Barging

First two fotos thanks to John Dupee . . . barges and cranes can be beautiful as well as functional

and tireless like this tow at daybreak approaching the Williamsburg bridge with a light dusting of snow.

Barge Hartford, pushed by Juliet Reinauer, has two feet of freeboard, and later will look like

Lisa, light and exposing the architecture of her stern.

A spud barge pushed by a truckable tug I can’t identify is about to be eclipsed–except the spuds–by a light barge pushed by Melvin E. Lemmerhirt.

I’ve neglected barges . . . so a few more with unlikely names.

The name Alfalfa confounds me, as would Sandy Hook if I was unfamiliar with local geography.

More soon.

Photos, WVD.

Government Ships 2

First, a correction in yesterday‘s post: it was not the Harvey doing the water salute. It must have been Fire Fighter. Second, I waited til the Times arrived today to post. Still, nothing about the warships in New York until E15 (i.e., 63 pages in!!) where I read third item in “Around Town” on the “Spare Times” page . . . “daily ship visits…” It names no ships. A less proficient reader might even think that “visits” in the phrase was a verb, as in what a or the daily ship does. Yet, in an ad on p. 3: Tiffany & Co. offers an “anchor diamond pendant in platinum, $2800.” My read here is . . . the Times‘ll take the advertising $ for a product timed for profiling during an event the paper doesn’t acknowledge. Ho-hum!

Below, cruiser Monterey (CG- 61), named for the 1846 battle, approaches the Narrows two days ago. In 1846, Polk was President, and the trigger for war was the infamous Thornton Affair. Monterey was built on the Kennebec in Maine.

I couldn’t begin to identify items on this superstructure, but I like the gray inflatable.

Another Canadian vessel is the frigate St. Johns. On its afterdeck is the Sea King helicopter that can land there in conditions up to 20-foot waves!

A final shot of the Kearsarge . . . Oops, she moves so fast that neither the McAllister tugs nor my camera could keep up.

Finally, here’s a retired government ship emerged behind a port building on Imlay Street in Red Hook Brooklyn. More later. Some of you know this vessel, but no… it has nothing to do with this other Red Hook submarine.

About the Times . . . I confess I am a subscriber.

Photos, WVD.