Sidekick

Ursa Major has Ursa Minor.  Xena had Gabrielle.  Batman had Robin.

Batman had Robin, yup.  Don Quixote, Sancho Panza.  Ishmael, Queequeg.   Nantucket, Relief.  Simon, Garfunkel.  The Lone Ranger, Tonto . . . or Lone Rango, Tantra . . .  oh no, that’s different; that’s someone else’s blog.

So, our five boros DEP has a new vessel, Red Hook.  But everywhere Red Hook goes, James Turecamo is sure to go.

Red Hook comes to ply the sixth boro from a yard in Texas, of all places.  But it seems that James Turecamo has been charged with Red Hook’s orientation.

Let me quote from the DEP site here (if you want the entire context):  “The Red Hook sludge vessel was built over a three-year period in Brownsville, Texas by Keppel AmFELS. Once completed, it took seven days to make its way to New York City, arriving on November 19, 2008.  The vessel has recently completed post-delivery dry-dock inspections and adjustments at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and is ready for service. Each six-person crew consists of a captain, chief engineer, assistant engineer, mate and two mariners. Crews work a 40-hour week divided into 14, 13, and 13 hour shifts. The Red Hook is slightly over 350 feet long, about 53 feet wide, with a depth of slightly over 21 feet. It has eight storage tanks with 150,000 cubic foot capacity equivalent to 1.2 million gallons.  The Red Hook weighs over 2,098 long tons and is designed to travel at 12.75 knots or approximately 15 miles per hour. On a typical week, each vessel makes 14 round trips and visits eight wastewater treatment plants.”

It seems a close even if unlikely relationship has formed.  Does anyone recall the moose courting the Hereford cow in Vermont?  And Red Hook, as they say about boats, sweet.   James . . . a cool new sidekick you’ve adopted.   But seriously, why this pairing?  And has Owl’s Head submitted to the scrapper’s knife?

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.