The Fuelman Cometh

With apologies to Eugene O’Neill for the title, I rode a fuel boat around the sixth boro today.  No matter that it was 4 degrees above zero (-15 degrees centigrade) this morning, vessels run with passengers and the “station” comes to the boats –some of them–in this realm.  And if there’s ice like the facial features of Capt Davy Jones on the receptacle, it has to

be moved so that fuel can flow.

Enjoy these cold photos.

Here’s the fuel boat.

More soon.  Til then, I can’t wait to look at these photo in July when the sweat is dripping off me and I’ll looking to chill.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Eastern Welder

I first had a photo of Eastern Welder here in a post from almost 7 years ago.  And I had the photo below all lined up back on the first day of the season, but I snapped it after my subject had left the frame.  Oh well, I put this here to show what the salt pile looked like–all tarped–before the ice season began.  Hundreds of thousands of tons of salt have moved in and out there since.  The white hulled vessel is Dutch Girl.  Here and here are more sixth boro fishing posts.

And here’s our subject.    The photo above and below were taken on December 1, 2013.

And the rest of these I took this past Sunday.

It’s hard to believe the New York Bight can be so glassy smooth sometimes.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Ships 30

Here was 29.

The photo below is used with permission from “secret salt.”  What appears strange about the photo or the ship?

The photo below shows three tugs and one ship.  The green line track of the ship gives a clear hint of the problem in the photo below.    One of those tugs is Orcus, as shown here.  If anyone got a photo of Orcus towing Darya Moti to get a new rudder, I’d love to see it.  Oh . . . and the repair facility might be in the Bahamas.

Compare this photo of Medi Osaka with the previous one here.  In a day of unloading salt, the ship is almost 20 feet LESS deep in the water.  The vessel leaves today after an additional three days of unloading, and I wish I could be there to photograph it empty for comparison, but .  .  . inland works interferes.

Alpine Stealth . . . there’s irony in naming a bright orange vessel anything stealth.  Here was a previous one.  And here . .  . scroll through, check out the stack design on V8 Stealth II.

For scale, see the crewman on the whaleback of this MSC–not Military Sealift Command–container vessel.

MSC Lorena carries a whole block of reefers just aft of the house.

As MSC Martina heads out to sea past Minerva Julie, notice the wings

along either side of her stack.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

People Movers 2

Here was the first in this series, from quite a while back.   The next two photos below were taken late last week by Brian DeForest.

Miss New York, Blount built in 1993 leaves the Statue quite dramatically.

Ferry Lt. Samuel S. Coursen, Mathis built 1956, was named for this West Point grad.

That’s Explorer of the Seas in the background.

Water Taxi and NYC Audubon operate this winter cruise to watch the water mammal between the boat and my lens.

Seals in the harbor are the real people movers.

And finally, let’s move from those mammals to one painted on the ferry Major General  William H. Hart, Staten-Island built 1926 . . . now rebranded as SS Meow Man.

On pages 450-1 of Peter& Norma Stanford’s A Dream of Tall Ships–which I reviewed here— there’s a description of this vessel’s hand-over from the USCG to South Street Seaport, where for a period of time it served as a marine trades training school, partly funded by Brooke Astor.  Here was a post where I used a slightly different version of this Hart photos.

Thanks to Brian for use of the first two photos.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

Random Tugs 122

Iron Mike . . . 1977 and 53′ loa  . . . has lots of character

although I don’t know what engine/horsepower moves her.    Anyone?

Haggerty Girls . . . late 2013 and a surprising 110′ and 4000 hp . . .  with RTC60 must be the newest tug in the sixth boro.  Click here for a photo of her first arrival in NYC.

If we were talking birds, Pacific Reliance (red stacks) would be called an exotic, not common to this habitat.  Pacific Reliance  . . . built in 2006 and 121′ loa uses 9280 hp to  move her payload.  Alongside is Quantico Creek, 90′ loa launched in 2010 and rated at 3000 hp.

Brooklyn, 76′ loa, launched in 2000 with 2000 hp has had lots of identities in her 14 years of service.

And finally .  .   . dwarfed by the Lower Manhattan skyline in February, it’s Pegasus.

Built in 2001, 75′ loa and rated at 1900 hp.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, yesterday, thanks to mobility by New York Media Boat.  Check them out here.

Small Craft 8

Here was 7 in the series.

ABC-1 is a harbor supply boat, restocking the larder and spare parts lockers while load shifting happens in port.  Click here to see her high and dry a few years back.

BB 163 . . . is a still used antique, up on the Canal that connects the Great Lakes with the sixth boro.  Some day, when it’s warmer, I hope to learn much more about these BBs, buoy boats.  I’ll do more on BB 163 later.   For now, I can’t look at this and NOT see the flag of Colombia or Ecuador.

Gabby has been featured here many times.

Miller Boys is a crew boat.

But really the focus here is the line boats operated by Ken’s Marine.

It might be 5 above zero or 5 below 100 F, these crews are shuttling lines from ship to shore, negotiating with crews on a vessel as well as crews on shore.

Note the ship line handler chief watching the line boat and signaling to his crew to pay out line.

Once the line boat gets to the shoreline, the shore crew takes over.  Given the ice I know is on those rocks, this is a job requiring concentration and sure-footedness as well as  strength.

Once lines are on, the line boat stands off until they get snugged.  Then there are lots more lines to get on.

“All fast” needs to be done quickly and thoroughly.  Not long after this vessel was snug, two container ships passed between Medi Osaka on this side and UACC Masafi on the other side, creating tremendous lateral pressure on all vessels, straining the lines.

But all fast is all fast.  Bravo, guys.

All Fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Salt 10

Just before 0700, Medi Osaka rounded the bend, low in the water as a galleon from the Andean mines.  Only two hours before, under darkness, Medi Osaka‘s soon-to-be berth was still occupied by Global Success, which had just completed discharging its payload of road salt, at least the part of the load gong to Atlantic Salt.

Many media reports notwithstanding, there is road salt around.  Not all suppliers have been out.

This clam shell has been steadily emptying out holds.

Granted the salt has been leaving almost as quickly as it has arrived, but

count the trucks . . .  a dozen and a half waiting  here . .  and more.

For JS and others who know the place, yes, I’m atop the salt pile looking down on Leidy’s .  .  . not far from Sailor’s Snug Harbor.

The trucks are there loading salt from Global Success even before Medi Osaka docks.

There’s 36 feet of water here and then some.

Note the crew watch the vessel inch up to the docking barge.

The next post will show the linemen ferrying the lines to shore crews running them up to the bollards.

Meanwhile, temperatures were almost to 50 F by the time I left here.

Really Random Tugs 18

Here was 17.

All the photos in this post come from south of latitude 26 N.  You might recall the Foss tugs Lauren and Iver  delivering the crane to the sixth boro at the end of last month?  Then Lauren Foss traveled to Philly to pick up back haul?  Well about two days ago, Lauren delivered that payload–Forrestal–to the scrapyard in Brownsville, TX.  The ship in the distance to the left is SS Mount Washington, also a recent arrival here, and subject of a several recent pictures on tugster.   The photo below shows the stern of Lauren Foss with assist tug Signet Ranger on port bow of the old carrier.   The next three photos all come from Justin Earl, on paper . ..  chief mate of Lauren.

Another shot of Signet Ranger and at stern, Signet Magic.  For specs of Signet tugs, click here.

On starboard bow here is Signet Courageous.

The next photos, again south of latitude 26 come from my gallivanting sister.  Guess the port?  Butterfly has been spotted in the sixth boro here and here.

I’ve no identification of the two vessels in the foreground.

Anyone help?

Oh . ..  the port is Clifton Point in the Bahamas.

The blue and white tug to the left is Tiki, but again I have no further info.

And finally . . . Sea Trader.  Click here for a closer up photo.

Many thanks to Justin and Maraki for use of these photos.

Signet tugs previously appeared here and here.

Dredge 3

Here were pics of Padre Island from a few years back, another trailing suction hopper dredge (TSHD).

Two TSHDs operating in the sixth boro include Manson  Construction’s Glenn Edwards .  . . and

Dutra‘s . . .   Stuyvesant.

Glenn Edwards photos by Brian DeForest and Stuyvesant photos by Will Van Dorp.

Salt 9

What’s this?  Answer follows.

Ice . .  we love it in some drinks.  but on rivers and roads, it’s a nuisance.  Ice breakers try to keep strategic waterways open, and on roadways, salt is the weapon, but when the storehouse floor looks like this and

and this, then you pray for another replenishment.   By the way, the top photo looks down into this hold from the exterior.

Geography and time are  impediments, but so are well-intentioned regulations, as explained in this article.  We’re still a month from the start of spring this year, and according to the article embedded in the previous sentence, the state of NJ–I don’t know the info for NYC or NY–has used 1.5 times the amount of salt used all last winter.

Many thanks to Brian DeForest of Atlantic Salt for all the photos in this post.

These photos were taken on M/V Rhine last week.

Currently the next vessel has arrived and  . . . more are in the offing.

Many thanks to Brian for these photos.

It’s high time for me to reread Kurlansky’s Salt.