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in other words, the newest, pumpingest FDNY boat, which–if it serves as many years as Firefighter has–will be in service beyond 2080. 343 is the vessel facing in the lower left, the one not spraying yet. The year 2080, now that’s a world I cannot imagine, but as to today’s welcome . . . enjoy the fotos.
Just the facts: one of two, designed by Naval Architects Robert Allan LTD. The pressurized cabin offers protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear contamination. Dimensions: 140′ x 36′ x 9′ with four 2000 hp MTU diesels. Screws are approximately two-meter diameter controllable pitch Hundestedts. Crew of seven. Top pump output: 50,000 gpm. Price tag: $27 million.
Many thanks to fireboat.org and the John J. Harvey for my ride. Click here for google images (including bowsprite’s) of the Harvey, and here for info on Jessica Dulong’s book, in which Harvey plays a pivotal role. Harvey cranked up her own water display.
Our Lady (herself once damaged by a terror explosion in 1916) offered her welcome, and
rainbows arced hither and yon over the sixth boro, here created by John D. McKean.
The forward ballast tank allows 343 to lower the bow into the water to ease people transfer.
Once past the Statue, she passed Ellis Island and then
headed over toward Lower Manhattan, where
she paused,
placed a wreath for the three hundred forty-three firefighters who died in that event back in 2001, before
the three large FDNY boats diverged, here left to right, 343, Firefighter, and John D. McKean.
Welcome. No one knows what events she faces. I wish her an uneventful and boring life.
All fotos, Will Van Dorp.
For old salt’s perspective . . . click here.
For video of her launch at Eastern Ship Building in Panama City, Florida, click here.
Just the facts: Firefighter entered service in 1938 designed by Gibbs and Cox (who also designed the SS United States and the LCS) . . . to last and last and last. And she has. Firefighter is not only the oldest active-duty FDNY vessel but also
she who can deliver the highest gpm (20,000) through her pumps. One of Firefighter‘s finest moments occured in 1973 . . . after the collision of Sea Witch and Esso Brussels. just north of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. See great text and fotos of that accident here. Salvaged portions of Sea Witch live on in Chemical Pioneer, still a regular in the sixth boro. See her (Witch Pioneer) stern in this tugster post from a year ago.
Dimensions: Built in Staten Island. 134′ x 32′ x 9′ with twin 16-cylinder 1500 hp engines. gCaptain wrote about it here. Watch a very informative 18-minute video here.
The Rolls-Royce of fireboats . . .
All fotos by Will Van Dorp in early March 2010.
If you’re still in the mood for video, you might check out this new site for cruiser USS Olympia (C-6), featuring new reels of the battleship parading up the Hudson with Dewey on board in 1899, post-Battle of Manila Bay and Spanish-American War. The second newsreel has the best video, 1899 technology. Olympia today is is ship in trouble.
Little more than fotos and names today: Joan Moran Turecamo with Bridgeport on a short wire (?) in the Buttermilk. (Sorry about that! Thanks for the catch, anonymous.) Joan Turecamo last appeared here.
Elizabeth headed into KVK.
Brendan Turecamo over near Brooklyn Army Terminal.
Thomas D. Witte just north of Howland Hook.
Christine M. McAllister crossing the Upper Bay with bulk carrier Antwerpen in the distance.
Paul Andrew tailed through the Arthur Kill by No 242 pushed by Morton Bouchard IV.
Sassafras heading for the Stapleton anchorage.
Gulf Dawn standing by at the Manhattan passenger terminal.
Gramma Lee T. Moran approaching Mariner’s Harbor.
Parting shot: primer on Lee T.‘s stack?
All taken in the past 10 days or so by Will Van Dorp.
And for a shot of the new tug Independence easing into Gloucester harbor as filmed by the inimitable Capt. Joey of Good Morning Gloucester, click here.
What Bonnie does here for Flatbush, I’ll attempt within the sixth boro, starting here with the venerable Mary Whalen and
King Dorian (glad that’s not “durian“) before shifting to shorter wavelength in
Jo Selje and
Panagia Lady, here lightering onto (I think) JoAnne Reinauer III.
Continuing across the spectrum with Stolt Vanguard and sibling
Perseverence. Then
and Ever Refine and
the snarkiest Don Juan and
the Bermudian cargo shuttle Oleander and
Bro Albert.
For something my eyes register as indigo, violet, purple . . . I can’t guarantee you’ll agree . . . I had to go outatown, like back upstate to Newark and a foto from last summer of Grouper. Has she now begun her journey west?
All fotos . . . so far … Will Van Dorp.
But from shipjohn via Shipspotting . . . here’s that purple fleet down in Philly . . . like Purple Hays,
Big Daddy, and
Grape Ape. Many thanks shipjohn.
More on the iPatch later. For now, can you identify this foto from the bridge of a self-described flagship? Clues lurk. I had a tour aboard this morning from G, a biology teacher (among other things) from Brazil. Notice the glass container below the gauge mounted on the window pillar.
The flag is Tibet, and the globe . . . a gift from the Dalai Lama.
The hull of this repurposed ex-Scottish Fisheries Protection Vessel (FPV) Westra is painted black. Dimensions are 196′ x 36′ x 14′, capable of 16.5 kts, layover in the sixth boro until Saturday on a voyage that has seen such stops as Pitcairn Island and the Galapagos.
It’s Steve Irwin, flagship of
Sea Shepherd, what Raffi Khatchadourian‘s November 2007 New Yorker article called “Neptune’s Navy.”
Tours run daily from 10 until 3. Fundraiser Friday night . . . details here. Here’s the letter of support from the Dalai Lama. Izod logo just happens to be at the end of the pier, but –hey–maybe they’re supporters too.
Click here for a report on the loss of a portion of the Sea Shepherd fleet–Ady Gil— on January 7, 2010. A Sea Shepherd hero is Henry Morgan, privateer, who fought fire with fire, or piracy with piracy.
All fotos, Will Van Dorp.
For an update on Captain Bethune of Ady Gil, now called a political prisoner of the Japanese, click here.
iPatch . . . just a thought, a name I hereby coin. This is my vision of a new miracle product by the folks who brought us iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad . . . the iPatch . . . a hightech gadget–a panacea, if you will–that will restore balance between the species, mutual respect among the peoples of the earth, rid the seas of pirates and plastic patches, . . . what else . . ..
Disclosure: Not owning a TV, I’ve never seen an episode of Whale Wars, although I have seen its parody on YouTube.
Uhhh . . . Johnny Depp’s pirate ship?
Unrelated: Have you ever heard of a fleet–a vital US government fleet–with NO ships? Details at end of post.
I’d never blogged about this docking although I took these fotos of back about five years ago. With almost-twin McAllisters (Responder and Charles) just beyond her wingtips,
Eagle glided eastbound on the East (could be misspelled as “Easy”) River ,
and overseen by an unidentified 65′ WYTL (Hawser?),
Charles D. approaches the stern as
as lines are made ready and then
hauled back in
Charles D assists.
Communication is vital as all those linehandlers get coordinated with
twelve hands working these wheels simultaneously.
Responder attends to the bow and all
lines are made fast.
and the wheels go unattended, hands down.
All fotos taken long ago (2005) by Will Van Dorp, and posted now inspired by bowsprite’s Escanaba post and Flickrstream. And speaking of Flickrstream, check out this USCG photostream.
The US 10th Fleet has NO-ZERO-AUCUN ships. Learn its mission here.
Wondering what didn’t fit in this shot?
Towing on short hawser made to starboard bitt of scow,
a small tug with classy lines makes
its way eastbound on the KVK
with a sizeable tow.
It’s Thomas J. Brown, something unusual in the sixth boro:
a family-business that since its creation in the unpromising year of 1929 has seen a lot of change in the harbor. Read copious details about this family business in Don Sutherland’s fine article here (starting on p. 18). Just a foretaste: Lindbergh, slaughterhouses on the East River, Normandie salvage, work on all the bridges between NJ and metro New York as well as the VZ and others, the 1939 World’s Fair, …. The tanker whose orange house shows lower left belongs to Torm Kristina.
Don, great article I’m just finding now. There’s a lot of history in the wake of that tow.
All fotos (except the last one taken two years ago) were snapped from my office one lucky day last week by Will Van Dorp.
Earth Day 2010 7 foggy sunrise, the unit leaving Arthur Kill in the direction of the Bayonne Bridge … is
Davis Sea pushing DBL 26, a 28,000-barrel vessel. Given the amount of influence Gaylord Nelson has had, it’s totally appropriate to refer to him here.
Foto compliments of Jed, here’s a different sunrise in April, as enjoyed from the galley.
Volunteer, Adriatic, and Tasman, as seen from Mariner’s Harbor looking over toward Elizabeth, NJ, and St. Patrick’s.
Davis Sea, once again, following Atlantic Concert, headed for sea.
Tasman (ex-Ambassador), again shot by Jed.
Tasman, foto’d by tugster
Houma, as seen here six weeks ago.
Odin,
Baltic passing barge slung by Maryland. No, there’s no Maryland Sea, either globally or word Sea after Maryland on this vessel.
Ivory C . . . Nah, I haven’t enough Wall Street experience to trick you there.
Fotos 3, 4, and 6 by Jed–who’s not returning to the sixth boro anytime soon, having found warmer water, calmer seas, and faster vessels with at least 30,000 more horsepower each.
Others fotos by Will Van Dorp, who will miss Jed as a neighbor in the boro.
Whatzit? Is the foto inverted? Answer follows.
The foto below I’ll call Ruth‘s wake. I posted bronze last almost a year ago when Ruth arrived in the sixth boro. Tuesday afternoon she galloped out of the KVK leaving this remarkable wake.
She galloped
throwing lots of splash as she passed.
So did RTC 26, guided along by
Jill Reinauer.
The spring sunlight of late afternoon threw all the right highlights and shadows on Nicole Leigh.
Here’s Curtis, again upper house counting stars or
something. Maybe head-thrown back, laughing out loud?
Parting shot: I’m glad I had not stumbled upon this sight from this perspective, or I’d still be wondering if it caught some new radar configurations.
I wonder if Ruth can do this.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Socrates left the harbor under a golden sunset pulling an empty
Sugar Express; they headed south from the Yonkers plant (to where?) for a refill. Who can live the sweet life
without the stuff? From Florida, as the reader suggests?
Stolt Perseverence, a parcel tanker built in Croatia in 2001, delivers assorted chemicals, escorted by James Turecamo and Marie J Turecamo (?).
I’ve no clue what these vital assorted chemicals might be, or what their journey is.
These mounds get me to work on time: Express Marine hauls the coal into the PSEG Hudson Generating Station, which provides juice to the Northeast corridor trains.
West Virginia coal
gets Escorted into the sixth boro by this vessel.
Jill Jacob . . . moves global industrial life blood.
There’s so much that does NOT meet the eye and is NOT easily discovered about in/outflow of commodities in the boro. Of course, petroleum products and containers dominate, along with an occasional elixir of orange. Some months back I posted my fantasy about sailing goods into the boro from the agricultural north. Bowsprite reflects on overlapping ideas here.
All fotos above were taken this week by Will Van Dorp.
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