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From August 20, 1973 . . . it’s another narrated job from Steve. This time, MS Olympia is getting sailed. Launched in 1953 in Glasgow, she was a long-lived vessel. Any guesses when she went out of service?
“MS Olympia at 57th St Pier North R. Eugene F Moran and Maureen Moran wait on the river side of the pier.”
I gather Eugene was the 1951 Jakobson-build, the ninth and final tug by that name. Maureen worked under that name from 1971 until 2010.
“Our vantage point was “McA Bros.”
“McAllister Bros. pushing the bow of MS Olympia. ”
“MS Olympia heading for sea.” Off her port bow, you can see the tall building at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Lower Manhattan on the North River side was truly a different place in 1973. Have you guessed when this vessel went out of service? You can read her service history and see lots of photos, some even in the sixth boro, here.
One job done, on to the next for McAllister Bros. By the way, anyone know why the flag is at half mast? My search came up empty handed.
And the answer is . . . 2009. She was beached in Alang on 24 July 2009 and nothing was left a year later. Her last visit in NYC had been in 2001.
This batch of photos is from 1958 from Steve, who has shared photos for at least 17 posts, and maybe more. I’m grateful Steve provides the captioning, because I was in second grade at the time. Steve explains: “I was just over 10 years old, and although being brought up on the water on my grandfather’s old 40’ cabin cruiser, I had never been on a tugboat—yet. When I came home from school at lunchtime, my mother told me to come home from school quickly at the end of the day so that I could get my homework done . . . because my aunt was picking me and my father up to meet my uncle, Capt. Bob Munoz, on his tugboat to do a special job.” More of that narrative follows at the end of this post.
Below, from that day, with Steve’s comments in quotes: “Diana L Moran alongside USS Franklin D. Roosevelt …”
I gather from records that the 1945-launched carrier had just completed a refit and overhaul at the time. Diane L was Jakobson built and two years old at this time. If you’re not familiar with the sixth boro, that’s the Williamsburg Bridge and in the distance to the north, the Empire State Building.
“Dalzellera pulling USS FDR-CV42-with assistance from Catherine Moran and Dalzellaird.”
This Catherine Moran, built in 1939, was mentioned in relation to Erie Canal work here, and may still be working as Sherry D in Napa CA.
“Dalzellera pulling with assistance from Catherine Moran, Dalzellaird, and Fred B Dalzell.”
“Taken from the stern of Dalzellera alongside USS FDR.”
“USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Brooklyn Navy Yard.”
She participated in more major battles in WW2 than any other USN vessel. Efforts by NYS to purchase and turn her into a memorial were unsuccessful. Soon after Steve took these photos, she was sold for scrap, done subsequently at Kearny NJ.
“USS Independence (CV-62) at Brooklyn under construction.”
For this carrier as I saw her in 2010 in Bremerton WA, go to the end of this post. In March 2017, she was towed out of Bremerton, 16000 miles around Cape Horn to be scrapped in Texas, which was completed in early 2019. Anyone know who did this tow?
“Barbara Moran in East River, heading east.”
This was the 1949, not the 1948, boat by that name.
Steve gave me a long version of his account of the day, but I’ve taken liberty to abridge it. “Uncle Bob greeted us as we boarded the Dalzell Towing Company’s Dalzellera, flagship of the Dalzell fleet and converted from steam to diesel only 5 years earlier, was previously the Jersey Central RR steam tug Bethlehem. Dalzellera had a 1750hp diesel engine, a surplus WW II submarine engine coupled to a new unique drive system for NY harbor–a controllable pitch propeller. When Dalzell was purchased by McAllister in 1965, she was renamed D. E. McAllister.
But that day our special job happened to be at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn Navy Yard, helping move the aircraft carrier USS FDR from its slip into the East River, downriver, and then into the graving dock. It was a dead ship, 968’ long, 45,000 tons, in port for overhaul and repairs. The time for this move was selected to take advantage of the slack water in the early evening. Dalzell had the contract with the US Navy to move the ship, but did not have enough of its own tugs available to do the job alone. Hence, tugs from McAllister, Bronx Towing, Red Star, and Moran were also involved, for a total of 13 tugs.
Uncle Bob was the mate on the Dalzellera, but for this job he was one of several pilots assigned to control and monitor the movement of the ship and the tugs assisting the carrier. He was stationed up on the port bow on the flight deck.
Having the ship on a hawser allowed a unique vantage point as seen in the pictures. And, it was uneventful. I was on the port side of the main deck with everyone else away from the after deck, just in case the line snapped. Then it happened. BANG! I watched the line part and jump up toward the carrier’s bow. No one was on the after deck, so no one was hurt, no damage done. Another line was lowered and the towing continued like nothing ever happened. As we got closer to the dock, Carol Moran got too close to one of FDR‘s overhangs on the port side and destroyed her mast, which fell onto her deck. Shortly afterwards the tug was relieved to allow it to head back to the yard before dark, since her mast lights were out.
Dalzellera was relieved of hawser duty just before the ship’s bow entered the graving dock and helped continue the push into the dock while the yard personnel started getting lines up to the ship to guide it into position. It was dusk when the task was finished. We picked up Bob at the end of the pier and headed back to our base. After this day I was hooked on tugs.”
Thanks much, Steve. As with the Enterprise, efforts by NYS to purchase USS FDR and turn her into a memorial were unsuccessful, and she was scrapped in Kearny NJ in 1978. Some photos of that last trip to the scrapyard can be found here.
For more tugboats of this decade, click here.
Finally, here’s USS Independence as I saw her in 2010 in Bremerton WA.
On we go . . . Alexandra does not appear frequently here. If my count is correct, this is only the third time since and including 2008 that this 120′ x 34′ 4000hp boat’s been posted here. She’s currently working on a dredging project near Sandy Hook.
An action shot here of Mister T doing what the 82′ x 24′ 2400hp Mister T does.
Pegasus has to be among the cleanest looking boats, a fact accentuated here by the rusty stains on the hull of the tanker beyond her. Dimensions . . . 75′ x 26′ x 1900hp.
The Browns . . . James and Joyce, move this car float across between Owls Head and Greenville. The absence of leaves on the trees shows how long ago I took this and most of these photos. They are 74′ x 30′ x 1000 and 78′ x 26′ 2400, respectively.
Patrice, 105′ x 34′ 4500, has been here almost 10 years.
Nathan G, 73 x 24′ 1200′, moves a scow westbound on the KVK. I’d have guessed her larger than that.
Paul Andrew does the paper barge. She’s 64′ x 23′ and 1200hp.
And finally, JRT sees one ship out and positions herself for the next job.
Here was my first photo of the 6000hp 89′ x 38′ tugboat back in late 2015. The photo reminds me I should use the fisheye more often.
All photos, WVD.
Identity and ownership or affiliation can be read from vessel stacks. Seeing the photo below with the gray, blue, and gold rings over a white stack . . . you might know that could be only one of two vessels, USNS Comfort, which it is, or USNC Mercy. Other USNS or Military Sealift Command vessels have appeared here on this blog.
CMA CGM Thames is one of many large (1100 to 1200′) container vessels in the world’s fourth largest container shipping company. No vessels from the two largest container shipping companies are shown in this post. Do you know what these companies are?
Hansa Meersburg is a much smaller containership, less than 600′, that appears to run a feeder route between the Caribbean, Canada, and New York.
Seatrade has their “colour class” vessels, only slightly longer than 600′ but they offer lots of reefer capacity for round-the-world trade.:
This is a tug . . . Andrea, recently re-logo’d from HMS to Centerline Logistics.
Mr Connor counts as an exotic, a Marquette Transportation Offshore vessel. Another Marquette vessel that’s called here is Miss Emily.
Cosco has a number of 1200′ container vessels calling in the sixth boro, this one being Hope. Moore on this huge conglomerate can be found here.
APL expands to American President Line, Ltd, a company that can trace its history back to before the Civil War. Currently is a Singapore register company, part of the CMA CGM group. Confused yet? Yang Shan is a deepwater port, an island off Shanghai, created since the year 2000.
The BW Group, begun in Hong Kong, is involved in many aspects of the energy trade.
SCF expands to Sovcomflot. Victor Bakaev was Soviet Minister of the Merchant Marine from 1954 until 1970, and more.
Fairchem Endurance
And let’s end this post with Hyundai Merchant Marine vessel Hyundai Hope.
All photos recently by WVD, who hopes you notice some patterns here.
Now that I’m at installment 291 of this series, I’m rethinking the adjective random. Check out these meanings old and new here. But “random” it is until I come up with a better word. I’d rejected the descriptor “miscellaneous” when I first started. How about one from this list: some, select, chance, serendipitous, entropic, stochastic . . ..
Enjoy this novel juxtaposition, Coney Island Light and Denise A., with her barge. Denise A. is from 2014, a 4000hp tug with dimensions of 112′ x 35′ x 17′.
Marjorie B McAllister waits in the offing. You might not guess that she’s worked since 1974 with her 4000hp and 112′ x 30′ hull.
Franklin Reinauer pirouettes her 81′ x 28′ hull right in front of me, the 1984 tug propelled by 2600 hp.
Capt. Brian A heads out for yet another job.
Meanwhile, Linda Lee Bouchard and two of her sisters, Ellen and Evening Star, bide their time at old Home Port. Linda Lee is from 2006, her 125′ x 38′ hull powered by 6140hp. The sisters are 1982 104′ x 35′ and 3900hp and 2012 112′ x 35′ and 4000hp, respectively.
B. Franklin has been hard at work since 2012, measuring in at 112′ x 33′ and powered by 4000hp.
Robert IV came off the ways in 1975, and sometimes her 56′ x 22′ and 1050hp is just right.
More shots of Linda Lee
and Capt. Brian A.
and Evening Star.
And to conclude, hat tip to Stephen Reinauer, from 1970 and 101′ x 31′ and 3000 hp.
All photos, WVD, who thanks all who watched the Erie Canal presentation yesterday. Here‘s more Erie Canal on Saturday.
Here are the previous posts in this series. Let me call this vessel what it is: the last Barge Canal bulk carrier, launched on May 21, 1921 as Interwaterways 101,
the first of five, built at the farthest end of the Great Lakes, Duluth. Less than a week ago, she celebrated her 99th birthday. She worked as the last bulk carrier on the canal until 1994. Her work history is delightfully told in the documentary Era of the Erie #3 embedded at the end of this post.
Below, photo from June 8, 1921 at what was likely a “meet and greet” at the start of her inaugural trip into the new Barge Canal and system. Those are not the hats and coats of workingmen.
Less than a week later, she’s eastbound in Fairport towed by Cowles Towing Line‘s Lorraine.
Continuing eastbound, she’s departing lock E21 into the summit level. Comparing the photo above and below, I’d say it’s warm, and the hatch with portholes has been raised to increase ventilation. That was air-conditioning in 1921. Also, that was prior to the national electric grid, so lock 21, like all the locks, created its own DC power from water turbines. I love ILI 101‘s steering pole here; it’s very Great Lakes.
This “aerial” was taken from the top of the “guillotine” gate at lock E17. The “faces” in the rock at Moss Island are unmistakeable.
This “aerial” from the east end of lock E7 allows a good view of the stern.
Here she has departed the Barge Canal and is lying alongside a wall in the port of Albany. Notable is the horse and carriage here, and
the Model-T era automobiles here. Cowles Towing Line’s Lorraine appears to have taken ILI-101 on a transit of the Barge Canal. ILI 101 was renamed Richard J. Barnes in 1936 and Day Peckinpaugh in 1958.
As a final treat, click on the image below to see and hear Day Peckinpaugh, the last Barge Canal bulk carrier, under way. She is a NYS treasure and we should monitor her future.
And for the pièce de résistance, click on the image below for an excellent half hour documentary on her place in the Barge Canal era. For more by Low Bridge Productions, click here.
Many thanks to Craig Williams and the NYS Archives for these images.
From Capt Nemo, a few years ago, the 2000 Mary Gellatly high and dry and before she was Mackenzie Rose. Also, I see Tasman Sea, Dace, an unidentified Bouchard, and Yemitzis.
From KP, Dace getting her upper wheelhouse . . . over 10 years ago.
From a Great Lakes Mariner, the oldest working ship on the Lakes . . . Alpena, a survivor launched in 1942, as she backs out of a Wisconsin city.
From Tony Acabono, it’s Kodi, among the smallest, hard-workingest tugs of the sixth boro.
From Bob Stopper a few years back, when Grouper was facing another no-starter season.
Another one from Bob, it’s tug Syracuse with a comatose Governor Roosevelt alongside.
From back in March 2020, thanks to Jan Oosterboer, via Jan van der Doe, it’s the world’s largest vessel by displacement . . . Pioneering Spirit. Here are tech specs and lots of images from her operator, AllSeas.
Here she enters port without an assist. Jan writes: “Moves complete oil rigs, drilling platforms, can work as pipe layer.
Has a working crew of about 400 people including sailing crew.”
If I read this correctly, she has eight 20-cylinder engines that generate 127,000 hp and can cruise at 14 kts!
And finally one of my own from almost 15 years ago, it’s tug Hackensack. As I understand it she’s now in South America somewhere.
Thanks to Nemo, KP, Mariner, Acabono, Stopper, and the Jans . . . for use of these photos.
I hope to “see” you tomorrow for my Turnstile Tours on zoom doing “Exploring the Erie Canal.” Tomorrow’s tugster post will be up early so that you can get interesting info for the zoom meeting.
A few weeks ago, I noticed the orange structures, comfort stations for the workers at the VZ Bridge. Given the ladders from the underside of the roadbed to the orange privy, I wondered how long it would take for a bathroom break.
Some days later, I was social distancing inmy car and noticed Gabby approach.
Movement caught my attention; the crane swiveled around and the orange privy swung out . . .
It happened again and
again.
Since it was a windy day, an overfilled privy might be . . .
unpleasant.
Yet all transpired without incident or irrigation on old Fort Lafayette. It was a professional job.
Photos, WVD.
Coming in past the obsolete and almost-development-obscured Coney Island parachute jump, it’s a science ship.
R & R . . . that stands for “research and recreation.” Ocean Researcher has worked in the area for over a year, but she’s still an unusual vessel for the sixth boro. And the small craft below . . . that IS my dream boat, a Grover 26. Believe it or not, a version of that crossed the Atlantic back in the 1980s, with crew and builder from Freeport NY.
Ocean Researcher has been mapping the sea bed over in the area where the Atlantic City wind farm will be planted.
The Grover towing a tender. Last year around this time I was contemplating getting a Grover 26. My reservation . . you can’t have too many toys.
I’m not sure why OR gets escorted in each time, given that it likely has some fine maneuvering tools and skills.
Ah . . . the Grover, it calls to me. Maybe I can lease one for a summer and make a long trip. I’m baring my soul here.
Gardline operates this vessel. I saw one person on deck; I wonder how many work aboard.
sigh . . .
With all the exotic bathymetric vessels calling in the sixth boro, I wonder how long it’ll be before pre-assembled modules will begin appearing.
All photos . . . WVD, who invites you to e-join me on Tuesday, for a synchronous or asynchronous Erie Canal tour.
Hats off to all mariners today on National Maritime Day. For key statistics from US DOT on role of mariners on US economy, click here.
If you want to see all the previous iterations of other peoples photos, click here . . . over a thousand photos, I’m sure. And I’m sure not going to count to know exactly.
From Tony Acabono, here’s the latest tug to be called
Coney Island, the location of the mermaid parade, now postponed. Not cancelled. But back to the tug, Coney Island has classic lines, and is a dozen years older than my jeepster!
From the Great Lakes Mariner, this photo was taken in 2017, before Paul McLernan and barge Kirby 155-02 made their way out of the Great Lakes to salt water. She’s currently in the Gulf of Mexico.
Also from Great Lakes mariner, have a glance at Dutch steam tug Finland was built in 1919 just upstream from Rotterdam in Slikkerveer, and looks pristine.
And finally from my daughter Myriam D, here’s Luther and Calvin. Those names make me look around for some more Protestants, like Zwingli and Hus . . . I see the company does have a Wycliffe.
Want another shot of Luther with barge Santos?
Seaspan Rogue is a Canadian tug, although she‘s originally built in Serawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo.
Island Viking and Island Explorer (both built in 1970) operate for Island Tug and Barge and are former Crowley boats.
Polar Viking (4900 hp) and Polar Endurance (5000hp) appear to be in Dunlap Towing livery.
And the mother lode is last, the Boyer tugs. You can read Kirsten W, Carolyn H, and Sonja H. Beyond Sonja,I’m guessing that’s Halle H. And the treasure . . . beyond Carolyn H, the tug with the upper wheelhouse must be Marie H, formerly Adriatic Sea. The former Java Sea is also in the Boyer fleet.
Tony and Great Lakes Mariner, many thanks. Myriam, thank you and apologies for putting your photos in a folder and mislabeling it.
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