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This title goes back more than 10 years. But I got some congested photos recently, so I dredge up an old title. Count the boats of all sizes here. Of course, foreshortening makes them seem much closer to each other than they really are. I count at least 12 vessels on the photo below, including some I had not noticed when I took it.
There are five here, and maybe two miles of separation between the two container ships.
Three operations were happening simultaneously in this stretch of the channel, and all were either stemming or moving very slowly.
Again, there’s lots of foreshortening here.
It may be exhilarating to get this close to a large ship, but if your engine stalls . . . stuff’ll happen really fast.
Here’s a different sort of “traffic” photo from august 31, 2008 . . . exactly 12 years ago. And it gives me an idea for a post. By the way, left to right, can you name at least half of the 12 boats at least partly visible here?
All photos, WVD.
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Remember Laura Maersk, the unusual tow from back in mid-June? An engine room explosion disabled her, and she had to be towed in for repairs. Well . . . below are her tracks from yesterday . . . first sea trials . . . aka a “test drive” and then
she made a beeline for Panama, an excellent place to load. I forgot to mention it, but the two ULCVs in a recent post, Hyundai Drive was arriving from Cartagena CO and Cosco Shipping Rose, from Limon Bay Panama.
Before leaving, she was very light, like this.
Remember Mendonca came into port about two weeks ago?
Her portside stern half of the vessel has been stripped of coating. In a blown up version of the photo below, i count at least 10 yard workers.
One might conclude, correctly, that Maersk has the largest container fleet in the world by the number of Maersk vessels calling here. Below the Gunhilde, 1200′ loa, gets escorted in by Capt. Brian A. McAllister.
CPO Bremen, previously called Vancouver Express, heads out, as
does
Northern Magnum, previously called Los Angeles Express.
CMA CGM T. Jefferson winds her way through the KVK.
Johanna C loads scrap.
Spinel arrives,
as does MSC Elodie.
All photos, WVD.
I’m always on the lookout for “first-timers” in the harbor, but I’m equally thrilled to see the “seldom-seen.” I realize that some people might see these boats everyday. The “seldom-seen” relates to me.
This is true of Pelham. The 1960 built is on her sixth name, if I count right. She started out as Esso Pelham. You’ll have to scroll, but here are a number of times I’ve posted photos of her, in and out of the water.
Evelyn Cutler, a 1973 build, is a frequenter on this site. When I first saw her, she was a Great Lakes Dock and Dredge boat called Melvin E. Lemmerhirt.
In the few months that this boat has been know as Mackenzie Rose, she appears to stay quite busy. That’s a good thing.
Rae also fits into the rarely seen list, although maybe she was laid up and is now busy again. Meeting her here is Normandy. Rae and Normandy were built in 1952 and 2007, respectively.
Philadelphia and
Jacksonville are both recent 4200 hp Vane boats. Jacksonville, 2018, is one year newer than Philadelphia.
I first saw the 1981 Genesis Victory as Huron Service. Periodically, some of the Genesis boats do make their way into Lake Huron and beyond.
As i said earlier, Mackenzie Rose is quite busy. Does anyone know her namesake? I don’t.
Frederick E. Bouchard is the second boat to carry that name. She was built in 2016 and operates with 6140 hp, but
these days she looks quite light and her exposed waterline somewhat rusty.
Barney Turecamo, the fourth (?) boat to carry that name, brings 5100 hp to the job. When she was built in 1995, she had a different upper wheelhouse.
All photos, WVD, and taken in the past month.
0545 at the Narrows . . . in the hazy days of summer . . . nothing beats it.
I had not come here just to beat the heat.
Surprisingly, Turecamo Girls (I believe) delivered the docking pilot.
Then she dropped back, to where one of the 6000s took the stern and
another the bow.
Only a couple hours into the day, another ULCV appeared in the offing . . .
Hyundai Drive, which sounds almost like a car ad framed as an order if you reverse the words . . . .
In the clearer light, you can clearly see Drive‘s crew asisting the docking pilot, boarding from Capt. Brian A.
For scale, notice the deckhand on the bow waiting . . .
. . .
for the messenger line.
To digress a bit, in July 2018 Hyundai Jupiter was in the sixth boro, and the company was still called Hyundai. On March 31, 2020, it rebranded itself as HMM. Jupiter, 1059′ loa, had a capacity of 10,000 teu.
In March 2013, Hyundai Grace, a 2007 build, had a capacity of 4571 teu on her 964′ hull.
In April 2009, Hyundai Voyager was in town . . . built in 2008 with the same dimensions as Grace.
So in a decade, typical Hyundai (HMM) vessels calling here have increasing carrying capacity by nearly 300%. If you consider HMM calling elsewhere, the increase has been greater than 500%.
All photos, WVD.
Many thanks to Josh Watts for sending along these photos taken in western Monroe County, at Adams Basin. You may recall that Adams Basin has appeared here before in the westbound end of the virtual Erie Canal tour. Sure enough there was an Adams involved . . . way back at the time the first canal iteration was dug.
Joncaire?
Messieurs les Joncaires established themselves in what is now Buffalo, back before the Revolution.
Canal tug Joncaire appeared here once before a little over a year ago, along with DonJon tug Rebecca Ann; in that photo, Joncaire is half blue and half red. The Adams Basin lift bridge is one of 16 in the NYS Canals systems.
Joncaire used to be all red, as in this photo below from about four years ago, when it was on the Buffalo River and still painted in NYPA red.
In close proximity to Joncaire was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the new 25′ tugs that have been coming into the NYS Canals system since 2018.
Gradall #4 was tied up there also, with
an unnamed (not yet named) small tug alongside.
Here’s the first new one I saw back in August 2018; I believe this one has since been named Port Jackson.
Many thanks to Josh for sending along these photo; Future Port Jackson and the red Joncaire are mine.
The first installment of this title can be seen here.
As of this morning, USS Slater is back to Albany again, after its latest shipyard visit.
Below, thanks to Tim Rizzuto, are some photos from exactly 27 years ago, showing two McAllister tugboats assisting the large Russian, now Ukrainian, tugboat Gepard, which successfully delivered Slater from the Mediterranean to the sixth boro. I know this is a digression, but Gepard has an “exciting” history. It’s still working, currently in the Black Sea.
Maybe someone can assist in identifying the two McAllister tugs. This photo shows the significant difference in beam: Gepard 66′ and Slater 37’…
From 1993, let’s jump to 1997. Jeff Anzevino got the following photos as the destroyer escort made its initial trip up the Hudson to Albany. Jeff has contributed many photos to this blog, going back almost to the beginning. The tug pictured her is Rainbow, currently called Patriotic, which has been in the Morris Canal for quite a long time. Patriotic is a 1937 Bushey build.
Also assisting in the 1997 tow were Benjamin Elliot and Mame Faye!
Jeff also caught the tow back in 2014. And . . . is that Margot on starboard? That IS Benjamin Elliot on port.
Many thanks to Tim Rizzuto and Jeff Anzevino for use of these photos. If you’re interested in donating to USS Slater.org to help defray expenses, click here.
I’d really appreciate identification of the McAllister tugs above.
My previous Slater posts can be found here.
Decked out in canvas for the postponed move last week, it’s the venerable Margot. She’s appeared on this blog many times, house up as below and house down as here.
Believe it or not, Saint Emilion appears here for the first time, although she’s been here as Arabian Sea and Barbara C. The fisherman in the background was catching too many fish to vacate that spot.
Franklin Reinauer . . . she’s a classic.
Lincoln Sea . . . for me is a different kind of classic.
Gulf Coast is an infrequent visitor in the sixth boro.
Crystal Cutler has appeared here many times since her first arrival as a newbuild in 2010.
Cape Henry is one of three
Kirby boats of the same design.
Could Lincoln Sea look any better?
And to end . . . have a look at Thomas D. Witte, a 1961 tug that looks great.
All photos, WVD.
Glovis Cosmos has a beam of 105′. YM Warmth . . . 167′. Of course, we’re looking at the pier from an angle,so there’s that accentuating the difference in beam. We’ll return to YM Warmth.
The next day just after 0600, CMA CGM A. Lincoln appeared around Bergen Point with an entourage of tugboats.
As big as these 1200′ box ships are, they will be diminshed by the 1312′ size working other ports around the watery globe.
To make my morning even better, Warmth was bound for sea the same time as A. Lincoln.
As booming as the ports of NY/NJ seem to be, they’re asking for relief money, as explained here, with the cost of temperature checks on local port workers adding up to $60,000 weekly.
All photos, WVD. That morning, obviously, two 1200’ers left port in succession. As I write this [Sunday morning] three of the current sixthboromax vessels are in our fair port. For a look at the next generation, in this case coming into Rotterdam, check out this video . . . and I’d jump ahead to the 23-minute mark . . . behold the 20,000 teu 1312′ Ever Given.
Two final points . . . I find it odd that CMA CGM has named these vessels for former US presidents. Imagine US-flagged ships with names like Jules Armand Dufaure or Charles Dupuy . . .
And second, for a glimpse of CMA CGM plans in the next two years, check out CMA CGM Jacques Saade, named for the company founder.
Seeing Vinik No. 6 the other morning reminded me that I’d not yet posted a link to an article I wrote on Vinik in March, just before that event that changed everyone’s world. The article has just become available online, for everyone who does not subscribe to Professional Mariner magazine.
See Harry McNeal in the photo above, way to the lower left? A minute before I took that photo, I’d assume that Vinik No. 6 was pushing that crane barge and Harry McNeal lashed alongside.
The No. 6 is a massive tugboat, 141′ x 35′ with (if I recall) 72′ height of eye.
Harry McNeal –if I saw this right–dropped some dockworkers off before
assisting No. 6 getting that barge into position before the spuds were lowered to pin the barge in its location.
As to the “more” in the title, in that same location as above, a pile driver was working the other day . . .
but truth be told, I don’t know much
about pile drivers.
Maybe someone can school me.
All photos, WVD. Thanks for reading the article and this post..
Enjoy the photos. Can you guess which of these tugboats is oldest?
Greetings Rae and hello to the crewman at the railing. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Rae. The first time I saw her I was with Bonnie and the tug was then called Miss Bonnie.
Several people have said Matthew Tibbetts is the best looking tug in the harbor. Who am I to argue with them about that?
Pathfinder cuts a sharp image as it leans into its empty trash containers . . . . and the barge CVA-601.
Some mornings the dawn light enhances everything. Because I was a NASA fan a long time ago, a tug named Cape Canaveral will always get my attention. I’m guessing she may be the newest boat among these.
Above, along the left side of the photo, see the barge with GL 54 on it? Ocean Tower was moving it along,as below.
This light perfectly complements Sarah D‘s lines and colors.
The sun is already rising well after 0600; I took this photo of Ruby M before 0600.
A very light Frederick E. Bouchard passed me by the other day.
Normandy has the throatiest sound of the boats I know best.
And finally, well before 0600, Emily Ann was moving a scrap (?) barge westbound. I believe she was last on this blog back in June.
All photos, WVD.
Oh . . . the oldest? That would be Rae, launched 1952, same as me.
tugster: a waterblog 
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