02 | June | 2015 | tugster: a waterblog

Here’s an index of the previous “locker” posts.

Let’s start with a photo from a secret salt seeking an identification. All I know is that this photo of an “old army tug” was taken in 1982 and that the building in the background is the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a frequent background in sixth boro photos even today. Anyone supply an identification of the vessel?

Here’s a photo I took about two weeks ago . . . sand that looks almost like sawdust. The nearer scow is marked Lexa Gellatly. My question is . . . is that the same hull but transformed as this one, once used to transport oil? Do oil barges sometimes get transformed into scows? And where is this sand coming from/going to?

scows at the mooring off Robbins Reef Light

The next photo comes from Justin Zizes and an event I missed last week because I got triple-booked; what’s happening is the unveiling ceremony for the USS Monitor Trail Marker to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the US Civil War. FDNY’s 343 adds solemnity to the event. The water here, Bushwick Inlet, once received new builds from the slipways of Continental Iron Works.

Next . . . a number of you have written this week about the fabulous new photo archives assembled by the New York Public Library. I’ve already spent lots of hours meandering there. What makes the archive so remarkable is the interface: you click on dots on a street map of NYC, and each dot reveals archival photos of that site. Let me share a few here: as seen from South Beach Staten Island, Hoffman Island in the distance as it existed in 1925. I’d love to see post-WW2 but pre demolition of the island buildings.