Raving about Rae

I first saw Rae before she was Rae, when she was red and called Miss Bonnie.  Scroll through here.

Rae is approaching 60 years, two years shy of it.  And she’s not a behemoth:    46′ x 15′ x 5 with (at one time at least) 450 hp.  Rae hails originally from Texas, not far from the Louisiana border.

In the confines of at the mouth of Gowanus Canal, Rae might be the perfect tool. Some jobs call for dental picks and others for crowbars.

Whoa!!! And then sometimes small can do impressive work moving crushed rock!  And does it only look like Loujaine, the cement ship is assist vessel?  For other fotos on that ship, see here.

All fotos thanks to Jed, for whose work I am grateful.

This recalls the summer of 2005, though, when a smaller tugboat–Rachel Marie at 43′ x 16′ x 5′ — towed an artificial continent (based on drawings by Robert Smithson) round and round the sixth boro.  See tugster fotos here.  Has anyone seen Rachel Marie recently?

As to artificial continents, someone’s new vision for Governors Island-makeover includes hills and according to this article, canyons with vistas.

Unrelated:  Here’s a 2.5 minute audio slideshow for an article in the 4/19 New Yorker magazine, a story of a family towing life written by Burkhard Bilger.