Fleetest Responders

The little-used adjective fleet is appropriate here.   And when something goes amiss in the diverse workplaces of the sixth boro, it’s great to have the fleetest responders there are. The amusement park on the beach in the background identifies the location as Coney Island.  In fact, the responders towed the vessel out to deeper water while dewatering.  No passengers were on board at the time of the emergency, water ingress portside engine room.  All’s well that end’s well.

MV Zelinsky worked in San Francisco waters from at least 2007 until last summer. I’m guessing it arrived in the harbor aboard a ship . . .

Many thanks to New York Media Boat for photo and information. And hat’s off to the responders from USCG, FDNY, and NYPD.

Here are previous fleetest posts.

 

Scrapper 4

Thanks to Tony A, whose previous contributions can be found here, here’s an insider’s view of a scrap ferrous metal run, starting with a view across the deep “hold” of the scow as it exits the Buttermilk heading for whichever of the sixth boro’s creeks has the product.

Once loaded, the scow is brought ship side.

Note the multiple load marks . . .

As the crane transfers the scrap into the hold of the ship, the tug may move to a safe distance or do another run.  By tomorrow, bulker Nichirin will be arriving in Iskenderun, Turkey, 15 miles from the Syrian border and less than 30 from Aleppo.

Photos I’ve taken over the years of scrap metals runs include these of Crow, in blue and

in red.

And here I think it’s Sarah Ann doing a really efficient run.

Thanks to Tony for the top four photos.  The bottom three are by Will Van Dorp.

And come to think of it, I wonder if the late great Crow has ended up in Iskenderun also….

 

Scrapper 3

I’ve posted photos like this one of Thomas D. Witte moving recycling, but I’ve never

been inside Pratt Industries plant on the Arthur Kill.  Recently, William Hyman has though, and he’s shared his photos here.  It looks –and probably smells–like any waste handling facility, but

giant claws move the scrap around and

caldrons do their magic and

cardboard stock comes out.

Photos I’ve taken of the recycling barges back almost 10 years ago are below.

 

Unless otherwise identified, all photos by Will Van Dorp. William Hyman’s previous photos can be found here.  Thank you, sir.

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Whatzit 36

Thanks to a friend, I learned this morning what this is.  But I’ll give you an opportunity until the end of this post to ponder it as I did.

I’m guessing that since I’ve been paying attention to other soon-to-happen non-routine events in the harbor like the loading of Peking (more on that at the end of this post too) and the raising of the NYWheel legs, I completely missed this one until yesterday afternoon when I just happened to be walking to an appointment near Richmond Terrace.  Yes, I ALWAYS carry my camera, because in NYC, you never know what you are going to see in any of the six boros.

When I saw that it was DonJon equipment, I thought these might be additional structural members to be lifted into Rockefeller University’s River Campus.  After all, it was only about a year ago that preliminary structures were lifted into place over there, here and here.

Notice the curves and the staircases?

And the tow moved up toward the North–not the East–River.

So thanks to my friend Hank Beatty, those ARE structural members for something called “The Vessel,” unveiled months ago, a large assemblage of public art to be erected over at the Hudson Yards area of Midtown.  Click here for the speeches on the event of the unveiling back in September 2016:  2500 steps mounting 16 stories . . . billed as the Hudson’s Eiffel!  And the Hudsonside Midtown already has a pyramid!!

So here’s the update of Peking.  Now plans are for it to be loaded in early June onto Combi Dock III, not the identical Combi Dock I as I had been led to believe earlier.  So, put that on your calendars . . .  Thanks to T. V. for that update.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Dead Ship 2

Jake Van Reenen captured this procession yesterday on the upstream end of the Thousand Islands.  The photos are not bright, but that’s appropriate for a trip of this sort.

The you see a ship with towlines fore and aft and new paint splotches that appear to be covering something . . .

it means only one thing . . . “…Le Marc…”

towed here by Jarrett M and Lois M  (1945 and 1991)

used to be Quebec ferry Camille-Marcoux . . .

bound for Marine Recycling Corp in  Port Colborne, ON.  Maybe I’ll see parts of it there this summer when I pass the yard there.

And if you’re up at the south or upstream end of the Thousand Islands, say hi to Jake. 

Urger Needs a Reboot

Here’s the post I did the day my season on the Urger ended.   The boat seriously needs a reboot now, a rewind, since it will NOT been operating season of 2017.  None of the photos here have been posted before, and there’s a surprise at the end of this post, stemming from a conversation last night  I am grateful for. Here’s Urger approaches the guard gate at the top of E-6 on the last day of the 2014 season.

Here the morning of that last run, she’s docked above E-11.  May she not grow into the bank the way that fence has been consumed by the tree.

The entire four-person crew fits into this shot at E-14.

As the sun clears the horizon, Urger‘s out and running east, here under the onramp to the Thruway below E-17.

A few seconds earlier, she exited E-17.  Note the 17 at the top of the lock frame.

Bathed in the warm October sunrise, Urger waits for the guillotine door to raise before exiting the chamber.

Here’s the boat on the wall in Little Falls in midsummer 2014.

A month or so back while it was still winter, I returned to E-17, and there was ice on the wall and in the chamber, and I put my camera away quickly so that my hands could return to the pockets where I’d stuffed chemical heat packs.

This would have been the 25th season for the 1901-built Urger as an ambassador/educational vessel. This role for her was created –as I understand it– through a private/public  partnership fronted by Schuyler Meyer.  Here’s some more of the story of the boat and the program, which was initially operated by SCOW, State Council on Waterways, which appears to have had its last event in 2009.

At the start of this post, I mentioned a surprise.  Last night (finally) I uploaded to YouTube here a half dozen short recordings I made of of Urger underway, with closeups of her Atlas-Imperial engine.  Crank up the sound and enjoy them.  Please share widely.  The program and the boat  are too precious to be permanently lost.  Here is a post I did when Urger last visited NYC’s sixth boro.

All photos and opinion entirely by Will Van Dorp.  Thanks, MB, for the conversation.

 

Random Tugs 199

The venerable Frances came past to greet me first . . .

Lots of digital ink has been devoted to Frances on this blog.  I even toured her once at the Waterford Tug Roundup.

I watched Potomac and Double Skin 59 made fast alongside Afra Willow as she slowly swung on her hook with the tide change.

Wicomico was outbound with a barge on the wire as

Patapsco had come in

with Double Skin 59 earlier.

And finally, this unidentified truckable tug came in.  When she was way out, I imagined her a sailboat.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who really should spend more time at the Narrows.

Spring Giddiness 2

I think today is a holiday.  Somewhere.  If it weren’t, it just should be.

Actually it’s Children’s Day in Turkey.  And the Feast of St George at the Vatican and in England.  Slay-a-Dragon Day somewhere.  International Talk like Shakespeare Day . . . I could go on.  Feadship’s Casual Water is headed upriver, if not uptown.

Others are going in all directions . . .

mostly southbound.

Grande Mariner was westbound on the East River to get southbound to the River City. Know that place?

Some are Sound bound, and

others like Ma Belle are headed La Belle Province.

I can’t keep track of Elizabeth.

Flowers are blooming and

it’s great out.  Make time to enjoy the holiday.  Oh . . . River City starts here.

All photos in the past few days by Will Van Dorp, who did the first “spring giddiness” here.

Fog 17

Carl Sandburg said:  “The fog comes  . ..  on little cat feet.

It sits looking  . . . over harbor and city . . . on silent haunches

And then moves on.”

 

My unrehearsed version is :  “The old cat once . .  . patrolled the wharf

Now it sits over the sunlight . . . and sheds on the riverbanks

masking the distances.”

What I really mean is that taking photos on limited visibility day like yesterday benefits from heightened foreground details in comparison.

Jennifer Turecamo heads out to Gravesend Bay along with the USCG patrol vessel.

A tanker arrives with a name

that’s ironic on a few levels .  .

Meagan Ann hauls Witte 4002 out to dump and

Mary Alice returns Witte 4004 from HARS before Meagan Ann  returns.

And Barney Turecamo comes into port a bit while the barge is monitored by Jennifer.

To finish, here’s another shot of Combi Dock 1 arriving from China with lots of sea miles logged….

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Peking’s Ride

Recall the BOLO post?  Well, today out of the fog she arrived, albeit with an errand to run upriver first.

After a six-week run from Shanghai, of which about five days has been northbound from Colon, Panama, she checked into the Ambrose Channel this afternoon.

 

Dangling anchor means she’ll probably anchor before proceeding.

Unless I’m proven to have a fake story here, in the next few weeks we’ll see

Peking lose her restlessness and

float onto this long cargo deck.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.