Any guesses about the location on the far shore with the spiky masts?
The water is Hampton Roads, where ironclads first clashed. Monitor was built in Brooklyn, and I’ve never known where the Merrimack, sailing as CSS Virginia originated.
Here’s a closer-up view of the fleet in Norfolk, with Miss Katheryne (?) closer inshore.
Since I’m putting this post up quickly, I haven’t discovered much about the huge coal docks in Dunbar neighborhood (?) of Newport News.
From near to far: USNS T-AKR 310 Watson, T-AKR-304 Pililaau, T-AK 3006 Eugene Obregon, and T-AKR 311 Sisler. Sisler, as recorded here on this blog, arrived in the sixth boro a bit over a year ago for maintenance at GMD Bayonne.
Coming into the quite breezy Roads is MSC Florentino.
Here’s another shot of Florentina as she passes an unidentified dragger.
Another unidentified bulker in the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Star Breeze?
Actually, I’m back in the sixth boro, as of an hour ago. . . but it’ll be a spell before my head is unpacked.
Quick question: I like the term “Hampton Roads” to described that water bordered by cities that include Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, etc. It reminds me of the term I take credit for, “the sixth boro.” How did “Hampton Roads” originate? Why isn’t it “Norfolk Roads” or “X roads” with another locality lending its name? Why did “Staten Island Roads” or some such never take root here? Just wondering.
tugster: a waterblog 
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January 3, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Harold E. Tartell
Name HAMPTON ROADS
The term “Hampton Roads” is a centuries-old designation that originated when the region was a struggling English outpost nearly four hundred years ago. The name is believed to have originated from the combination of two separate words.
The word “Hampton” honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a great supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. In the easternmost part of the new colony, downstream from Jamestown, the early administrative center was known as Elizabeth Cittie [sic], named for Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, and formally designated by the Virginia Company in 1619. (The Elizabeth River was also named for the princess).
The town at the center of Elizabeth Cittie became known as simply “Hampton”, and a nearby waterway was designated Hampton Creek (also known as Hampton River). The town (and later city) of Hampton was the county seat of Elizabeth City County for over 300 years, until they were politically consolidated into the current large independent city known as Hampton, Virginia, in 1952. The City of Hampton thus became one of the large cities of Hampton Roads, of which four others also grew to the larger sizes by consolidating with neighboring jurisdictions such as counties and towns in the mid-twentieth century.
A land area to the north across the bay in what is now called “the Eastern Shore” became known as Northampton. Another area south of the James River became Southampton. As with Hampton, both of these names also remain in use in modern times.
The term “Roads” as applied to a water channel[9] is used elsewhere. Examples include Castle Roads, in another of the Virginia Company’s settlements, Bermuda, and Lahaina Roads, in Hawaii. Signifying the safety of a port, the word “roads” (also called roadstead) in nautical terminology of the day meant “a place less sheltered than a harbor where ships may ride at anchor.”
The combination of the words as “Hampton Roads” was recorded as the channel linking the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond rivers with the Chesapeake Bay in an act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1755.[1] Though it may be a misnomer, Hampton Roads has become well-known as the “world’s greatest harbor.” This is partially because it is the northernmost major East Coast port of the United States which is normally ice-free year round. The latter status is claimed with the notable exception of extraordinarily cold winter of 1917, which was the entire U.S.’s coldest year on record.
Although the designation initially applied to the water area, the region has also come to be known as “Hampton Roads”, a label more specific than the term “Tidewater Virginia”, which could by implication, include other areas of tidal lands in eastern Virginia. The U.S. Postal Service changed its postmark from “Tidewater Virginia” to “Hampton Roads, Virginia” beginning in 1983.
Information From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Roads
January 4, 2012 at 9:56 am
starbuck5250
Nautical terms are often similar to landsman terms, thus ‘road’ from ‘roadstead’ probably from ‘rode’ (that which attaches the ground tackle to the boat).
January 4, 2012 at 10:16 am
Ken
The Merrimack was a US Navy Frigate built in the Boston Navy Yards in 1855. At the outset of the Civil War, the US Navy attempted to get her out of the Norfolk Naval Yard but found that it was blocked. Rather than allowing her to fall into Confederate hands, the Captain chose to burn her. The South then raised the hulk and converted her to the ironclad.
January 4, 2012 at 10:56 am
tugster
ah . . like roosevelt roads. has anyone ever heard of a designation for the port of new york as “new york roads” ?
January 4, 2012 at 12:20 pm
walt stevens
The Dunbar Coal Pier, probably coal for export ie Newcastle England, Maybe this was the last port of call for the SS Marine Electric’s before its ill fated last transit.
Thanks for sharing!
Healthy New Year to You, and Yours
wss
January 4, 2012 at 6:56 pm
tugster
walt– thanks. here’s the story of ss marine electric: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Marine_Electric
January 4, 2012 at 4:35 pm
JED
Good looking Deadrise in #3.
January 6, 2012 at 10:58 am
Bob Anderson
The carriers are at NOB (Naval Operating Base) Norfolk. Even though the place was renamed the Norfolk Naval Station in 1952 it is still called NOB Norfolk. Much like 6th Avenue in NYC!