Not Jetster 2

Yesterday’s post left you in the air–quite literally–circling above Duluth with Beaver Air Tours, the busiest port on the Great Lakes, and passing over a set of Heritage Marine tugs.  Thanks to Lee Rust’s comment on yesterday’s post, I learned a fascinating story about one of the tugs, the 1908 Mount McKay.  Check it out here.   Here we’re flying west looking out toward the St. Louis River.

The pilot pointed out the Edward L. Ryerson, below on extended layup.  Click here for many more photos of this beauty, which began service in Manitowoc in the summer of 1960.  for many more photos and more history of “fast Eddie–capable of 19 kts!!–click here.  This blog has had a previous photo of Ryerson–assisted by Grouper– here.

 

Note the unusual mast-stack combo and the absence of self-unloading gear.

J. B. Ford–launched 1904–is now ending her days after serving them out here as a stationary storage facility.

As this link tells, she survived many storms, outlived all her fleet mates.  The stories of the generations of her crew . . . . I hope they’re not entirely lost.

That’s the Duluth Ship Canal, which I’ll talk about in a future post, and the Aerial Lift Bridge;  J. B. Ford’s scrapping is happening on the land upper right in this photo.

Circling over the Ship Canal, we look down at museum bulker William A. Irvin, named for a former president of US Steel.

Who can tally how many tons of ore she carried in her lifetime from 1938 until 1978 . . . .

 

Let’s head toward the St. Louis River from a different angle and get a closer look at the Arthur M. Anderson.  Click on this link for photos and info of the ordeal she and other lakers face in the December waning weeks of the navigation season.

Anderson has plied the lakes since 1952, and is often associated with the Edmund Fitzgerald, as the last to have contact with the Fitzgerald in the fateful storm of November 1975.

 

Can anyone identify this tugboat?

At the coal pile, it’s  American Integrity . . . I’ll add some closeups of her in tomorrow’s post.

American Integrity is exactly 1000′ x 105′ and with a 78,850 ton capacity,  a “super carrier” built in Sturgeon Bay WI and moving steel ingredients since 1978.

Closing out today’s post . . . we pass part of the Fraser Shipyard, founded by Alexander McDougall, father of “whalebacks” and much more, two of which are currently in very different states of repair in New York waters, the Interwaterways 101 aka Day Peckinpaugh–AND Interwaterways 105, whose current disposition can be seen at the same link as for the 101 . . . the Michigan in the graveyard on the Arthur Kill.

One of the tugs below is FSY  III . . . I suppose the other two are I and II?

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who hopes to return here near the end of the season.

Here’s more on the port and the lake aka  gichigami in Ojibwa.

 

 

Not Jetster 1

Well, a DHC-2 Beaver is not a jet although it’s a fantastic aerial platform.  Here a John Deere moves the aircraft into the water,

where it becomes a boat, complete with a set of paddles.  Welcome to Beaver Air Tours.  Call me floatster.

When we get the green light, we taxi out towards the LaFarge dock . . .

where J. A. W. Iglehart (launched 1936!!) serves as floating storage.  More on Iglehart later in the flight. If I’d been here a few days later, I’d have seen the elusive (for me) Alpena (1942).

We turn into the wind and prepare to take off, with SS Meteor (1896) to starboard.

Once aloft into the southeasterly breezes, we pass American Victory (1942), launched in Baltimore as a saltwater tanker.  For her diverse life, read the info at the link in the previous sentence.  I hope you read the links on Meteor and Alpena as well . . .

The day before, driving in from Wisconsin, we took these photos of American Victory from US highway 53.

 

That’s American Victory down there.

A little farther south, we pass the ore docks in Allouez Bay,

where CSL Laurentian (1977) is loading.  Can you tell we’re downriver from the iron range?

Here we circle back over American Victory,

SS Meteor, 

and Iglehart.

 

More tomorrow from Duluth MN!  Now as to those tugboats below, I know at least three of them as Heritage Marine boats.  I believe the red one is either the boat I saw as Taurus or Fort Point in Belfast Maine a few years back. Here’s the story of the Maine boats’ arrival at the top of the Great Lakes.  The two orange ones may be Nels J or Edward H. but we didn’t get close enough to determine. And the blue tug, i’m not even going to guess.

More of this aerial fling –a flatter post–tomorrow.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Jetster Outbound

Yesterday’s post requires a complement, so here it is.  The flight out was less turbulent but equally rewarding for folks looking out the window.  Behold the Tappan Zee.  This stretch of the river–from Piermont “pier” (created by the Erie RR) on the west side of the Hudson to Croton Point on the east and a little margin on either side represents approximately 10 statute miles, by my estimate.  Rockland Lake,  directly across the river from Croton Point and usually obscured by Hook Mountain just south of Haverstraw, can clearly be seen here.

Here’s the next stretch of river from Croton Point north and almost to Poughkeepsie.  That’s about 40 statute miles, as the crow flies.  By slow boat, that’s the better part of a winter’s day.  Note the long skinny reservoir,  DeForest Lake, at the 4 o’clock point of the photo.

From my seat on the starboard side, I was hoping for a glimpse of Lake Ontario, but this is way beyond my hopes:  despite the clouds, a clear view of the 27-mile Welland Canal from Port Colbourne on Lake Erie below to Port Weller on Lake Ontario above.

Last summer we exited here, near the MRC scrapyard at Port Colbourne just after 1600 after having entered the Welland Canal

here at Port Weller, just before 0900 that day . . . so the aerial above represents a day’s traverse through the Welland locks, with no delays.

By this time, I was starting to think the pilot of this aircraft must have wanted to be credited on this blog, for as we headed into Detroit airport, he gave me this final treat:  a view of the 740′  Algoma Harvester upbound through the cutoff leaving marshy Walpole Island to starboard and the more substantial Seaway Island, ON to its port. The natural flow of the St Clair River–and the international border– is along the far side of Seaway and Miller, MI.

My week away involved another flight, a long drive, and then the flight with my camera–not my phone.  Since I’m on an aerial fling, I’ll share some of those tomorrow.  Below is a sample, for you to savor if you want to guess my destination.

 

 

Jetster Inbound

The flight back home through LaGuardia the other day chilled with its turbulence but thrilled with scenery.  I used my phone rather than camera to avoid hitting the window with the lens.

Here we enter  NYC airspace over Raritan Bay.  Imagine this on a clock face at the 0800 and heading clockwise. The land is the SW corner of Staten Island.  That’s Outerbridge Crossing over the Arthur Kill (AK), and the cargo vessel following the ever-so-strange channel is SCT Matterhorn, all 538′ of her outbound.

Here we look at the creeks in Freshkills Park, Isle of Meadows, and then Carteret NJ on the other side of the AK;  just off the left side of the photo is the location of the marine scrapyard featured in my documentary, Graves of Arthur Kill. 

A few seconds later, our Embraer 190 crosses the KVK;  dead center is the Bayonne Bridge and Shooters Island at the confluence of Newark Bay (to the north, or right on this photo) and the Kills . . . Arthur and Kill Van.  We’re now at about 0900 on our clock face.

Here’s my favorite shot of the series . . . the entire length of the curvy KVK.  Exiting the Kills and bound for sea past the Staten Island Yankees stadium is the 751′ Hoegh Asia.   I’ve no idea who’s on first.   The salt pile and the IMTT tank farm are key landmarks.

Below are the twin peninsulas of MOTBY, with Bayonne Drydock and the Bayonne Cruise terminal directly across that peninsula.  In the lower rightmost patch of green on this peninsula you can locate the statue dedicated by Putin . . . yes, THAT Putin.    The peninsula to the right–the Global terminals Bayonne— accommodates container ships and ROROs. In the distance Newark Bay Bridge and the rail bridge to its right cross Newark Bay.

Slightly farther north, you can see Global terminals, the Weeks Marine yard, the Greenville rail docks serving NYNJ Rail, and Sims scrap yard in Jersey City, where an unidentified bunker loads.

Approaching 1000 on my clock, here’s the confluence of the Hackensack (nearer) and Passaic Rivers, forming the SE point of Kearny NJ where they become the north end of Newark Bay.  Several hundred ships were built in the Kearny yard–this side of the point–in the first half of the 20th century. The Passaic disappears here into the tall buildings of Newark NJ.

Behold the meadowlands, and if you want to read a good book about that marsh, here’s a review of Robert Sullivan’s book, one of my all-time favorites.  Captains Bill or Hughie give fun tours there too.

So remember this flight is headed into LaGuardia from the NE, so that puts us at 1400 on our clock face, and that means we’re over New Rochelle this point in the approach pattern and that’s Hempstead Bay beyond Sands Point, with Execution Rocks Light looking like a submarine near leftish  center of photo.   The top of the photo looks SE across Nassau County.

It’s City Island, the most unlikely part of the Bronx, to which it’s connected by the City Island Bridge.

And just before landing . . .  it’s Throgs Neck …  and a few seconds later, touch down.

All I can add is that I was glad for a portside window seat on the Embraer.  All that water, that’s what I call the sixth boro.  More Jetster soon . . . .

 

Other Peoples Photos 60

First, thanks to Joseph Chomicz . . . it’s Rebel and Dolphin over by the Philadelphia Navy Yard   . . .

Quo vadis, Rebel?

And the second batch comes from Ingrid Staats with likely the most unusual backstory ever on this blog . . .  Ingrid took the photos from a room in New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where her healthy baby was born. She writes, “We had an amazing view of the East River and for four days as Mom & babe recuperated. I amused myself by capturing as many tugs as possible.”    Congratulations to all and here they are:

Sea Lion above moving recyclables and and Evelyn Cutler pushing petroleum product.

TJ and Catherine Miller . . . and is TJ really doing all the work here?

And finally . . . Navigator light and Gulf Enterprise pushing a petroleum barge westbound.

Many thanks to Joseph and Ingrid for these photos.  And I’m happy to hear that one of the next generation of tugboat watchers has been born.

 

Random Ships 55

The other morning I got to the Narrows at sunrise, and in the next two hours, eight large ships passed inbound or out.  Here are six of them . . .

Maersk Seville,

CMA CGM Elbe,

 

 

MSC Vidisha R.,

Mustafa Dayi,

Parana, Zim Shanghai . . .

 

plus Elbabe and BBC Aquamarine . . . .  That’s a lot of tonnage.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 202

Patricia was built in 1963 and works in the sixth boro here and here, and last I knew worked for C.H. Phoenix LLC of Green Cove Springs, Fl. . . .   I like the racing stripes.

Caitlin Ann was built in 1961 and has worked for DonJon since 2011.   Here, she and

Sarah Ann appear to be moving coal.  Sarah Ann is from 2003, working for DonJon since 2009.

Marion Moran has worked by that name since 1982.  I think that’s Katherine Weeks on the far side of the barge.

Bruce A. McAllister, 

Eric McAllister, and

Alex McAllister were all working from the Narrows the

other morning.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

BBC Aquamarine

More on the vessel to the left later because the focus here is on the vessel in the distance …

BBC Aquamarine, built 2012 in Jiangzhou Union Shipbuilding Co Ltd  in Ruichang.

I love the light of sunrise shots, as it plays on that curl above the bulbous bow.

BBC Chartering runs a fleet of over 100 ap-ac (any port any cargo) vessels.

Here she heads straight up the river in the direction of Albany.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Dutch Tugs 7

Again, these photos come via Jan van der Doe from Vianen at the Merwedekanaal, and taken by  Huug Pieterse from Arkel and Leo Schuitemaker from Klundert.  By the way, Klundert became a city in 1357!

Noorderlight dates from 1941.  I’m not sure which small tug she’s towing.

Wiepke, 1946.

Zuiderzee, 1930.

Maartje Anna, 1923.

Finally, for now, Noorman, 1939.

Many thanks to Jan.  I’m working on catching up.  All these photos–today’s and yesterday’s–were taken in the second half of May.

 

Dutch Tugs 6

These photos come via Jan van der Doe from Vianen at the Merwedekanaal, and taken by  Huug Pieterse from Arkel and Leo Schuitemaker from Klundert.  By the way, Klundert became a city in 1357!

I’m making an attempt at matching these up with some basic info.  So Storm dates from 1909 and David from 1947.

Harmonie is 1919,

Jan, 1917; and

Guardian is 1926.

 

Elizabeth . ..  I don’t know.

I have many, many more photos from Jan to catch up on, and will try to do so.  What always amazes me is how many restored tugboats/yachts there are in the Netherlands.