Random Tugs 152

The Cornell (1950) with Clearwater (1969) on Hughes 141 photos come with thanks to Glenn Raymo.  The Hudson Valley is particularly beautiful this time of year, especially if you catch it in the right light, which of course is true everywhere.

The other tugboats and landscapes in this post are mine.  In the KVK, Sarah Ann (2003) passes RTC 135 just as the morning sun clears a bank of low-lying clouds.

An upriver-bound Navigator (1981) clears the Kills with HT 100 around the same hour.

. . . passing lighthouses,

gantry cranes, storage facilities,

 

high ground, 

 

and impossible towers.

Many thanks to Glenn for use of his photos.  I’m sure Paul Strubeck plays a role here also.  And I took the photos of Sarah Ann and Navigator.

Here and here are some previous photos of Clearwater on its winter maintenance barge.

Second Lives 22

Take a fishing trawler built in 1928 and converted to a minesweeper some 10 years later.  After the war, convert it into a North Sea freighter, which then crosses the Atlantic to Kingston NY, where the photo below was taken.  To digress, I recognize Matilda (click and scroll)  on the hard behind the freighter but have no information of the two tugs to the right.  The photo below comes thanks to Nobby Peers, who worked on the old freighter in the mid-1990s, and it changed the course of his life.

So you might wonder about the connection of the freighter to this barque in Vanuatu?   The next four photos come thanks to Mike Weiss.

Here’s the same barque at sea.

Ditto, the barque seen here of Mangareva in French Polynesia.

And the answer is . . . they are all the same hull!

And finally, here are three photos I took when Picton Castle was in the Hudson in May 2012.  Tomorrow morning she sails out of Lunenburg NS for a five-month voyage. 

She’s registered in the Cook Islands. 

 

Many thanks to Nobby and Mike for use of these photos.   Fair winds . . . Picton Castle.

And here, verbatim again, is my call for collaboration for November posts.  Thanks to those of you who have already responded.

“…I invite your help for November posts.  All month long I hope to feature different ports–harbors–waterways and their workboats, which means not only towing vessels, but also ferries, fish boats, maintenance vessels, even yachts with professional crews.  I’ve been traveling a lot the past few months and have a fairly large backlog of boats from ports–harbors–waterways mostly in New England.  But as a social medium, this blog thrives on collaboration, so no matter which waters are near you,  I’m inviting you to send along photos of workboats from ports I might not get to.  I’d need at least three interesting photos to warrant a focus on a port.  Here are examples I’ve already done that illustrate what I’m thinking to do.”

Margot

Although I’ve never named a post after this tugboat, you have seen her prominently in posts like here, here, and here.

Margot and crew specialize in commercial cargoes to places no longer accustomed to seeing such arrive by Canal.   The cargo here is electrical generators for PSEG a pair of very heavy transformers …. for RG&E Macedon.

Here’s the lowest air draft on the Canal, about 15 feet under Bridge E-93.  I’m guessing that an egg positioned at the high point on Margot would have been crushed here.  You’ve seen this bridge before on this blog here . . . last photo.

Notice how low the barge is.  It’s flooded with water to reduce the air draft of the top of the cargo.

All these photos were taken between Montezuma and Macedon.

 

 

Here the tow is exiting Lock 27.

All the above photos were taken by Bob Stopper, frequent upstate contributor to this blog.  The next two come thanks to Chris and Eileen Williams, whose work also has been featured here.  Here the tow waits to be offloaded just west of Lock 30.

 

A final photo–mine–I took in March 2015;  I include it here to show what travels between the water’s surface and the canal bed.

 

Bravo to NYS Marine Highway, and thanks to Bob, Chris, and Eileen for these photos.

Really Random Tugs 31

Yesterday’s post led with Jared S aka Cheyenne II, and so I’m grateful to Jason LaDue for sending along a photo he took before she sank into the Genesee River, where she still lies.

This next photo was taken by Renee Lutz Stanley, recently, as Pelham assisted the dead but lively Frying Pan to Caddell for some work.  This is my first time seeing Frying Pan away from her berth at Pier 66.  Previous posts with Frying Pan include this, this, and notably this;  in the fifth photo of the “notable” third link there, you get a little background on Frying Pan and its name, as well as see the location the lightship MIGHT have ended up at as mainstay of a North Carolina maritime museum, which would have put it much closer to Frying Pan Shoal.  Here and here are some recent posts with Pelham.

The next five photos I took on a recent gallivant down east.  Little Toot, who works at Washburn & Doughty ( W & D) of East Boothbay, ME, appears to be a pristine-looking 1953 product of Roamer Boat company of Holland, MI.

On the opposite side of the big blue shed at W & D is one of East Boothbay’s newest almost completed tugs, likely the JRT Moran.

I saw Dorothy L (1965) twice while I was in the area inland from Monhegan, this time and once later but at about 0600 h and the light and motion of my ride didn’t lend itself to a good photo.

And here are some from the sixth boro, Haggerty Girls in the notch of RTC 107, and

And finally, a veteran . ..  it’s Freddie K Miller inside the water and

out.  For a wide range of photos of this boat’s life, click here.

 

Thanks to Jason and Renee for use of their photos.  For more of Renee’s photos of the Frying Pan move, click here.

And here, verbatim, is my call for collaboration for November posts.  Thanks to those of you who have already responded.

“And if you’re interested in collaboration, I invite your help for November posts.  All month long I hope to feature different ports–harbors–waterways and their workboats, which means not only towing vessels, but also ferries, fish boats, maintenance vessels, even yachts with professional crews.  I’ve been traveling a lot the past few months and have a fairly large backlog of boats from ports–harbors–waterways mostly in New England.  But as a social medium, this blog thrives on collaboration, so no matter which waters are near you,  I’m inviting you to send along photos of workboats from ports I might not get to.  I’d need at least three interesting photos to warrant a focus on a port.  Here are examples I’ve already done that illustrate what I’m thinking to do.”

Really Random Tugs 30

Really random means just that . . . and here are previous posts in the series.

So–thanks to Harry Thompson– let’s start with this assemblage . . . barge Amy B, Evelyn assist on the far side, but prominent is the 1941 Bushey built Jared S–ex-Cheyenne II, Sally Carroll, and Martin J. Kehoe.

The closest I ever got to Jared S was here . . . about a mile in from the mouth of the Genesee River in October 2014.  See the white buoy 20 feet off the bow of the decrepit Spirit of Rochester . . .  that marks the hazard created by the sinking of Jared S.

Also thanks to Harry, here’s a repost of Ocean Queen, cropped slightly tighter than I had two weeks ago . . . but check this link for the particulars.    In that link you learn that she sank after getting rammed near Hell Gate.  Well, thanks to

Robert Silva, here are some photos of Ocean Queen after she was raised.

You can see exactly where a bow struck her.   Thanks, Robert.

I took the photo below last week in Boothbay, Maine, where I checked out the Tugboat Inn.  Of course, I needed to know the story, since the superstructure here looked authentic.  All the info I collected online and from the staff there said the boat was built in 1917–probably in New York–and worked all its life until 1973 in Maine waters as the tugboat Maine.  However, nowhere could I corroborate this.

Thanks to Dave Boone, I received the photos below and learned a different narrative that seems plausible if you carefully compare the photo above with the one below.  The Boothbay pub was once the Richard J. Moran, built at Gibbs Gas Engine in Jacksonville in 1920.  Actually, it was built in Greenport NY in 1917 as Socony 3.  Then it became Maine and still later Richard J. Moran became the name.    Thanks again to Dave Boone for the correction.

But was Richard J.  scrapped in 1950, as these databases say, or did it get renamed Maine at that point and then get transformed into a pub in the early 1970s? To be continued.

The rest of the photos in this post I took last week.

In Rockland on the hard, it’s the mid-1950s Kennebec, and she’s available.

 

Dimensions are 41.9′ x 12.4.’

 

 

Here’s the info, but she might be sold by now.

 

Thanks to Harry, Robert, and Dave for vintage photos.  All other photos by Will Van Dorp.

And if you’re interested in collaboration, I invite your help for November posts.  All month long I hope to feature different ports–harbors–waterways and their workboats, which means not only towing vessels, but also ferries, fish boats, maintenance vessels, even yachts with professional crews.  I’ve been traveling a lot the past few months and have a fairly large backlog of boats from ports–harbors–waterways mostly in New England.  But as a social medium, this blog thrives on collaboration, so no matter which waters are near you,  I’m inviting you to send along photos of workboats from ports I might not get to.  I’d need at least three interesting photos to warrant a focus on a port.  Here are examples I’ve already done that illustrate what I’m thinking to do.

East River Mystery 5

Here are the previous installments.

Rare as it is to see a chemical tanker traverse the East River, there’s no mystery about this vessel’s identity…  Ginga Lion.  For outatowners, the bridge goes by Koch Bridge, 59th Street Bridge, or Queensboro Bridge.

These photos were taken last Wednesday–October 21–by Jonathan Steinman, frequent contributor of photos from along that tidal strait, which is not really a river.

So here’s the mystery . . . or at least the question.  Given the Jones Act, how can this vessel make the stops it does.  On this run, it was traveling from Bayonne to Port Jeff, and as of this writing, she’s on her way to New Orleans. Prior ports of call and dates are as follows:  10/8 Gibraltar, 9/10 Pasir Gudang Malaysia, 9/4 Kuala Tanjung Indonesia, 8/18 Nantong China, 8/17 Zhangiagang China, 6/22 Houston.

Ginga Lion is clearly a foreign flagged chemical tanker.

I suspect the answer is that she’s not transferring cargo from one US port to another, just loading or offloading at a series of US stops, which I understand would be permissible.   Anyone clarify?

Many thanks to Jonathan for keeping eyes on the East River and sending along the question and photos.

 

Second Lives 21

Here are previous posts under the category second lives, a designation I use for vessels that are significantly modified from one owner or role to another. The approaching vessel in the next two shots–which I took on the Erie Canal west of Three Rivers in September 2014–show Grand Erie, the newest (built 1951!!) and largest tug in the Erie Canal.

Look at that low Erie Canal design carefully, because

she started life looking like this photo probably taken in 1951 when she was brand new in Pascagoula.  That’s probably the open Gulf of Mexico in the background.

All the black and white photos in this post are credited to Boat Photo Museum.  If anybody wants 8×10 photos, they are $5.00 each, plus postage through the Museum.

Chartiers was considered a dredge tender.  Here she’s pushing a scow somewhere in the Pittsburgh area.

And here she’s tied up at the Corps of Engineers repair base at Neville Island, Pittsburgh.  Look carefully at the upper superstructure in this photo, pre-1985.

In 1985, the vessel was purchased by the New York canals system, then still called the Barge Canal.  The name changed in 1992.  Then, Chartiers traveled to New York state from the Ohio River via St. Louis, the Illinois River, Chicago, and the Great Lakes.

Here’s Dan Owen’s description of the photo:  “This is how it [looked] when I first saw it going up the [Mississippi] Aug. 13, 1985 at St. Louis.  It was on the other side of the river.  The top part of the pilothouse roof was actually cut off to the level of the second deck cabin to get under the bridges in the Chicago area. I do not know how long the pilothouse was 100% air conditioned, all the way from Pittsburgh, or at a shipyard in the St. Louis area. Or, if the pilothouse was welded back on after clearing the Chicago bridges.”

 

Here’s more of Dan’s description:  “These two photos show Chartiers departing Chain of Rocks Lock, Granite City, Ill.  [Notice the helm,] complete with searchlight, sitting on the deck. Also visible are two spare rudders.”

For more comparison, below are three photos of Grand Erie I took in September 2015.  In the photo she’s flanked by Tender #3  starboard and tug Waterford to her port.

Compare this photo of Grand Erie to the second b/w photo above to note all the changes.

And compare this one to the last b/w photo above.

Many thanks to Dan Owen of Boat Photo Museum for use of these photos.  All color photos were taken by myself, Will Van Dorp, in 2014 and 2015.

Here’s how you might be able to add to this collection:  in July 1986 the newly modified Grand Erie came to NYC waters  aka the sixth boro to participate in Liberty Weekend, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty.  Grand Erie served as Governor Cuomo‘s ride.  Does anyone have photos from that time  . . . Grand Erie in NYC in 1986?  I’d love to see them.

Something Different 21

Here are previous posts in the series.

The next two photos come from Tugbitts vol. 16-1 Winter/Spring 2005 issue, pages 12 and 13.  In the accompanying article, “From Flash Gordon to Handsome,” Capt. Harold Rudd describes how he bought David (1936) as she looked below in 1968 in West Palm Beach, FL, and delivered her to Long Island and then rebuilt/transformed her into a conventional looking tug.

I’d love to find more photos of her–either in Louisiana, Florida, or New York–when she had this visibility-limiting appearance.  Anyone help?

Photo by Harold Rudd

Photo by Harold Rudd

The next two photos are the result of research by William Lafferty, much appreciated commenter on this blog.

The image below comes from Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

Dimensions on David were 54.4′ x 15.5.’  In Rudd’s 2005 report, he said that at that time, the tug had been sold to BAC Inc.  Does anyone know if she still exists and if so under what name?

Art deco streamlining, which –IMHO– did nothing to enhance the performance of the tug, had its manifestations in other boats like Kalakala and SS Admiral and certainly in land vehicles, some extreme examples can be seen here and here.

As I said above, some of these photos appeared in Tugbitts over 10 years ago.  Tugbitts recently announced it has decided to cease publication.  I think its demise is a great loss, but I have to admit I did very little to help sustain it, which I regret.  Click here for the announcement about the closing of the journal.

Raised Ace 3

Here are the previous posts in this series, showing the removal and disposal of the wreck of the RORO Baltic Ace, which sank after a collision in December 2012.

After more than two years underwater, this is how things appear.

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for these photos to Jan Oosterboer via Fred Trooster.

 

 

Mary Ellen

Any guesses?  It’s a view I’d never seen until a last-minute arrival on the ferry set me up to be the very last car to debark.  The afternoon light wafting into the cargo space was a treat.

Here she is in profile departing New London.

built 1983, major renovation in 2003

 

In the right light, she’s a beauty.  Notice the low profile of the North Fork of Long Island along the horizon to the right below.

Just to the left of the stack, that’s Cape Henlopen, ex-LST 510.

 

Finally, another shot of the empty cargo deck.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.