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aka poisson d’avril, which is what the French call this delightful day. At that link in previous sentence, check out the list of (they say) well-known pranks.
A year ago, I put up a post that I’ve now concluded shows a hoax, a doctored foto . . . although I did not know it was a fake or intend it to be one. I’d still like more analysis of what this shows and who did it.
I mention last year’s post because I heard about Edgar Allen Poe’s April 1, 1829 misinformation involving the lighthouse then at this location: Lazaretto Point in Baltimore. The hoax? A man would fly from the world’s tallest structure–then Shot Tower–across the harbor and Fort McHenry to this lighthouse. A crowd gathered here and waited . . . until nothing happened and the date began to sink in. Poe was given to other hoaxes like the Balloon hoax of 1844. He should just have called it “science fiction.” By the way, Poe has figured prominently twice before in tugster: here and here.
Hoaxes are sometimes well-received; other times the response might be prosecution. Periodically I put up silly stuff, just for fun, like this one featuring light fixture reflections on the Staten Island ferry, never claiming otherwise. Like those below . . . just a kid’s soap bubbles, or . . . you never know.
Captain James restaurant is no hoax but a unique Baltimore eatery. New York hoaxes? The Madoff gang comes to mind, like a nagging migraine. More interesting is Orson Welles, but a century before the New York Sun published a story about an astronomer’s sightings of biped beavers, man-bats, and blue unicorns on the surface of the moon.
Water on fire? Remember the Cuyahoga in the mid-20th century? But how about this youtube video . . . burning tap water? Not a hoax. Floating sand?
New statue dedicated to Jim Morrison or some other ecdysiast?
See you at the Fool’s Parade at the intersection of 14th Ave and Canal Street on the first of April . . . muster around noon? After the parade, which’ll feature ALL the workboats of the sixth boro doing laps in front of the Statue and stopping at a barge spudded there with all manner of eats free for the taking by the BEST grubistas on the nearby shores and music & dancing to please every tongue and ear and eye and limb, there’ll be a bash in front of Snug Harbor: all the orange juice you can drink and escargots au vin sans limites, maybe even some good eats from GMG, eh Joey?
Great sci-fi short stories based in New York: The Third Level and Accidental Time Traveller by Jack Finney. The third level refers to stairways leading to time portals located below the passenger boarding area in Grand Central, detours I look for when I’m not interested in boarding a train to work.
Oh, the statue . . . not a hoax but Orpheus himself, signed by Warren G. Harding.
Fotos by Will Van Dorp. Again, thanks to Allen Baker for the Baltimore “local knowledge.”
Has it been more than three years already since I posted on “specialized 4,” back when Red Hook’s sugar mill still stood? It hardly seems possible. Do you recognize this daffodil-colored object below?
They gallop faster than 20 knots, carrying many dozens of passengers, and they’re locally made at Derecktor Shipyards, just a jaunt up the Sound.
They bounce or dance on these twin hulls in a way that makes me
hope some inspired folk talent revisits Harry Chapin’s Taxi song; a lost-love story called “water taxi,” about a passenger and a captain (or crew) who meet (or don’t) years too late (early).
Who is this Curt Berger?
And Ed Rogowsky, depicted in the last foto of the post in 2007, who was he and where is this vessel that now goes as Heavens Gate?
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
This post is inspired by Sea Bart, the humor behind uglyships.com, the mariner who–outside of his realm of responsibility–just has way too much fun. And his humor I find infectious. If Swinburne and Hoffman were still quarantine islands outside the sixth boro and Bart were to arrive, he’d surely be put off there in a futile attempt to cure his irreverence.
He calls his finds “ugly.” I’ll classify mine as giddy-making, like this illusion of bird-as-alternate-propulsion for MSC Ornella,
Goldman-Sachs Tower as upper wheelhouse of Thomas D. Witte (ex- Kendall P. Brake, Reliance, Tammy, Matty J, AND June C)
a cargo vessel named Cargo, (Note: a cargo vessel named “cargo” is not easy to research!!)
(doubleclick enlarges most of the time) a lighthouse (more of this lighthouse soon) in the hold of Atlantic Runner,
a new supra-superstructure on Explorer of the Seas,
ditto on East Coast as well as on
Kristin Poling, whom you’ll see more of soon; and all of this
brings me to Bart. Tug’s name–Bart alleges–is Follow Me. And what name do you suppose the barge following carries?
Lead Me On. If you resolution of these fotos I purloined from Bart isn’t satisfactory, see it on Bart’s own post here. Doubleclick on his foto.
All fotos except Bart’s by Will Van Dorp.
Unrelated and a few weeks late, but I call this giddy anchor catch on Pilot Boat.
Whatzit? Here here here are some previous answers to that question, but the foto below, is it abstract art? I’d put it in a frame and hang it in my gallery. And the title of this post, is it
this sixth boro vessel, or
this?
Nope. Here’s the one, but it turns out the name Pioneer in many fields is like the last name Smith in this country . . . very common. It’s a sexy name in art, politics, religion, science . . . the list goes on. The vessel below gets its name from
a foundry located on the Delaware River. See a whole set of 1987 fotos on this vessel in its Marcus Hook birthplace starting here on page 58. Notice the star outline? This bow shot shows what
downrig looks like. Also notice the flat and barge-like lines of her hull, effective for its first role back 125 years ago as a sand sloop, yes, sloop. Her draft is variable, 4.5′ centerboard up and 12′ with it fully down. For a view of her deck, click here.
And here’s how she looks fully rigged, under load, and crewed. Who IS that sprite on bow watch? Clues here and here.
So back to this . . . .
And could the artist be the master of Pioneer?
For answers, make your way to South Street Seaport, once the season begins. Here and here are past fotos of Pioneer under sail.
For now, enjoy these fotos, all taken by Will Van Dorp in 2010 and 2007.
Here was my initial Short Sea… post. I love the concept, but I’m not a fan of the label “short sea shipping.” To play with it a bit, given the English language tendency to make it an abbreviation, how about SSS as “seriously smart shipping” or “ship to shore service” or only slightly changed “short seashipping.”
The idea is that containers, once in the megaport, move from there to smaller subports via barge, keeping lots of truck traffic from congesting the roadways AND
saving fuel and money. A new twist could be to put the
trucks/tractors themselves on the barge,
although I’m guessing this is something different. Nevertheless,
huzzah for short sea trucking. Tugs here were Cape Cod (made up with the barge) and Turecamo Girls, assist.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
When Politsa Lady headed for sea, I knew I was it was my day;
the treat would be mine, and it was. I hope it’s yours too. Memory of her orange reflection on a million wavelets conveys momentum when my energies have none, when affection seems gone forever.
I know . . . it’s just another oil tanker, this one with
a spare screw and anchor stowed midships, and when
she’s past, her actual image lacks the breath-taking beauty I thought I saw a few minutes earlier, kind of like a morning-after perspective, goggles removed. But no matter, the memory remains.
Inbound are Houma and tanker Chimborazo, escorted by Laura K.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
For Watercolor 1, click here.
Back in the sixth boro, I prefer sunny, calm days when colors glow and the water mirrors not perfectly but does so adding intrigue. Who doesn’t like those conditions? Who wouldn’t want every taking of food to qualify as a dining experience, but that is just not realistic, at least in my world.
Darya Shanthi catches some dapples of sunlight here although the sky and water look sandpapered.
Sister tankers Strofades (nearer) and Sporades salute each other at IMTT Bayonne on the KVK. Note the unique coloring on Strofades‘ hip, which
gets mimicked up forward too. My immediate thought was the white tail splotches that distinguish one humpback whale from every other one. Brendan Turecamo alongside.
The gray day, opaque water, and almost illegible ship’s name makes me expect that their VHF is also stxxatxxxicxxxckyxxx.
Bering Sea: too bad I missed the foto of the K-Sea tug by that name passing the tanker.
Lakatamia is clearer than the washed-out Brooklyn background.
Linda Moran lighters off Eagle Beaumont. Actually, I thought I saw Linda a few days later, but
on closer examination, I noticed it was a new one to me: Lois Ann L. Moran, she born of the fire. See her launch here; not much happens until about 2:30 minutes.
Marjorie B. McAllister escorts Marie Schulte out to sea.
And, last but . . .. here Explorer of the Seas heads out towards the Narrows from the Bayonne passenger terminal. Seeing people afloat sometimes conjures up thoughts of the past, a different pace and rhythm, the glamour of ocean liners like those created by bowsprite here.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Whatzit? Where has it come from and where … going to? Doubleclick enlarges.
The piles are coal, the bucket-wheel at the tip of the stacker-reclaimer (s-r) might be at least 15′ diameter, so the s-r arm must be as long as an Oldendorff self-unloader. Note the white vessel between the stacks.
A different view of the stacks shows more of the white vessel. Can you identify it, pretty as an Edsel or gorgeous as a 1953 Studebaker?
Savannah, resplendent, built in New Jersey and designed by George G. Sharp Company, who also designed several classes of Staten Island ferries, and many other vessels. Here’s a memory site devoted to the vessel that has very interesting historical fotos and info. Under the section “radioactive waste,” I like the detail of the waste discharge barge called Atomic Servant. I understand that Savannah is open only on rare occasions to the public. It seems appropriate to see this foto of Savannah surrounded by mounds of coal, given how miniscule the “bulk” of her fuel was relative to that of ships that burned coal as fuel.
Nearby in the Canton portion of the port, here’s another look at USNS Comfort, a vessel with an interesting past life. Guess? Look at the hull. Answer below.
Atlantic Impala (built on the Russian Black Sea) offloads containers while off its stern, Navios Star prepares to head for sea with many tens of thousands of tons of coal . . . bound for South Korea’s steel mills.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
And the unusual history of Comfort: she began her life in 1976 as an oil tanker called Rose City.
Update from the previous post on Moran’s imminent move out of Fells Point in this link from the Sun.
The heart of Baltimore offers a look at some tug house design evolution. Cape Romain dates from 1979. Note the green (of course) building toward the right side of the foto: the Cat’s Eye Pub.
Harriet Moran dates from 1978, but I don’t know
when she was retrofitted.
Surrie Moran (2000) resembles the newer Moran tugs like Gramma Lee T. and Laura K.
Again, Surrie, Cape Roman, with two SL-7s Denebola and Antares in the background.
Joan Turecamo (built at Matton near Waterford, NY 1980) backs out while Gulf Dawn (1966, ex-Frances J) approaches. Gulf Dawn was last on this blog last March.
Notice the line hanging from the top of the house,
equipment I’ve never sen before.
Last for now, Cajun passes outbound near the sugar ship, Chios Voyager.
More soon.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Other Watersheds 4 is here. And the most recent appearance of Joan Turecamo on this blog had her parked along the KVK. So where was this?
Many cities have a wide or not so much wide street by this name, but –say in New York–Broadway does not have work boats anchoring it, although maybe in a better parallel universe it would. More on this pier at the end of this post.
Some New Yorkers might also recall John W. Brown, named for a labor organizer and serving as a floating Manhattan high school –focusing on a nautical trades curriculum, of course–from 1946 until 1982. I’d love to hear from alumni of this school. So have you figured out which “other watershed” this is?
Here’s another clue. The watershed feeds into a harbor with large number of massive government ships, like USNS Comfort (T-AH-20 and launched in 1976), which returned from Haiti less than two weeks ago; as well as
some very wet ones like Gov. R. M. McLane, which once served as flagship of government efforts during the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Wars, when foreign vessels harvested domestic oysters.
Now if you want to know what foreign and domestic mean here, you need to check this link.
One last clue, maybe more of a distractor: Sea Star line’s El Faro was tied up there this weekend.
Bertha offers conviviality here.
OK, you guessed it long ago. But which watershed is it?
More Baltimore soon. Many thanks to Capt. Allen Baker for his hospitality. The link in that previous sentence related to the SS United States aka the Big U, currently one of many vessels in peril.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
So this pier . . . shown in foto 2 above . . . will very very soon no longer be a working pier. Moran is moving out toward the river’s mouth. Change. Improvement? Ha!
Again, I’d love to hear comments on this as well as recollections from alumni of John W. Brown, the high school.
tugster: a waterblog 
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