You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2019.
For your quick peruse today, I offer the inverse of yesterday’s post: I went to my archives and selected the LAST photo of something water-related each month of 2019. So if that photo was a person or an inland structure, I didn’t use it; instead, I went backwards … until I got to the first boat or water photo.
For January, it was Weeks 226 at the artificial island park at Pier 55, the construction rising out of the Hudson, aka Diller Island.
February saw Potomac lightering Maersk Callao.
March brought Capt. Brian and Alex McAllister escorting in an ULCV.
April, and new leaves on the trees, it was CLBoy heading inbound at the Narrows. Right now it’s anchored in an exotic port in Honduras and operating, I believe, as Lake Pearl.
A month later, it happened to be Dace Reinauer inbound at the Narrows, as seen from Bay Ridge.
June it was MV Rip Van Winkle. When I took this, I had no inkling that later this 1980 tour boat based in Kingston NY would be replaced by MV Rip Van Winkle II. I’ve no idea where the 1980 vessel, originally intended to be an offshore supply vessel, is today.
July . . . Carolina Coast was inbound with a sugar barge for the refinery in Yonkers.
Late August late afternoon Cuyahoga,I believe, paralleled us in the southern portion of Lake Huron.
Last photo for September, passing the Jersey City cliffs was FireFighter II.
October, last day, just before rain defeated me, I caught the indomitable Ellen McAllister off to the next job.
November, on a windy day, it was Alerce N, inbound from Cuba. Currently she’s off the west side of Peru.
And finally, a shot from just a few days ago . . . in the shadow under the Bayonne Bridge, the venerable Miriam Moran, who also made last year’s December 31 post. Choosing her here was entirely coincidental on my part.
And that’s it for 2019 and for the second decade of the 21st century. Happy 2020 and decade three everyone. Be safe and satisfied, and be in touch. Oh, and have an adventure now and then, do random good things, and smile unexpectedly many times per day.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who will spend most of tomorrow, day 1 2020, driving towards the coast. Thanks for reading this. Maybe we’ll still be in touch in 2030.
Believe it or not, I’m way inland and without a camera, and a preference for novelty prompts a different almost-year-end post together. Rules I made for myself follow: go to my archives and select the first photo of something water-related each month of 2019. So if the first photo in my archives for each month is a person or an inland structure, I don’t use it; instead, I go forward in that month to the first boat or water photo.
For January, it was Susquehanna in a very familiar IMTT on the Bayonne side of the KVK. She’s currently westbound along the Keys.
February was La Perla, an oyster barge on Peconic Bay.
March was Nathan G on the very southern tip of Manhattan, across from the Colgate clock. She’s currently working in the sixth boro.
Jonathan C was assisting a box ship out in the wee hours near the start of April. Right now, she’s in the sixth boro, doing or waiting to do a similar escort.
May began with a NYC oyster boat headed north through the Narrows.
Early June it was Tavropos, in the Stapleton anchorage. The crude oil tanker is currently off the Tabasco coast of Mexico. The tanker appeared here previously as Moonlight Venture.
July began with Fishing Creek headed out of the Narrows. She’s currently near Philly.
In August it was Grande Mariner approaching lock E14. She’s docked in Narragansett Bay.
In September, actually on September 1, it was Kaye E. Barker southbound across Lake St. Clair with the landmark Renaissance Center ahead. She’s currently upbound on Lake Huron, possibly getting another load of ore for the season.
October began with me meeting Mrs. Chips bound for the Narrows and point south and ultimately Florida, where she currently is.
November it was Denak Voyager taking on scrap. That’s the Newark Bay Bridge beyond the ship, and Rebecca Ann lost to the left margin. Rebecca Ann is currently in the sixth boro, and Denak Voyager has exited the Straits of Gibraltar, heading back to the sixth boro.
And finally, December, it’s a mystery boat for now and an unidentified location. Guess if you like . . . I hope to get back to this photo in 2020.
Maybe tomorrow . . . last day of the year . . . I’ll do the last photo of each month following the same rules.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Maybe a reader of Chinese can translate this….
or place name, contemporary or historical?
If I read this right, this 2013 vessel has had eight names in seven years, some very similar to Fu Quan Shan!
She’s left Norfolk by now.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose previous names posts can seen here.
Cosco is a huge, fairly new response to twists and turns of the world shipping fortunes.
Day in day out . . . and night in night out, port work goes on. Here James D finishes up escorting a gargantuan “flower” ship out.
Sea Eagle stands by with her barge while Dace refuels.
Pearl Coast heads for Caddells,
where Kings Point is getting some work done.
Discovery Coast leaves the Gowanus Bay berth.
Atlantic Coast lighters a salt ship while Lucy waits in the anchorage.
Lyman moves Sea Shuttle southbound while some Bouchard units heads for the KVK.
And completing this installment, it’s Kirby, all finished with another assist.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
When the temperatures drop and days are short, tug and barges units in the NE get busier than in summer.
RTC 42 here gets pushed by Franklin Reinauer, as Gracie–-above–waits at the dock with RTC 109.
A bit later, J. George Betz moves her barge B. No. 210 toward the east.
Navigator appears from the east with her barge.
Barney moves Georgia toward a Bayonne dock, with assistance from Mary.
And Curtis comes in with RTC 81 for more product.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, currently in the state of Georgia, but a few days back when I took these, needed some of that fuel to stay warm. Here from 2007 was my first post by this name.
But first, what can you tell me about the tree directly below?
Now to “hoops” and maybe I should say “Höegh hoops . . .”
Here’s the aft most one, and
the court extends forward from there to this one.
See it? I wished I’d been on the Bayonne Bridge walkway to look down on it.
JRT assisted and maybe delivered a ref?
JRT, 88.7′, is only slightly less long than the court, if it’s a standard NBA 94′ x 50′.
Possibly much more basketball goes on shipboard unbeknownst to anyone photographing as I was, played by seafarers constantly on the move. I took this photo of basketball in the hold of a bulk carrier from a FB group called Seaman Online, which I’ve been following for a while.
All photos but the last one by Will Van Dorp.
Previous “hoops” post can be found here.
And finally . . . this would have fit better in yesterday’s post, but . . . a reader in New Zealand sent the top photo along as a NZ “christmas tree”.
He writes: “The New Zealand Christmas icon is the pohutukawa tree which has scarlet blossoms in December. [Remember it’s the southern hemisphere’s summer.] It is often called the New Zealand Christmas Tree. It is a coastal variety and is often seen on cliff edges and spreading shade over sandy beaches. The crooks of the branches were also used for the framing and knees of wooden boats.”
Thx, Denis and Judy. More on a Kiwi Christmas here.
A truly unique take on the the elf and his conveyance towed by three reingators comes from Louisiana. I’ve read here that the lead gator is called Rouxdolf. Those reingators will need some bonfires to guide their way through the bayou.
Bravo Morgan City, and from Emily Ann off Sandy Hook as seen only from onboard in the wee hours during a time of year when there are more wee hours than anything . . .
And from Lake Superior a year ago
the lights and Detroit slim wearing red aboard Erie Trader and Clyde S VanEnkevort. Both Emily Ann and Clyde S will be working today, Emily Ann in greater sixth boro and Clyde S, as always, conveying Mesabi ore toward the mills in the southern Great Lakes. Cheery thoughts to all the crews–Emily Ann and Clyde S and all the other boats–out delivering gifts or anything else across the waters.
And finally from this spot down between Wavertree and the shop barge . . .a tree grows in the sixth boro…
. . . and for a vessel named St. Nicholas, see what bowsprite has wrought. May the spirit of all the Christmases whisk you up and up and away.
Cajun Christmas photo borrowed from Jim Taylor; Hank Beatty for the Emily Ann photos, and the Clyde S. VanEnkevort/Erie Trader photos and W. O. (Willys Overland???} Decker photo by Will Van Dorp.
For more info on the reingator tow and who did it and how, click here.
New equipment on that boat?
Oh, wait! there’s a face and a tree, and the red-clad crewman is standing outside the top of the chimney stack.
This was the other goal when I went out . . . to find evidence of Christmas spirit out in the sixth boro . . .
and Kimberly Turecamo shows it.
Merry Christmas, all. They weren’t in a parade either; they were heading to assist a sleigh tanker with her 3000 horses.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, and to the crew of Kimberly . . . email me an address and I’ll get you a 2020 tugster community calendar.
Previous Christmas posts can be seen here for 2018, 2017, 2016 . . . and in that last one, you’ll find links to go farther back. Here’s my favorite.
in the sixth boro and visible from my location . . . and that I saw. Those are all the qualifications I need to make to that title. That’s yesterday’s dawn in the background at 0817, light has just begun to allow clear photos, and I’m on Staten Island looking toward Brooklyn. Name that tug?
Here’s another shot.
Three tugs appear in this shot. Name the closest one?
It’s obvious now. Getting these shots was part of my goal yesterday morning, the first light of winter 2019, and this part was done by 0835. Days can get longer now.
More tomorrow. Notice that in salt water-surrounded industrial landscape, there’s little sign of snow or ice.
And the tugs were Pegasus above and Mister T farther above.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who visited the local post office this morning and mailed off HALF of the calendar run. Get your order in and you’ll likely still have your calendar before 2020.
What to post for the first morning after the solstice?
How about a Fox,
a Sea Fox out there every day. The other day I followed them under the B-M-W bridges over the East River. Actually, that would be W-M-B bridges in this case . . . Williamsburg Bridge above, Manhattan Bridge below, and
then the Brooklyn Bridge. In case you’re wondering, that’s a recycling barge. For more on NYC trash handling, click here and find some interesting numbers.
Previous Sea Fox posts can be found here. The 1400 hp tug is bearing its seventh or so name.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s been out this morning getting “first winter 2019” photos.
Happy solstice.
tugster: a waterblog 
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