Mystery Tug on Delaware

I knew the name of the tugboat late this past Friday night from AIS as it assisted Cielo di Tampa up past the Ben Franklin Bridge.  I figured I’d remember.

I post this blurry photo because during the long winter night this is how the greater part of the “day” looks in the half of the year that includes the December solstice.

I got this photo below late Saturday afternoon as that same tugboat escorted Radiant Ray down the Delaware, and I knew the name of this tugboat at that time because I looked it up on AIS.

Recognize the legendary vessel with the huge faded raked stacks? 

Here’s my dilemma:  as I write this, I don’t remember the name of that tugboat, which has no name on the stern.  Was it Beverly R. McAllister? If so, she appears on this blog for the first time.   Isabel maybe, or she not out of the shipyard yet?

All photos, all memory lapse, WVD, who can’t trust himself to remember everything.  Not surprising that;  my mother used to call me by my brothers’ names already when she was even younger than I am now.  You know, there’s memory and then there’s Memory.  I call cashews pistachios sometimes, and in speaking, I mix up Thanksgiving with Halloween.  

The stack on the far side of that pier is none other than that of SS United States.  The last photo here is obviously not taken by me;  it WAS taken by a friend the day I got to tour the legendary liner.  Click here to follow the tags for all posts with at least one photo of the vessel retired in that location since 1996.

By the way, I just noticed the Ben Franklin is coming up on a BIG anniversary!!  Complex guy, this Mr. Franklin;  he was then oldest signer of the US Constitution at age 81!