20 Barges

and so much more!  Never have I seen so many barges in such close proximity one to another.  What if you woke up and saw this from your bunk?

I’d thought to call this a whatzit post, but

 

the prime mover is a tug I’d long hoped to see . . . Elsbeth II, of the Smith Maritime fleet, and that link is to Burkhard Bilger’s article from the New Yorker a few years back.

6000 hp and three screws.

 

Built in Palatka, Florida, Sarah D was another of my subjects this morning, since she’s a new acquisition for NYS Marine Highway.  .

I never got her and the tow–aka Atlanta Bridge–in the same frame until here. Cargo barge Atlanta Bridge has transported some interesting cargoes.

Here Sarah D has pulled ahead of Elsbeth II.

You can see how windy it has been for the past 24+ hours in the sixth boro.

 

I hope there’s someone upriver getting photos of the ballasting and floating off, aka the second half of the FLO-FLO ops.

 

The first photo comes from Seaman Sou-Sobriquet, whom I thank;  all the others were taken by Will Van Dorp.