From the Line Locker 36

Sometimes I’m conflicted about what to post, like today with too many competing stories, and we’ll start with news, and Cisne Branco, which translates as “white swan.”  The photo below shows Cisne Branco, a Brazilian Navy training vessel,  in the sixth boro in May 2012 for a sixth boro OpSail event.  Earlier this week, the 1998 vessel got swept downstream the Rio Guayas in Guayaquil, Ecuador and came to rest against a pedestrian bridge.  See it and hear about it here.

Here’s another shot of Cisne Branco in Gravesend Bay.

In other news, the 1967 83′ steel schooner Mystic Whaler, a regular in the sixth boro, has been sold to a party on the West Coast.  The Egintons have owned it since 1995. 

A few weeks ago now, the 1943 laker Mississagi was towed to the scrapyard in Sault Ste Marie.  I caught these two photos of her in summer 2016 in Lake Michigan below and

along the Saint Lawrence River below.  Other photos can be seen here.

While looking up my May 2012 photos of Cisne Branco, I saw this photo of Taurus in the North River.  She’s now Joker, featured here several times recently.  In May 2012, the K-Sea fleet had just been sold to Kirby, and in the photo below, the red K-Sea visor was painted blue, the K-Sea logo was removed from the stack, but the Kirby logo had not yet replaced it.  Also, in the background, it’s Harvey and Frying Pan at Pier 66.

This photo also from May 2012 shows Ellen McAllister coming alongside Dewarucci, an Indonesian training ship.  Between the two, it’s Scotty Sky, the small bunker tanker now sold somewhere in the Cabibbean.

Since there’s a lot of media attention on the congestion in SOME US ports, have a look at what’s off Savannah.  This was a screen grab from VesselFinder almost a week ago, and it’s not much different today.  A personal frustration is the outermost vessel shown, CMA CGM Marco Polo.  I missed getting a photo of her in the sixth boro on Saturday, October 9 because I was out of town;  in the wee hours of Monday, she departed for Norfolk and then Savannah.  She’s now been anchored, about 60 miles out from Savannah’s container terminals since the 15th.  Earlier this year she was setting a new record in US/Canada ports, and now she’s stuck in a jam.

And finally, two photos from April 2018 showing Mon Lei getting towed to a marina just north of the GW Bridge, where it stayed for some time.  Question:  Where is Mon Lei today . . .  asking for a friend.

This red/white junk was once quite the fixture in the sixth boro, and although I was never aboard, I’m told the interior was sumptuous!  Click here for posts I’ve done on the boat.  I talked with one of the owners once on the phone. 

That’s some news from my desk in Queens.  All photos, WVD.

I’d really like to know what became of Mon Lei.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 40 A

Happy August 2021.  And “Wow!”  That is almost always my reaction when I jump back a decade into the archives.  This riveted tug  was 83 years old when I took this photo, and I looked at that deep rounded icebreaker hull and imagined it would go on working forever.  Now it’s 93 years old, and mortality is nipping at the heels of this Canal tug and all the Canal tugs.  It and they may not be around 10 years from now.  Of course, neither might I.  She was built by Buffalo Marine Shipbuilding in 1927-28, and originally equipped with a John W. Sullivan steam engine.  Her stack was hinged so that it could be lowered for bridges. She’s 77′ by 19.5′.  If I read the archives right, Governor Cleveland is three feet shorter;  I’d always assumed they were twins.

The 1958 Blount-built green tug in the foreground has changed hands several times in the past decade;  it may be Bay Star of Port Washington now, but I’ve not seen it in more than half a decade.

The 1998 container ship was last recorded as in Aliaga Turkey in 2017, which leads me to suppose this 3802 teu has been scrapped. 

I’ve seen these East River based float planes several times recently, but I’ve not been back to their “field” in the East River in a while.   It is pricey but no doubt memorable . . . fun to travel somewhere in one of these. Anyone report having done it?  I don’t know which company then flew the red planes.

NYK Constellation, a 2007 4900 teu vessel, is currently at anchor off Vancouver, but has been renamed Tell T (Erase some of the letters of “constellation”).  That “erasure renaming” suggests it’s bound for the scrappers.

Here’s Chandra B‘s predecessor, doing then what Chandra B does now.  It even has the same crew.

I’ve heard that Ace was being converted into something . . . . what it a floating cocktail dispenser?  Seriously . . . I have some such recollection due to a query I got a few years back.  Well . . . there are orange juice tankers, so why not a floating frozen margarita or daiquiri truck boat? Can anyone provide an update on this project?  What paint scheme/name would immediately scream out “slushy float”.

 

I’ve not seen Iron Wolf out in the harbor, although I might have seen it tied up over at Claremont.

Pegasus then had no upper wheelhouse, and here it was pushing the elusive Michael Cosgrove, a 1960 Blount vessel that Charon drives for some on a one-way trip to a Potter’s Field.  

The 2000 4500 hp Vernon C has recently gotten new life as Mackenzie Rose. 

And finally . . . 2011 saw this combo do quite the tour . . . the 1907 Pegasus with the 1914 Lehigh Valley 79 alongside.  If you’ve never visited the 79, make an effort to get to it and be prepared for a treat.  Pegasus met the scrapper this past spring.

All photos, first half of August 2011, WVD.

I hope you enjoy these monthly journeys to the past as much as I do.   And to satisfy my own curiosity, I looked up the first post in the Retro Sixth Boro series. . . .

Chandra B 3

If you can’t get to the fuel, you can have the fuel come to you.  It’s Chandra B now, and it was Capt. Log before that. 

The fuel boat comes in while the Circle Line Sightseeing boats all rest at their pier.  Inland  from the pier, it’s the city that never sleeps or stops building. 

 

Fueling complete, Chandra B spins around and heads to the next job. 

Time flies . . .  as photographer, I rode along on Chandra B over five years ago, and I rode along on the cramped Capt. Log even longer ago.

All photos here, WVD.  Hats off to the Chandra B crew.

 

 

Random Tugs 337

Because the name and focus of this blog is tugster, you’d expect to see a lot of tugboats, both within the confines of New York harbor, aka the REAL sixth boro, and I hope you are satisfied that you find a plethora of tugboats in installments of this blog.  So here’s Random Tugs #337, post 4877, and the tugboat is Foxy 3 moving an aggregate scow.

In the foreground, it’s Crystal Cutler;  off in the distance it’s Normandy.

Diane B here heads east with a cargo in John Blanche.  I did an article on this unit some years back.

Joyce D. Brown pushes an empty scow east.  Notice anything on the scow that identifies it?  See the end of this post.

James E. Brown passed sister Joyce D. that morning in the Kills.

Franklin Reinauer that morning may or may not have been under control of the author of a tugboat captain who shared his tales a few years back.  I will stay mum. Off to the left, that’s Capt. Brian A. McAllister.

HMS Liberty muscled a barge full of bunkers to deliver to a thirsty ship over in New Jersey.

Centerline operates both Liberty above and HMS Justice below.

Susan Miller moves some material and equipment over to the project just west of the St. George ferry terminal.

Brendan Turecamo heads over to the next and the next and the next job.

Bruce A. McAllister assists a container ship into port.

Bergen Point came off the ways at Blount Shipbuilding way back in 1958.

So that scow Joyce was pushing above is called Maria and

this logo says it was once in the Disch fleet, now sold off in many directions.

All photos, WVD.

Retro Sixth Boro (and beyond) 33

2011 began in Charleston, a great place to welcome a new year.  Strolling around, I encounter the 1962 75′ buoy tender Anvil, 75301, here made up to CGB68013.  In the background, that’s cutter Cormorant or Chinook.

Heading farther north a day or two later, it’s Hoss, sister of Patricia, and now habitat for fish and other sea life.  Click here to see her sink if you do FB.

Still farther north, I see this T-boat, a 1952 Higgins named for a high point in Ireland.

Lucinda Smith, then based in Maine, is currently based on Cape Cod.

Bering Sea, like a lot of K-Sea boat, has become a Kirby boat;  it is currently in Philadelphia.  According to Birk’s invaluable site, this boat was Stacy Moran for a short time.  I never saw it in Moran red.

Thanks to my friend Paul Strubeck, this Kristin Poling needed an assist from Cornell to get through an ice jam.  This is one of my all-time favorite photos.  It looks to me like a submarine in the very deeps.

McCormack Boys was active in the sixth boro back in 2011, and although she’s still working, I’ve not seen her in years.

I glimpsed Stephen Scott in Boston a few months back, but since this photo was taken, she’s lost the upper wheelhouse.

There’s classic winter light beyond Torm Carina, provisioned here by Twin Tube.  Torm Carina is currently in the Taiwan Strait. 

Later Margaret and Joan Moran assist the tanker westbound in the KVK while Taurus passes.  Taurus has become Joker, wears Hays purple, and I’ve not even seen her yet.  I guess it’s high time I hang out in Philadelphia again.

A wintry photo shows McKinley Sea in the KVK eastbound.  In the distance,

notice the now foreign-based Scotty Patrick Sky.  If you want to see her, gallivant to St. Lucia.  McKinley Sea is currently laid up in Louisiana.

Erie Service, now Genesis Valiant, pushes her barge 6507 westbound. 

And on a personal note, it was in January 2011 that I stumbled into a locality that had been attracting me.  I suppose if ever I created a retreat, I’d have to call it Galivants Hideaway.   Here‘s another Galivants Ferry set of photos.

Thanks to Paul for use of his photo.  All other photos, a decade back, WVD.

 

Christmas Eve on the KVK

Having seen the forecast for December 25, I did my watch on Christmas eve.    These are the latest sunrises of the entire cycle . . . photo taken around 0745, and the sky was still reddish and offering very little light.   Fort McHenry and survey boat Christina cross. Yes, Christina . . . namesake you know who. 

Diane B was pushing John Blanche deep in the water with heating fuel.

Fort McHenry passes my station.

Ocean Endeavour was heading in ahead of the strong winds . . . or maybe just to be at the dock for Christmas.   Note the Staten Island ferry off her starboard and a tip of Twin Tube off port stern.

 

By now, it’s a little after 0800.

Twin Tube is the ultimate sixth boro Christmas boat;  there’s no Santa or reindeer, just a competent captain and enough horsepower to get alongside ships.

The reindeer . . . they’re atop the tarped salt pile.   Santa may have abandoned the sleigh, however.

All the above photos were taken before 0900.  The photo below. . .  it’s W. O. Decker, currently getting work done upriver, but ensconced between Wavertree and  work barge Progress a few years ago . .  .

All photos, WVD, who wishes you all Merry Christmas and gifts of life, health, and happiness however you find it.  And one more . .  . bravo to the Normandy crew for the decorations.

Random Tugs 316

Bobbie Ann departs the sixth boro with some GLDD equipment. 

Little did I know at the time that Bobbie Ann had left the sixth boro a decade ago, then as Vera K.

Ernest Campbell wrestles along a double hull bunker barge. I wonder why the Centerline Logistics lion has not yet been added to her stack.

When tugs like Mary Turecamo assist a deeply laden tanker, the perspective from the upper wheelhouse is so much different than when assisting a ULCV, with their much higher freeboard.

Sometimes the 46′ x 15′ Rae is just the right size.  Recall Rae‘s role in getting Wavertree back into her berth after the big renovation?

One of the newest tugboats in the boro, Cape Canaveral, 105′ x 36′ and generating 5000 hp, has the most evocative name.

She has two siblings, Cape Henry and Cape Lookout.

Again, is it me?  I don’t believe I’ve seen Justine in a long while. She’s also 105′ x 35′ and 4000 hp.  She has an elevating wheelhouse, which you can see here, scroll.

This is crowded:  (l to r) Diane B, Saint Emilion, Meredith C. Reinauer, Lois Ann L.  Moran, and Pathfinder.

 

Escorting from a distance astern, it’s Kimberly.

And finally, a photo from some time back, Vane’s New York, now working on the Great Lakes, Vane’s only freshwater unit . . .  that I know of.

All photos, WVD.

Random Tugs 315

Here’s a new one, Stephen B with

James Joseph.  I’ve not seen Stephen B with that barge in quite a while.  Maybe I just have not been looking carefully. 

Kristin Poling

is moving Eva Leigh Cutler.  When we’re past the first of November, usually the number of barges increases, even if the outdoor temperatures are in the 70s.

Mister Jim, for the first time that I’ve noticed,

has a bunker barge, this one Richardson Sea, a Centerline Logistics barge.

Evelyn Cutler was moving a fully loaded Edwin A. Poling. 

 

Genesis Eagle

had a deeply loaded GM 11103.

And finally for now, RTC 80

gets moved through the Kills with Kristy Ann.

All photos, WVD.

Random Tugs 284

More low verbal density from a weak wifi signal . . .  in my social media distanced outpost.  But I do wonder about the story here:  Liz Vinik with a barge of small response boats beside Barry Silverton with Fight ALS.

HMS Justice has the orange centerline, but still a name with hMS . . .

Brooklyn pushes DBL 27.

Lucy Reinauer pushes RTC 61.

Stephen B, here looking like Ste, heads for the next job.

And finally, Cape Henry appears to be preparing to tied up to her barge.

All photos, WVD, who encourages all actions aimed at staying healthy.  I accidentally shook hands with some this morning.

 

Dense Traffic 2

Count the tugboats in this one shot . . .  six! And a seventh is obscured right behind the nearest.  And no, it was not part of the annual tugboat race.  From (l) to (r), it’s JRT Moran, Amy Moran, Stephen B, (and Ellen McAllister is obscured) then Genesis Eagle, Magothy with Double Skin 57, and Elk River doing assist.

In case you suspect I’m making up the seventh tugboat, here’s a closeup of Ellen assisting Eagle just nine seconds earlier.

A bit later, I noticed a similar density over in the anchorage.  Just naming ships, (l) to (r), there’s Advance II, White Horse, Sten Odin, and Cielo di Londra.

Then among then, there are two more tug/barge units with tugs Barry Silverton and Helen Laraway.  Interesting how Barry Silverton is shrunk when beside a tanker.

And a bit later I zoomed down, around, and in to see the service vessels clustered around White Horse:  HMS* Liberty (I think), a Miller Launch boat, and on the far side Lesney Byrd.

All photos, WVD, who’s now outa town for a while.  Thx to everyone who’s sent in or pledged relief posts.

Also, a certain exotic ship is coming into the harbor, and I’d be very grateful if someone stepped forward to get photos of it as it arrives.  Email me, please, if you might be able to get the shot.

*HMS . . . Harley Marine Services is no more; out of its ashes rises Centerline Logistics.