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Forecast for the morning after the Oscars was for some sun, which I sorely needed. And who’s out . . . William Oscar aka W. O. Decker, for starters.
CCNI Aquiles and Dallas Express at Global . . . and a Moose boat racing toward us.
I couldn’t quite figure out what Sorensen Miller‘s load was. In the background, that’s the Newark Bay Bridge, which doesn’t make it on my fotos much.
Virginia Sue was fishing off Clermont.
John P. Brown moved nine (?) railcars from Brooklyn to Jersey.
Clipper Legacy arrived here yesterday.
Shawn Miller‘s pushing trucks around again, this one all ready for the mid-March holiday.
Taurus light moves past Christine McAllister.
And . . . let’s conclude with another shot of William Oscar, wherever it may be heading.
All fotos this morning before the clouds moved in . . . by Will Van Dorp.
Those film awards started in 1929.
William Oscar Decker was launched in 1930.
Every day should be Oscar day and every night . . . Oscar night. And the winner is . . . W. O.! Shouldn’t there be a George Stanley statuette front and center of wheelhouse?
All fotos by Will Van Dorp. Foto #1 taken in September 2010 in Troy, and the other two taken in July 2012 in the East River.
So after work today, I went looking for evidence that New Yorkers celebrate mardi gras. I saw this instead . . . seal?
Not! Unless seals these days carry flashlights and trail markers and have a support
vessels like Linda Ann, herself supported by W. O. Decker and Peking.
Here is one of a series of six posts I did five years ago about Peking, which moved across the bay that day. And half a year back, here‘s a post I did about W. O. Decker and Helen McAllister‘s last waltz. And Wavertree . . . I regret that in my dozen years wandering the sixth boro, Wavertree has not ONCE left the dock. I know some of you must have fotos . . . and good memories of her moves, but I have none.
BUT . . . click here for a mystery vessel with three masts square-rigged in a foto I was given some years back. Anyone want to take a stab at identifying it? The conclusion a few years back is that the foto is “‘shopped,” although it was done some years ago.
My guess is that someone was inspecting Wavertree‘s wet side.
Later I thought I saw a mermaid . . . but I struck out again.
And for the record, after 1700 hr on the E train I finally saw some mardi gras beads . . . worn by a couple going to a party. I had to ask.
All fotos today by Will Van Dorp.
… of course with boats, the number of “second lives” can astonish you, and (as for “last,”) see the note at the end of the post. Helen’s tenure as “tryin ta be” museum artifact at South Street was more like a fourth life* already!
Anyhow, we knew departure would happen, just not when the day was. But when I happened by minutes after nine this morning and I saw this . . . my plans for the next few hours vanished . . . .
Helen sliding into the stream at the end of Decker‘s towline . . . meant only one thing.
0923 hr . . . Decker heads out to confer with Responder, who has often moved South Street vessels, including Peking four + years ago.
Responder asks Decker to go into the confined space to bring Helen to the dance floor.
Decker (and crew, of course) were thrilled to do this escort.
Long-timers at the Museum–Carlos, Victor, and Sal–get in last moments.
0953 . . . the tow gets made with Responder, and
the lines to Decker get
loosened. Hand-over has happened.
For a short tense interval, the boats exchange sweet somethings, maybe some tears, and then
they waltz away . . . toward a future.
The Statue waves in recognition.
And Decker, as escort, has finished her duties by 1024 hr.
Such beautiful curves, such proud rake! Surely there is another life
for Helen somewhere. John Watson waits high on his cliff to get fotos of the tow heading into the KVK.
Thanks to John Watson for this foto and to Jonathan Boulware for assisting with my fotos.
And I’d really enjoy hearing your comments on any experiences you’ve had in the long life of the beautiful Helen (ex-Georgetown, ex-Admiral Dewey). Does anyone have fotos to share of Helen docking vessels during 1992 OpSail?
“Last” . . . well, many boats have second, third, etc lives. Helen is headed back to the McAllister yard; SSS Museum needs to focus on fewer vessels. What comes next is as unknown as . . . tomorrow.
Related: Here was a previous significant day in SSSM involving major passages with the McAllisters.
* As to Helen’s previous lives, she was built in Port Richmond, Staten Island as Admiral Dewey for Berwind-White Coal; see p. 8 of Erin Urban’s Caddell Dry Dock: 100 Years Harborside for a foto of Admiral Dewey.
Keeping with tradition: here’s #57. Remember, doubleclick enlarges.
Unidentified kayaks foreground, and middleground from left to right: Layla Rene, Sea Bear, dredge Florida; and background, King Dorian (misspell of durian?).
Unidentified crew boat heading away and Barbara C approaching.
Kimberly Turecamo westbound.
Elk River westbound.
Pati R Moran headed to an anchorage.
W. O. Decker passes W O tanker called Sharon Sea.
Sarah Ann and unnamed blue sailboat painted almost DonJon blue.
McAllister Girls pushing dirt.
More of the kayakers taking Lucy Reinauer‘s stern, making helmsman a smidgeon nervous, I reckon.
Falcon and Houma tandem effort.
Unnamed Moran tug leading Caribbean Princess.
Carnival Glory foreground and some unidentified tugs in the distance.
Sorry about all the unidentified vessels today. Maybe someone can help.
Meanwhile, some stories from the NYTimes this morning: disputed waters between China and Japan AND Seamen’s Institute leaves Manhattan for Newark.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
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(Note: Doubleclick enlarges all fotos)
What’s this . . . fiddling and dancing and taking shade near
Lower Manhattan, an intriguing hideaway in that bustling and ranted-about geography?
And this . . . same location, but doesn’t that suggest two folks standing near the forward railing
on a tug “made to” the 79 Barge, which
moves other folks as well, here photographing the Brooklyn Bridge at golden hour, as
crew stands lookout, watching two tugs–Volunteer and W. O. Decker–heading east on the river of the same name . . .
… uh . . . this meandering string started out as a question. Forget the question, please. And I hope you get a sense of places of peace in the bestirred land masses around the sixth boro.
Here’s the same tug and barge, clearly lashed, at Pier 6 in the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, with a late August sun setting behind the house. You can catch Pegasus and Lehigh Valley Barge #79 at that location until Tuesday, August 31 … and at points along the Hudson for the next 16 days after that.
After sunset . . . Pegasus heads over to homebase in Jersey City. Hey . . . tugs and crews need sleep.
Check out bowsprite’s magical drawings of the duo here.
All fotos here taken yesterday by Will Van Dorp.
Unrelated but fascinating: Marie’s Tide & Current Taxi has been busy this month:
August 9: Coney Island Creek, with Debbie Tuch and me
August 10: Gowanus Canal
August 12: Staten Island “graveyard of ships“
August 15: Shooter’s Island
August 22: “mystery tour”
I missed the cinco already . . . so this seis will finish up the the graveyard report of the trip of the segundo to the barcas muertas (?). Indulge a foto of tugster aka the floater here, feeling very light. You could say . . . a lightweight, a light-hearted one, buoyed by the unbearable lightness of being, even. Actually, the water temperature requires the wetsuit even though the air temperature was in the 80s, making a periodic “float” refreshing. Cape Tallin exchanges fluids over on the Jersey shore.
Behold the other merry paddlers.
Sebago, on Paerdegat Basin, in Brooklyn
repurposes these shipping containers as colorful kayak storage.
Here’s the liverymobile.
Another highlight of the trip was seeing ABC-1, seen here in a post from 2008, high and dry.
Here’s a full frontal of an NYPD launch, with New York Central No. 13 in the background.
Parting shot: the 1930 W. O. Decker awaits . . a haul? Craves, maybe a light-headedness? Needs, perhaps a shave and a waxing? What I noticed was that headed past the graveyard, Decker stayed way on the opposite side of the Kill. Probably she was thinking: “and I alone have escaped to tell …[of sixth boro life in the 1930s and 1940s].”
First foto by frogma; all others by Will Van Dorp.
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