.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

In case you were not able (like me) to identify the tug alongside Ellen McAllister, it’s none other than Winslow C. Kelsey.

Morning Hour on the KVK 2

Surprise, lunacy, and freebies commingle in this post.  At one point, my perspective shifts a half dozen miles also.

0859 . . . as seen from the “swimming pool” aka Faber Park, Staten Island-side just east of the Bayonne Bridge. That’s Shooters Island (see a then/now post I did here)  off the bow of Zim Qingdao.   Here‘s something to know about the place Qingdao.

Still 0859 . . . Amy C McAllister awaits instructions on assisting with the turn.

0901 . . . part of the turn accomplished . . .

0902 . . .  Zim Qingdao makes the Bridge.

0905 . . .  Ellen‘s off the stern now.  And when I look up,

… well, there’s no surprise about female mariners except

that looks like a kid!    Could this be a contemporary  Zim Family Robinson . . . sans the shipwreck of course!!

0940 . . .  I’ve jumped onto my horse and raced over to the Brooklyn side of the Narrows.  What directed my attention to the Brooklynside base of the VZ Bridge was ships’ horns:  one long blast . ..   danger!  Is it this?  At least six “smokers”  . . .

as Zim Qingdao sped up . . . for her next port, tailed by Amy C and Responder.

I was half expecting these invulnerables-whose engines will never stall maybe– to jump the bow wave . . . .  NYTugmaster links to a WSJ article on “playing in urban commercial waters” here.

Between the VZ and Swinburne/Hoffman, Zim Qingdao  meets

Zim Shenzhen . . .    Note the crew on her foredeck.

By now, Zim Qingdao is passing the Bahamas after a post stop in Savannah, no doubt headed for the Panama Canal.

Unrelated:  Want a free boat ride on Saturday, tickets are available here at 7 pm today.  Actually, there are no truly free boat rides;  support historic vessels of your choice.

If you’re looking for a thriller to read this summer, try The Ship Killer.  Bonnie gave me hers . . . after I’d noticed in prominently displayed at my local Barnes & Noble.   There’s info here, and I agree with the first review there by Jim A . . . except I’d go farther and say it’s like Moby Dick . . . but you get inside the whale’s twisted mind just as you get inside Ahab’s lunacy.   I was predisposed NOT to like it, I didn’t  BUT it was a thrilling ride.

And speaking of thrillers .  . . here’s an American jetski adventure stopped by Russian tanks and helicopters, from a blog yesterday.

Rays

You’d think by now I’ve walked every inch of walkable sixth boro margins,  so shame on me for not discovering this park til this morning, and quite by accident at that.  All fotos here (except one) are taken from this pier. Double clicks enlarges most.  Manhattan lies in the distance to the left, and silvery rays and dots

are embedded into the pier, and these rays carry info, references

to faraway places all

accessible from the waters of  the sixth boro.

This foto was taken about 100 yards south of the pier . . . before I knew the pier was open.

This fleet has the best marine logo art.  Here and  here are others of their fleet.

Wanderlust gets me to places like this . . . where ships from distant places bear names–like OOCL Netherlands, below–of faraway lands.

I’m guessing Makita is named for the Baltic town and not the Japanese power tool, but  . . .?

Invisible behind Port Stewart is Orinoco Star . . . and most of the rest of the planet.   That’s the ubiquitous Ellen McAllister headed off right.

And here’s the plaque.  If you’re local, check this pier out.  I’ll be back.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, before 0830 this morning.

Eddystone Light, in foto 2, I associate with this shanty.

T-ATF 172 USNS Apache 1

Click on the image below and you’ll see how I posted it just over five years ago.  So what do the big blue tug Powhatan below, Ellen McAllister, USCG Katherine Walker, ATB Brandywine, ATB Dublin Sea. and the Staten Island Ferry Spirit of America (as well as ferries Molinari and Marchi) all have in common?

For starters, the Menominee River in Wisconsin.   And from that, given corporate acquisitions, an “in-law” relationship exists with Fincantieri vessels including Costa Concordia as well as the caissons that’ll try to re-float her.

But closer to home, the list above was built at the same Wisconsin shipyard as seven fleet ocean tugs, four of which are active in Military Sealift Command today.  Click here for the 2012 MSC vessels poster, one fifth of which is reproduced below.  MSC operates over 100 vessels today using 5500 civilian mariners.  Civil servant mariners!!

The DonJon Marine Powhatan above has since 2008 become Inebolu A-590 of the Turkish Navy.

The Powhatan-class T-ATFs hare huge, by New York tugboat stands:   226′ loa x 42′ x 15.’

And they do long, large tows.  Here about a year ago, Apache begins to tow a decommissioned USS Nassau to join the reserve fleet  in Texas.  Click here for more context on the foto, taken from USNS Grapple, another MSC vessel that may appear on this blog soon.

Thanks to Birk Thomas, I have a few more fotos of Apache in New London.  Note the towline . . . attached to a sub in this 2010 foto, and  . . .

light in 2011.   Here’s a question I do NOT know the answer to:  Apache visited NYC before 2001, but I don’t know when.  Does anyone recall this?  Have a foto of this?

In the next post, we look inside Apache.  Next question . . . does this marlinespike seamanship have a name?  Would this have been original to this 1981 vessel?  By the way, Apache’s 31st b’day (technically d’day . . . D for delivery)   is late July.

Only the first and last fotos are by Will Van Dorp. The second and third from last are thanks to Birk Thomas.  All the others come from Military Sealift Command.   Many thanks to Susan Melow, MSC Public Affairs Officer,  for setting up a visit and to Apache Second Officer Michael R. Rankin for guiding the tour.

Click here to see Apache towing USS Forrestal.  Here she is in St. Petersburg.  Finally, here she deals with Atlantic Ocean pirates.

Finally, once again, does anyone remember when Apache visited NYC?  Is there an archive online for vessels visiting during Fleet Weeks going back to 1982?

Memorial Day on the Sixth Boro

So what happens in the rest of the sixth boro during Fleet Week?  Works goes on.  Ellen goes past the Statue to the next job, possibly to move USCGC Eagle out.

As is McKinley Sea, with its Kirby livery.

Terrapin Island continues its 24/7 sand moving.

Tankers transfer fluids and container vessels come and go.

Susquehanna follows Quantico Creek to the east.

Holiday jetskiers race off bow waves, abandoning prudence and caution.

Gulf Service awaits an appointment at the tanks.

Ice-bowed Ice Hawk, newly painted and

maybe newly-named, awaits its call.

And (in town for OpSail, Bay City, Michigan registered Appledore V, enjoys the late Monday sun and breeze.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated from Lake Michigan:  1907 SS Keewatin moves.

May 2012 Boro6 News B

Change is the only constant.  New stuff always appears, like this slightly different foto (than Saturday‘s) of Mark Moran, and

old stuff gets painted, again.  Click on that link to see only some of the colors Greenland has worn over the past 22 years.   I may be biased, but the K-Sea colors seemed to have suited her best.

This next series shows what I think is an ongoing filming of a Z-drive tug by a crew on another tug.  ”Reality show” BIG TELEVISION discovers the sixth boro” perhaps?

Notice in the third foto down here Ellen McAllister had the words “tractor tug” painted on her hull midships.

I’m guessing this heeling to apply maximum pressure on MOL Earnest‘s stern was the subject of the filming.

Surely I’ve never seen this many people on the foredeck of a working tug.

Ellen put on quite the show, shoving Earnest‘s stern northish to point the bow southish.

Anyone want to “praytell” what the filming was?

I enjoyed the show myself.

I also caught this behemoth yacht over at the Red Hook passenger terminal, where the Queen Mary 2 docks in town.   My first thought was that it might be a yacht taking design inspiration from Discovery Coast (third down), but then I learned

it was Luna and predates Discovery.   That small white craft on this side of Luna is

is R/V Nauvoo.

Finally, rounding out this newsy but very “mixed bag” is this clutch of sailing vessels, from left to right . . .  Spirit of Massachusetts, America 2.0, and Adirondack.  Next week promises many more sails.

All fotos this weekend by Will Van Dorp, who’s now minding a swan.

Mighty Servant

So, I watched today until a bank of clouds slid in and turned all light monochromatic.  While watching, thoughts that came to mind included . . . “mighty patient” you have to be to load such a vessel, or watch it.

0851 hr . . .  Gabby floats all alone on the Bay . . . that bodes well.  Mighty Servant 1 has been in port less than a week.

0922h.  Mighty Servant spins with the beginning of the flood tide.  Once in place, she will be mightily served.  Note the orange tender hanging from Mighty’s port side.  I’ll call it Lesser Mighty.

And some lucky end-o-seasoners heading south catch a rare view.

0943 hr . . . RTC 105 arrives, pushed by Bruce A., house up, and then

0954 . . . house down and she leaves the barge in the able hands of Gabby and Linda L. Miller.  There’s an invisible Ellen on the far side also.

At the same moment, the orange tender aka Lesser Mighty  delivers

the tower crews to their stations to winch the load into place.

1002 . . . Lesser delivers line handlers onto the RTC 105 as well.

1021 .. . Ellen and Bruce approach

with mighty patience and care.   Note the gray towers on the far side.

1058 . . .  Note the additional Miller boat, Barbara,  in the foreground and the next barge in the distance.

1107.   Lines gets shuttled between RTC 105 and Servant by Lesser.

Whatever was the snafu, the barge gets hauled off, then back on, and line shuttling gets shifted to Bobby G.,  a small Miller boat,

who makes stuff happen,

who weaves a web, and who earns the nom-de-guere More Than Lesser Mighty Servant.

1225.  By now, the lines get snugged, Ellen, Bruce, and Bobby G move over toward the next barge.  And a thick winter cloud moves in.  With cold fingers, I leave for other projects, but the loading goes on.  Maybe I’ll return tomorrow early.

Mightily done, crew!

Pilots 4

This article in gCaptain prompted this post:  it could be called to trust or not trust . .  the knot.

A tug waits inside the Narrows like this every day, many times.  This time it’s Ellen McAllister.

As the vessel enters the Narrows . . . I’m guessing way before this for the other pilot . . . access is ready.

Tug sidles up and alongside, matching speed, and then

the docking pilot goes out to start the climb.  Notice the container vessel crewman waiting up top.

This is where you want to be 100% . .  10,000 per ten thousand times sure all goes well.

Once the docking pilot is safely on board, a whole new set of challenges begins.

All fotos taken last Sunday by Will Van Dorp, as Sea-land Meteor arrived.   By now she’s left a handful other ports and is rounding the bend defined by Key West and  and headed into the Gulf.