Tugs of San Juan

Here’s the entrance to San Juan Bay . . . Freja Taurus passing the #2 red under rain driven by 15+ knot wind out of the north.

OK . . . Elizabeth snapped this foto . . . that’s my “focused” look as I huddle–like the ghost of a century-ago Spanish soldier– out of the rain behind  the bottom level of El Morro.

Here’s the aforepromised foto of Beth M. McAllister (ex-YTB-805), three years and two months younger than the sixth boro’s own Ellen McAllister.  Both Beth and Ellen were built in Wisconsin.

Don Raul came out of an Ohio shipyard exactly five years ago . . . now operating for Borinken Towing and Salvage .  .  .

drifting in and

towing a fuel barge.

Getting back to the first two fotos, once inside, Handy Three takes Freja Taurus‘ bow.

OK . . . another view of Beth at the dock.

PRT’s Triton  (ex-AT-77) is a 72-year-old Texas-built workhorse, just recently involved in the rescue of ex-Smit Rotterdam . . . foto later in this post.

And here’s my quite-poor foto of ex-Smit Rotterdam. . . .  now called Global Destiny.   Here’s more story on the rescue that brought Global Destiny into San Juan harbor.    She’s since headed south and east, but I really wish I’d caught this monster headed out the mouth of the Bay past El Morro.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated . . . here’s a foto of a Smit tug in the sixth boro of NYC a few decades back with a quite famous tow called Peking.

Looking for a Ship

OK . .  I stole am borrowing the title from what I’d call a “must-read” book by John McPhee . . .  from two decades back.  But this small boat, identified

here–double click–is

doing just that, no matter the stormy weather.

See the pilot boat here . . . approaching the incoming container ship, which is looking for a port.

The pilot boat descends into a trough starboard the vessel, SS El Morro. . . .      Sun Shipbuilding launched . . . 1974.   See hull # 666.   Here it approaches its namesake. . . .

where–standing off a sentry box–aka–una garita waits Honcho, a 1975 tug, also looking for a ship, along with

its newest fleetmate, Handy Three.   By the way, does anyone have a foto of Handy Three passing through New York City  . . . the sixth boro . . .  late last spring on its maiden voyage between Cleveland and San Juan?

If so, please get in touch . .  see email along upper left.

All fotos yesterday by Will Van Dorp, in the last half hour before catching a ride back to NYC . . .  aka the sixth boro.

Short Sea 4

. . . although bridge shipping might be more accurate.  Mostly pics for now, as I’ve no time for research other than eyes.  As night falls and with aerial pelican support . . . Norma H II.

. . . and waterborne pelicans.

Dawn with Midnight Wolf.

At the entrance of San Juan harbor . .  notice the tiny fishing boat beyond Wolf.

Even earlier at dawn . . Sabre Spirit.

At dusk . . . Midnight Stone. . .

and Commander.

And finally . . . a mother ship, and not-so-short sea shipping . . .   it’s Navigator towing San Juan – Jax Bridge  . . . as night fell last night.

The tow gets an assist from Beth McAllister.   More Beth soon.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Ooops! 2

A few weeks ago I saw a burst container coming into the KVK.  Repair it?  Maybe . . .

Otherwise . . . repurpose it.  Or just keep one that brings a shipment.  Office needed?  I got it.

Put some fronds here and there.  Throw on some netting  . . .

and you could be in business   . . .  literally.

Here’s a bar conversion . . . with shade.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp . . . on Vieques.

Puerto Rico 5

Quick post from San Juan after the better part of a good week in Vieques, where I first went two years ago.  Involved were ferries,

scooters,

horses,

and lots of boats .  .  .   notable being schooner Virginia, last seen on tugster here in mid-October last year. . . foto 8.

back in October.  At first I thought it was Amistad, but Amistad has more headrig.

Vieques has an appeal that tries to just hold me here, and

if my return trip was aboard Arawak,

I might just stay here.   I had a job offer already the second day I was here!!

More soon.

 

Names 17

Such great names on steel vessels that . . . ply our waters

Indefatigable vessels like   Hyundai Grace, which left Shanghai on 6 February, entered the Narrows on 2 March–when I got these shots–and by 1 April will

be back in Korea!  And what bright orange tanker could ever carry claim for being stealthy . . .

this one with a stack logo like this wedge.

I’m starting to get a hankering to travel . . . to follow FSL Tokyo out the Narrows,

drawn by places like these . . . Handytankersmarvel of Majuro!

While I still have the stamina, I’m going to put my gallivant shoes on and  follow Hellas Endurance.

I’m especially intrigued by this one . . . Grande Guinea is a Grimaldi Line RORO, this one named for a sub-Saharan city whose history is linked to that of Timbuktu, a place until recently I’d always hoped to get to, a place that later served as namesake for a coin.

I’m not sure when next I’ll post.  All fotos in the past month by Will Van Dorp.

Lettie Fundraiser 2

Here was the first post.  Today spring has sprung and may Lettie,

with such graceful toughness

delicate efficiency,

like a crocus,  burst forth.  Support the fundraiser.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

For updates on Marion M. and if you do FB, click here.   It updates this article:  Marion M. has been purchased and is undergoing restoration in the Chesapeake.

Here and here are some older Lettie posts.

For the Birds 6

Most of the previous birds posts have been in winter .  . except this one.  I find birds one of the joys of winter.  So on the last day of winter, rather than go out and get rainy/sleet fotos, enjoy these.

Two Brants discuss the approaching Hayward and the distancing Prominent Ace escorted in by Ron G.

Mergansers are always a joy.

Here a flock of them discuss the passing B. Franklin Reinauer.

Buffleheads are indicator species for me that winter is upon us.

Mallard female?

It’s time for winter to retreat . . . .

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Dynamic Sixth Boro 2

Friends have sent two articulating fotos from airplanes .  .  . one in February and the second in March showing parts of the sixth boro.  Imagine the foto below as the face of a clock . . . then the VZ Bridge stretches from one to two o’clock and the eastern end of the KVK extends like a five o’clock ray.  All the ship fotos in today’s post appear in this view.  Note the tank farm in the middle of the foto; that’s the rounded southern tip of Bayonne.  Somewhat indistinct at eleven o’clock is Governors Island, whose

northern tip is visible here at five o’clock.  At the center of this view is the East River, winding its way toward the Long Island Sound. At about nine o’clock, notice the dark rectangle that in late winter is central Park.  Lower Manhattan, at six o’clock is distinguished by the rougher texture creating by light and shadow of dense tall buildings.  The Hudson flows from nine o’clock toward the six.

Yesterday, as I stood in Rosebank with my back to the VZ Bridge, I saw Turkish bulker  Yasa Kaptan Erbil, now headeding up the Hudson.   I wonder who Kaptan Erbil is/was . . . if that’s –as it sounds– a person.

A little closer to Manhattan, it was Basuto, a Stolt-managed Unicorn Shipping of South Africa-owned parcel tanker, whom I last saw in the boro a half year ago.  As of this writing, Basuto still swings on the anchor at the same location.

I believe Yuka here is the first of the Fairchem tankers to appear on this blog.   Tug is Lynx.

Where Yuka was, now berths Sichem Beijing, anchored outside the VZ Bridge on the weekend.  Unnamed USACE vessel on her starboard side and Hoffman Island in the distance.

Yesterday morning this intriguingly named vessel docked just west of Fairchem Yuka.  I’d hoped to get a foto of Atlantic Olive for some time now.  Click here for more info on her, including port history for the past nine months.

And at the salt dock just across the KVK from the tank farms, it’s a fairly new 2012-launched vessel, DongHae Star.

And leapfrogging back across the KVK, it’s another Star, Palawan Star, or

maybe Overseas Palawan Star.

Behold the sixth boro speedy dynamic . . . before it changes.

All fotos, except for the aerials by BS and ST, by Will Van Dorp.

Graves of Arthur Kill: the Documentary

This piece of private property along Staten Island has intrigued many, inspired some.

Who knew that water and oxidizing metal or decaying wooden structure could have such beauty? 

It evokes feelings of mystery,  mortality, and …

more.  Some people photograph it, some paint it . . . .  Gary Kane and I filmed the marine scrapyard in the summer of 2011, and we are grateful to DONJON Marine Company for permission to do so.

Some people call it an accidental maritime museum and think history;  others feel only poetry or visual art.   

Some see machines, and others  . . .  magic.

Some vessels there are snipped up, harvested  . . . if you will, whereas

others just dissolve.

In the foto above, it’s Gary Kane, the producer, camera operator, and editor of this project and others.  Gary and I offer our 30-minute documentary film here for $11.99.  Click here to watch a trailer.

We also welcome invitations to show the documentary.  Email me with the invitation.