I just happened to look at the August 2014 section of the archive, and this was the engine room at that time of the living, breathing tugboat Urger.
The top photo shows the Atlas-Imperial fore-to-aft along the portside, and below, it’s the opposite . . . starboard side aft-to-fore.
Below is that same view as above, except with a tighter frame on the top of the engine. On my YouTube channel here, are several videos of this engine running and Urger underway.
Below from early September 2015 are three NYS Canals boats, l to r, Tender #3, Gov. Cleveland, and Urger. . . . all old and in jeopardy.
At that same 2015 Tugboat Roundup that precipitated the photo above, notice the juxtaposition of old and new: passing in front of the 1914 Lehigh Valley 79 is
Solar Sal, which a month later would earn distinction as the first solar vessel to transit the canal from Buffalo to the Hudson with four tons of cargo, as a demonstration of its potential. Solar Sal‘s builder was David Borton, whose website has all the info on his designs for marine solar power.
A story I’d missed until looking something else up yesterday was David Borton’s 2021 adventure, sailing on solar in Alaskan waters.
And that brings this zig-zag post to another story linking the Canal and Alaska.
Last August Pilgrim made its way through New York State to the Great Lakes and eventually overwintered in Duluth. I took photos above and below on August 1, 2020.
Earlier this summer, Pilgrim was loaded on a gooseneck trailer
so that it could transit the continent
along the Interstates to the Salish Sea. As of last week they’d made Ketchikan, and their next stop will be Kodiak Island. Eventually they clear customs and their next stop will be Russia.
All photos except the last three, WVD. Pilgrim photos attributed to Sergey Sinelnik.
The Waterfront Museum in Lehigh Valley 79 is now home to a high-res livestream harbor cam aimed from Red Hook; check it out here.
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August 19, 2021 at 11:43 am
William Lafferty
I’m sure you’re wondering, Will: That Atlas-Imperial 6HM1558 Diesel in 1949 replaced the Urger’s original single cylinder non-condensing steam engine, 16″ x 16,” 125-ihp, built 1901 by the Montague Iron Works, Montague, Michigan. It was supplied by a 6′ x 12′ firebox boiler, 140 psi working pressure, built by the builder of the vessel, Johnston Brothers of Ferrysburg, Michigan. The H. J. Dornbos was renamed Urger by its new owner, Michigan Materials Company, Muskegon, one hundred-and-one years ago today!
August 19, 2021 at 1:23 pm
tugster
William– Thanks so much . . . so it’s 101 years that she’s been URGER. I did once know the Atlas Imperial info, but I’ve never known the steam engine info until this moment. I appreciate your assistance.
August 19, 2021 at 2:02 pm
ws
The WD-40, & ABC fire extinguisher, scale the Atlas Imperial diesel engine’s size..Otherwise, one would think they’re on a container ship in Port Elizabeth..