NRT 3 ends with a shot and video of Grouper; given an important news bulletin, it’s fitting I start with Grouper in NRT 4.  The news . . . she’s got a NEW LEASE on survival.  As soon as she’s fit to travel west, she’s headed to a spot just north of Detroit.  Such news!  Updates will follow as her uncharted future allows.  I tinted the foto a bit yellow . . . as in sunny, a bright future taking her to her 100th!  Since 1912, identities she’s carried include the following:  Gary, Green Bay, Alaska, Oneida, Iroquois, all before Grouper.  Maybe a new name will follow too?  Thanks to Jon for 97 years of pedigree info in his comment a few days ago.

Thanks to Jed for this foto of Quenames, headed north here past Governor’s Island, bound for Boston, I suppose . . . with whatever that barge was designed to transport.  My last shot of Quenames was in late summer 2007!  Thanks much, Jed.

Nope . . . it’s not the Charles D.  It’s Responder, featured a dozen times here before, initially in 2007.  So what happened to the reel and boom that was her trademark?   I’ve no clue.

Taft Beach . . . and her crew worked through Thanksgiving, through the powerful gusts and ebbs of Saturday night’s storm, and will do so more on Christmas Day . . .  as the dredging must go forward . . . er downward!  Greetings and hats off to all who work through whatever holidays transpire.

While we’re on Norfolk tugs, here’s another, shot on the Delaware.  I’ve never seen Lucky D up in the sixth boro.

And while we’re on the Delaware, here’s a sibling of Heron, Falcon, and Sea Raven.  I’ve not noticed Petrel in New York harbor.

I mentioned Charles D earlier.

To round these out, a quite random choice although I love her lines, it’s Christine M.

All fotos in the past month by Will Van Dorp.