Random Ships 16

First an invitation directed at mariners in the sixth boro from Media Relations of the Port Authority of NY/NJ:    “… a public driven space focused on the rise of 1 WTC. As it becomes more and more a part of the NYC skyline, the site invites people to submit their pictures of 1 WTC wherever they can see it around the city. We’re looking for it to be a real organic situation – slowly becoming a piece of NYC culture...”  Upload your foto to the following URL:   http://1wtcview.tumblr.com/       Most of the fotos already there are taken from land;  but from water the new pinnacle on the skyline will be even more evident.  It takes a few days for the foto to appear at their site.

A short post today with this lead foto taken by David Hindin almost two years ago.  David’s vantage point is Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay.    The sixth boro last saw a Zhen Hua vessel here about three years ago, so far as I know.  Left Coast Lifter arrived aboard Zhen Hua 22 to lift portions of the new suspension span of the BayBridge.   Click here for more fotos and video from two years ago.  Click here for fotos of bridge construction from a year ago.   And finally, again thanks to David, here’s a video on building a bridge to build a bridge . . . yes . .  that’s right.

Rounding out the post . . . fotos by tugster . . . a few vessels in the sixth boro on March First, ones with great names like Carpe Diem II and

Kongo Star.

David Hindin . . . thanks much for offering this virtual gallivant with the San Francisco pics.  Please keep the updates coming.  Here are pics from July and December 2010.

Ships . . . or Not

A new reader recently asked why “ships” he saw on the sixth boro showed up on AIS as tugs.  An excellent question, and not the first time I’ve heard it. . . .  Read the first sentence of the wikipedia definition of “ship.”  By that definition, how many ships do you see here?  (Doubleclick enlarges most.)

Answer is only one, the orange one.  The nearer vessel is a barge.  The major difference is that a barge lacks its own means of propulsion:  no engine, props, or sails.  Barges get moved by a tugboat that may tow, push, or strap-on alongside aka on the wire, in push gear, or on the hip, respectively.

And here?

Answer is  . . .  one, Maersk Elizabeth.

And here?

Answer is . . . none.  Some “tugboats” lack the equipment to tow;  they have no winch.  Instead, tugs like Laurie Ann Reinauer connect by the bow into a notch designed in the after portion of the barge.  Massive pins then lock into structures on the barge inside the notch.

Here?

One ship, Princimar Strength, also shown below with two barges and two tugs alongside.

Here, no ships, just barge RTC 150 pushed by Meredith C. Reinauer.

A large tug . . . Atlantic Salvor and a ship.

Two tugs receding and barge RTC 83 approaching pushed by an unseen Lucy Reinauer.

And finally . . . no ships here, just two barges (Energy 13502 and Charleston) with a tug Eagle Service in between.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who could use a bit of help with complexity.