Pairs in Autumn

Here are all the previous “pairs” post, a direction I glanced at after seeing Bouchard Boys and Linda Lee Bouchard rafted up last weekend . . .  I’m not sure why the formation, but it certainly showed their relative size.

And once I see a pattern in one place, I start to notice it in others.  Here Otter and Pike almost appear to be in the right lane for Exit 10.   I’m eager to see Muskie and Gar.

Over in Hudson Yards below “the vessel” a pair of Schenectady’s finest EMDs hold a place in the rotation out east.

Between Montreal and Trois-Rivieres lies Lac St. Pierre, where I saw this pair.  To the right, I’ve already commented that Espada used to call in the sixth boro as Stena Poseidon.  Now I look up Laurentia–to the left–and discover she used to call in our watery boro as Palva!   If it’s about the witness protection program, the effort would be foolproof.  I’d never have seen Palva in her new color, suggesting to me that paint and color trump lines.

A report that continues to fascinate me about Lac St. Pierre is that it spawns “ice rocks,” which are rocks that become embedded in the winter ice in the shallow portions of the lake that freeze solid all the way to the lakebed, until these rocks are carried downstream encased in floating ice and become lethal targets for fast spinning propellers.  Ice rocks, what a concept!

Pairs of dug canal banks, as seen in midSeptember west of Rome, show how surveyor straight some parts of the waterway are.

Guard gates are essential canal infrastructure.

And I’ll conclude with a pair of liberty statues, one pointed east and the other west.  A few of you will know immediately where a pair of these “crowns” a building, and I’ll just wait for someone to make the identification.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who asks as treat that you share your favorite tugster post or obsession or vessel  . . . today with some friends.  Be safe.

Oh, and one of my favorites is this post I did about a Halloween-escape trip seven (!!) years ago.

 

Truckable Tugs 4

As a long-term gongoozler–or whatever such a person is called in the US–I wonder what workboats will maintain the NYS Canal system in 2117 . . ..  As a small waterway by today’s standards, small tugs like Erie and tenders like T2 are appropriate size.  But they are old, more than half a century old.  For more tenders, click here.

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I can’t tell for sure, but the 1928-built T4 looks even shorter, yet that’s not even the most unique feature of this tug.  What distinguishes her from all the others is the power plant . . . less than five-year-old all electric power plant from Elco Motor Yachts.

So . . . what will we see when we tumble into the haze of years to come?

Here’s a clue right now.  Scotty is 24′ built in 2007.  I’m not sure what the draft is, but for trucking to the next job, I’m supposing the wheelhouse can be removed.

 

Here Scotty works on the Rexford Bridge, and as a tender on the project,

there’s the open boat with push knees to the right.

Is this the future?  What would Scotty look like painted in Canal colors?

All photos and conjecture by Will Van Dorp.

 

Océan Blue 6

A 4300 hp product of a Collingwood ON shipyard no longer there . . . it’s Océan Basques.

Here’s a better profile, taken a second earlier.  Basques provides ship assists in the port of Trois-Rivieres, QC.  

Docked nearby in the same port, it’s Océan Bravo, slightly older and larger though less horsepower,  a product of Quebec’s  Davie Shipbuilding. 

After Bravo, you’d expect and Charlie . . . and there’s most of the other names of the military alphabet up to Lima in the Ocean fleet. Charlie here is roughly a twin in size and power–though not styling–to Bravo.

Duga is based in the port of Sorel-Tracy, and is a 1977 product of the Trondheim Fjord of Norway.

Staying with the Océan fleet in the quite busy out of Sorel-Tracy, here’s Pilote 2000 stemming between

Leopard Moon and

Jebsens’ Sharpnes.

Downstream to Quebec City, here’s Océan Guide returning from a pilot run to Helena G and

exchanging pilots on Dara Desgagnes.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who was not surprised to find that Canada has more miles of coastline than any other country on the planet.

And here’s an unrelated research question sent along by frequent contributor here, Jan van der Doe, and referring to the photo below taken in rotterdam in 1954.  Question is:  What identification might be provided by the white numbers “3793” visible in the lower right on the dark hull of the vessel just forward of the burning Tanga?  Note the Dutch flag on the stern of the vessel so marked.

 

Infrastructure 2

This view looks south at what for a short term will be two TZ Bridges.

Lurking around the supports is the Tappan Zee II, bridge-dedicated tugboat, profiled a year and a half ago here.

 

At some point soon, the bridge to the right will be gone.

I’ve read the new TZ Bridge has a projected lifespan of a century.  What will the shoreline look like in 2117?

Where will the Left Coast Lifter lift next?

And here’s the current view looking northward.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

More on the TZ construction can be found here, thanks to William A. Hyman.

Infrastructure

From this angle, Fort Lee–birthplace of the motion-picture industry– looks quite pristine.  Yes, that’s the west tower of the GW Bridge.  Am I correct in thinking the marketing name of the twin towers in the distance is the Moderns 1 and 2?

And on the subject of “towers” that Ocean Tower, a name I never know how to pronounce, as I first raised the question here over nine years ago.

Here’s the tow I saw last week.

 

Judging from the barge name TZC-102,  these bridge supports will undergird parts of the TZ Bridge, the completion of this huge project will soon transform into a huge sale of assets.

And where are these supports pre-cast?

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks you might enjoy this recent Scientific America article on suspension v. cable-stay bridges.

Small Craft 18

Here are previous posts in this series.

Below . . . could that almost be a dawn or twilight background?  And is that a canot a glace aka ice canoe –with oars instead of paddles–maybe?  Ice canoeing, some would say, is the real Canadian winter sport . . .

Well, no matter how much you squint, that is convincingly a small craft.  The 751′ Espada does a successful job of obscuring the small craft.    Without looking it up, I’d never have guessed that this Desgagnes tanker appeared in tugster here back in February 2013 as Stena Poseidon!!   This connection clarifies to me my often-felt question:  why do some ships call in the sixth boro once or a few times and then disappear forever?   They just get repainted, rebranded, and show up here or elsewhere….

This one was hard to understand until I learned it was started life as a warping tug built 1946.  Click here for some posts I’ve done about warping tugs, aka alligators.

To me, this runabout is the water equivalent of a 1950s sports car like these, in case anyone wants to buy me one . . .

This drift boat, I’m guessing, and I had to shoot it from a bridge through chain link.

New York State Bridge Authority?  I can’t find evidence they own such a boat . . .

This one’s truly intriguing, given the approaching season, but I suspect this is as simple as a pair of hunters with supplies to conceal their duck blind. I did not however see any armed punts or sneak boxes.

And since we started with a human-powered small craft, let’s end here…

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who is happy to post any photos of unusual small –or any sized–boats you may come across.

 

 

Empire State VI Returns from Hurricane Duty

Here was the previous 2017 return, before the venerable vessel was called out for extraordinary duty in early September assisting in relief efforts after the devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

I caught these photos of the classic 565′ steamer–launched in 1962 as SS Oregon–from Roosevelt Island on a rainy blustery morning.

She ran eastward

 

 

 

 

before disappearing around the bend at Hell Gate.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp.  Click here for a press release from SUNY Maritime.  For more info, click here to read the workboat.com article.

 

Random Tugs 212

After about 3600 posts and almost 11 years, I’ve concluded my titling is based on a flawed assumption, i.e., nothing is random or generic except such things as our understanding.  Another way of saying that is . . . everything has a specific context.  A better title for this post would be something like tug/barge units between Kingston-Rhinecliff and Bear Mountain Bridges on such/such date with various sceneries related to autumn in the case.  But, I’m not switching so bulky or to re-title everything, so on we go;  life has no first drafts.

Having blabbered all that, I just have to say the Hudson Valley is a beautiful place, and the creations of our work in it serve to complement the natural beauty.

Consider Delaware and DoubleSkin 50.

 

Or Coral Coast and

Cement Transporter 5300.

 

Sarah Ann and Cape Wendy.

And Haggerty Girls with

RTC 107, with birds rounding Bear Mountain . . ..

 

Here’s a closing look.

All photos and sentiments by Will Van Dorp.

 

Troy and Tugs

Oh the stories this place could tell . . . in years as stable and livery, bar, hotel, photography unit, and residence;  it could tell stories of our mutual friend Sam.  More on Sam later.

And oh the stories Lucy H could tell about her odyssey from the bayous all the way to Troy . . .

 

where we two crossed paths on this beautiful autumn day.

 

As the sun set, Betty D showed up as well, a similar story to tell, no doubt.  And I’m wondering what’s the story with the far bank?  As I recall,

that was covered in volunteer under- and overgrowth, which seems to have been cut recently.

If I read my map right, the far bank there is Watervliet, birthplace of Leland Stanford and home of an arsenal with a notable iron building.

As night falls, Betty D makes her way northward under the Green Island Bridge.

 

I didn’t forget:  here’s Sam.

All photos and sentiments by Will Van Dorp.

 

Gearless

. . . meaning lacking self-unloading gear, which makes these vessels less versatile.  Manitoba was in exactly the same location–and similarly high in the water–a year ago when I was here.  With her traditional “‘house forward” design, she’s fearless and called a straight decker–having nothing but holds between the ‘house and the engine compartment .

Ditto Ojibway, only slightly younger than I am,

with some quite serious lock, ice, and dock rash.

Contrast them with Algoway, traditional design but with self-unloading gear.

Tim S. Dool, although gearless is generally not considered –as I understand it–a straight decker because it has its ‘house aft.

And what an attractive rake the forward portion of this house has.

Built in 1967, she’s starting to show some age,

on her graceful lines.

Finally, one more gearless vessel, Spruceglen.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who is grateful to boatnerd for the linked info.  Soon it’ll be time to order your new KYS “boat watching bible.”