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The year is in its last hours, and these vessels saw their last hours in this year as well. Of course, this is a subjective list, made up of mostly photos I’ve taken over the years of sixth boro and Great Lakes vessels. This list is not definitive. If you know of others, you might add them in the comments section.
Many photos of Helen McAllister have appeared here over the years, but time caught up with the 1900 Helen, who began and ended her life on Staten Island. I caught her doing her last dance –a tango or a waltz– here.
More than 10 years of silence passed between the photo above at the McAllister NY yard and the one below in Tottenville. Eagle-eyed Tony A. caught her stripped of her identification and ready for the scrapping jaws last month.
The 1907 Pegasus saw her end this year as well. I spent many hours on Pegasus, and regretfully, sometimes the scrappers’ jaws are the most humane end for boats.
The 1970 Joanne Reinauer III also saw its end. I learned a lot about the modifications made to tugboat from her and from photos of her tranformations supplied by readers. My photo below is from 2009.
The 1972 Viking also saw a series of modifications. You might think a powerful machine like this . . . like these . . . would never wear out, but like you and me, they do. I believe it was 2021 that she was scrapped, but it may have been earlier. The photo below is from the September 5, 2010 tugboat race.
The Great Lakes shed some vessels also. Mississagi began work in 1943. I took the photo in Lake St. Clair in August 2016. She was towed to a Sault Ste. Marie scrapyard in October 2021.
Manistee dates from the same year and has the same dimensions–620′ x 60′– as Mississagi. This photo I took in Toledo, where she had been laid up for some time. More on Manistee here.
Ojibway, a 1952 bulker, is currently underway in the Saint Lawrence River, bound for Port Cartier with a load of grain. After that, she’ll lay up awaiting an uncertain future. For what it’s worth, she came off the ways the year I was born.
And on a sad note, the 1975 St. Clair was relatively new for a Great Lakes bulk carrier, but a devastating fire during winter layup in February 2019 condemned her; she arrived at the scrapyard in Port Colborne just a few weeks ago. Photo here is credited to Corey Hammond.
Thanks to Tony and Corey for their photos; all others, WVD, who wishes you all a healthy and happy 2022 and the fulfillment of all your goals.
And unrelated to this post but entirely germane to this day of reflection/new goal setting before a new year, check out Ellen Magellan’s expeditions. That’s not her real name but it’s so clever I wish I’d come up with it.
Look at the Staten Island ferries at St George. “They all look the same,” I once asserted to bowsprite. She set me straight. Right now the second Ollis-class, soon to be newest hull in the boro, is making its way up the Jersey coastline at the end of a towline, its bow and windows boarded up for protection from waves.
So on this New Year’s Eve eve, let’s do an out-with-the-old . . . . John F. Kennedy, currently the oldest–in service since 1965!!–will be the first out. In fact, a fly on someone’s wall says
she’s already out of service. By the way, who were you in 1965, or what were you listening to? Or, what were you driving or drooling over? Watching?
Barberi [1981] will be next out, along
with Newhouse.
And in the with new . . . seen here next to the 1986 Alice Austen.
SSG Michael H. Ollis has been the training vessel for all three ferries of the newest class. She arrived in August here. Whether at the dock being prepped or
running the harbor and practicing arrivals and departures, Ollis and her crew have been busy.
All photos, recently, WVD, who can’t wait to ride the new ferries and who hopes to get photos of the newest, newest hull in the boro tomorrow.
See my story on Ollis on page 18 here.
The sixth boro has lots of government boats . . . aka taxpayers’ boats, like the 29 Defiant…
This RB-M appears to be training a large crew.
This BUSL is headed out for some ATON work.
Besides the many federal boats, NYC has its own fleet including three GUP carriers of this latest class. This is a front light Rockaway.
One of two large fireboats, 343 here is at her base beside Little Island, aka Diller Island.
USACE in the boro has some small survey boats.
Sturgeon Bay holds station at the star.
And to close out . . . here’s that same 29 Defiant executing a tight turn in the ferry wake.
All photos, WVD, who’s still on the road.
Photos from the sixth boro . . . although I’m a thousand miles away and in the eastern mountains… 1974 ex-Exxon Ocean State and
and slightly smaller 1975 ex-Exxon Granite State, now Marjorie B. McAllister and Brendan Turecamo.
The 1999 ex-Crosby Knight now Stephen Dann was pushing a Centerline barge.
The 2009 ex-Allison Crosby is now Mount St. Elias, is one of the Kirby boats in the boro that I perceive as a winter boat. Where was she all summer?
The 1975 Robert IV has been in the boro since 1989. Where was she for her first decade?
And finally, the 2020 Janice Ann Reinauer is the newest, largest, and most powerful tugboat in this post, here overtaking the 2010 6589-teu Maipo.
All photos, WVD.
Over in Stapleton only one Bouchard tugboat remains.
That was true when last I looked, which was last week. Jane A. is no longer where I saw it, outside the dry dock in Bayonne.
Evelyn Cutler was hauled out on the MOTBY peninsula.
Barry Silverton was headed south past the CNJRR Terminal.
Atlantic Enterprise crawled slowly across the Upper Bay.
All photos, WVD, who hopes to return to the boro at some point this week.
or I could call this Boxing Day 2.
Denak Voyager hauls scrap in her big boxy holds regularly from the sixth boro to Turkey.
This was my first time seeing the 2012 New York Express
or Varna Bay.
Guthorm Maersk has called here before.
Ditto San Cristobal.
ONE München has appeared on this blog before, but ONE Houston has not.
Owned by our neighbors to the north, Fednav bulkers have appeared on this blog before, but this is the first time Federal Nakagawa has.
This is the second PSL [Precious Shipping Line] bulker to appear on the blog, but it is the first time this one .. . Viyada Naree has. Note the log racks along the hull.
All photos, WVD, who hopes you enjoy these bulkers and box ships on Boxing Day.
You’ve seen all the brown, white, and now blue package trucks clogging the streets and roads, their drivers working ever longer hours as we take to online shopping.
These two Reynolds boats have nothing to do with that, but they do deliver foodstuffs, spares, and incidentals to ships at berths and in the anchorages.
The 1951 Twin Tube has been featured in many posts already, but when it comes to Christmas, I think of this boat, as well as
ABC-1, the other Reynolds boat. ABC-1 dates from 1941, a product of Bay Shipyard, launched as an L-boat, and subsequently T-473, Mariner, and now ABC-1.
She always seems to trudge along the waterways, but her track is steady and sure.
I wonder how many foreign seafarers have photos of the two Reynolds boats, since they and the bunkering boats might be the only sixth boro vessels they deal directly with, lifting the packages and bundles onto their ship.
All photos, WVD, who wishes you a happy day.
Deck the hulls . . .
the bell sound signal device and railings too.
And I’ll leave that song right there.
Kimberly Turecamo has a wreath around the bell also, but
consistent with the Kimberly crew, there’s more.
Merry Christmas all . . .
All photos, WVD.
Here was last year’s M is for Merry.
I’m driving hundreds of miles today, so it seems a good time to update this chapter.
How’s this Rhino for an attention getter? It likely belongs to this guy.
x
And I had to whip out my camera when I saw this truck.. .
Catering (and more) trucks always catch my attention,
like the appropriately named NYC LOVE Street Coffee truck I saw the other day on the UWS. For a special coffee truck, check out these . . .
Not all catering trucks dispense caffeine, like the one below, which
was dispensing drinks like these at the other end
of the day in this bucolic location. I took these three in August and can’t believe I’ve not posted them yet.
Tasteless or otherwise, the initials here caught me eye . . .
How about “no prune in my spoon or tomato in my ladle . . . “?
I’ve always considered Lincoln Continentals as trucks . . .
I know I know . . . but is it an Excalibur?
Directly from just north of Lake Pontchatrain, the name on this truck is extraordinary, although I’ve not had the chance [yet] to sample and savor.
My favorite of this batch, though, is this Rock Cats Rescue photo I took in New Orleans, or . . .
as the organizer corrected me . . . . Mew Orleans.
OK, OK. I’ll drive safe and leave the post here.
Thanks for reading. All photos, WVD, who wishes you a happy, mindful, and safe holiday.
Winter solstice is one date I pay attention to, and yesterday demanded an undivided portion of it. I was out on the sixth and primordial boro at sunrise, although when it rose, a gauzy film of stratus filtered the light. I tinkered with the image a bit to enhance the cosmic eeriness.
Along the Brooklyn shore a classic barque and one of the latest of a classic line awaited.
Notice two tugboats and a lighthouse below? One tug is shifting a fuel barge, and the other is shifting refuse boxes.
Start of winter or start of summer, the sixth boro is always a busy place. Notice the fishing boat in this image, along with all the rest?
For some reason, these E-2C aircraft flew the North River up and then down and out over the Lower Bay.
Dutch Girl, a winter regular along with Eastern Welder, was hard at work.
Ava M. crossed the Bay from one job to the next. Things are always happening on the water.
And all that’s glorious, but less than a quarter mile from the North River, not all seems to be happening well, and that needs to be acknowledged.
All photos, WVD.
tugster: a waterblog 
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