Riverbanks 11

Here are previous riverbanks posts, although for some inexplicable reason, they are not indexed in order.

Name the riverbank in the image below?  

Above and below, that’s Manhattan, as seen from about 30 miles out.  It would take another four hours before we passed the 59th Street Bridge.  The darker image in the center of the photo below is Vane’s Brooklyn, which we were following.

The sunset colors below in the photo below taken about an hour after the top photo were stunning.  

Three hours later we approached the Hell Gate bridges.  See Thomas D. Witte hidden in the lights?

Passing the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, the refurbished lighthouse looked like this, compared with

this image of the very same lighthouse I’d taken only eight days earlier.  The Nellie Bly “faces” tribute there is worth seeing by day.  The main channel passes to the left in the photo below.

Here is said 59th Street Bridge looking at the Graduate Hotel (No, that’s not a 1967 movie reference.) and some buildings of Cornell Tech.

New on this bank of Manhattan are the American Copper Buildings, here 

framing a seasonally-lit Empire State Building . . . ESB.  That belt joining the two . . . that houses a swimming pool.

The repurposed Havermeyer Sugar building has just added a new but retro sign, alluding to the former enterprise of the building.

Behold the 120-year-old Williamsburg Bridge 

and then eventually the 140-year-old Brooklyn Bridge. The 113-year-old Manhattan Bridge is in between the two. 

After rounding the “horn,” we headed up the North River for the Hudson, passing other new buildings framing the ESB. This twisting pair is called The Eleventh. The ghostly white tower is the Bank of America Tower, and below it is IAC.

Notice a pattern here in framing the ESB?  The “web” of course is The Vessel, a structure whose origins by water I posted about here and here.

Looking toward the Manhattan side of the GW Bridge, that red speck at its base is the “little red lighthouse” at Jeffreys Point made obsolete by the GW itself. 

As down broke, we were north of Poughkeepsie, breaking ice and about to turn into the Rondout. 

All photos, WVD, who hopes you’ve enjoyed this phantasmagorical sequence of the five boros as seen from  the sixth.

 

Vessel Commands

Many thanks to you all who reached out about yesterday’s post.  Let me recap what I’ve learned since taking the photos on Sunday and posting them on Monday.  First, the dock has been returned to Pier 66 on the North River, where it seems to have broken loose Friday.  Sunday in the wee hours it was reported–as an unseen but substantial piece of debris– in the wee hours off Caddells on the ebbing KVK, which is even farther west than where I saw it Sunday soon after dawn.  This means it was shuttling with the tides west and east in the KVK.  Since being retrieved by Driftmaster, it was claimed by owners over near Pier 66 and towed back there, reportedly, and not by USACE.

Ironically, I walked past Pier 66 yesterday midmorning, but didn’t notice an absence.  I’ve walked there only twice in the past three months.  Here’s a post I did from one of the walks in late January under the Whatzit title.

There’s that other Vessel along the west side of Midtown, one which seems to be commanding attention and controversy, as here.

I first became aware of the planned structure in April 2017, when I caught and posted this photo of Sarah Ann and barge  under the title Whatzit 36.

Here’s October 2017.

And here’s March 25, 2019.  If we zoom in on the top of the “Vessel,” you’ll see

people who are standing there.

You can offer a new name . . . I’d go with Hudson Yards Carapace, as it reminds me of a metallic carapace of a sea turtle, but I’ll bet you have your own ideas.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks the name “vessel” has to go.

Whatzit 44

Click here for the 43 previous posts if you don’t understand the title.  If your thoughts on being the image below were of high heels sans the rest of the impractical shoe, mine were the same.  Of course, you can read Weeks 526 clear as day, so  . . . whatzit?

Here’s a bit more context.  That’s the Hudson River, old pilings for old Pier 55, I believe, just north of old Pier 54.

Piers of Manhattan once welcomed ships and ferries, cargo and passengers transitioned between land and water there.   Then people patterns changed and these piers little by little have transformed.

So what is it?!@#@!!

Come back in a few years and hang out at new Pier 55, the on–then off–then on again park idea funded for $250 million by Barry Diller.   The project reminds me of the vessel, another Heatherwick Studio creation.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, with a cell phone.   I’ve been losing a grip on patterns these days myself.

Before I started blogging, Pier 54 hosted the Nomadic Museum, for a half year or so.  I loved it.

 

Sixth Boro Fifth Dimension Search

Sixth boro fifth dimension posts are about vintage NYC harbor shipping culture photos.  This very welcome photo I received from frequent commenter/researcher William Lafferty.  This should be an easy question for many of you:  where was this photo taken?

Here’s what William says about the photo above:  “You don’t see classic New York harbor steam tugs in color often.  I acquired this red border slide years ago.  It shows Carroll Towing tugs docked, I’m guessing, in Greenpoint, between 1950 and 1955, very late in their careers.  You should be able to identify the location.  From left to right we have J. F. Carroll, Jr., Sally Carroll, Richard S. Carroll, and Anne Carroll.  The J. F. Carroll, Jr. was built at Baltimore in 1911 by Spedden Shipbuilding Company as the Neptune for the Curtis Bay Towing Company there.  The Army Engineering Department got it in 1915 and renamed it San Luis operating it in the New York District.  After World War II Carroll obtained it, and it lasted until 1958, probably ending its days at Witte’s. [Note:  Witte’s today is known as Donjon Recycling.] The Sally Carroll was built by John H. Dialogue at Camden in 1906 as the Haverstraw for the Cornell Steamboat Company but the Lehigh Valley Railroad bought it in 1907 and renamed it Aurora.  After a stint in World War I as a minesweeper and later towing tug for the navy, it was returned to LV in 1919.  Carroll got it in the early ’50s but it, too, disappears by 1960.  The Anne Carroll was another Lehigh Valley carfloat tug, built by the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company at Port Richmond in 1910 as the Auburn, and dismantled at Staten Island in 1960.

My particular interest is the wooden Richard S. Carroll, since it was built on the lakes.  It was launched as Active 4 January 1919 at the Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, yard of the Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, one of a number of small yards on the Lakes and East Coast to built standardized 100-foot wooden tugs for the Emergency Fleet Corporation.  Powered by a double cylinder vertical compound steam engine built by Chicago’s Marine Iron Works, it operated for the United States Shipping Board in New York harbor until 1925 when transferred to the navy as USS Active  YT 112.  Decommissioned by the navy in June 1946, Carroll bought it 21 July 1947 and renamed it.  It was dismantled at Staten Island in 1956 and its final document surrendered at New York on 20 February 1957.”

Besides the location question, does anyone have additional photos of any of these Carroll tugs, particularly Richard S.?

Many thanks to William Lafferty for this photo and information.

A photo of Anne Carroll appears in this post about the 1952 Hudson River tugboat race.

Chrononauts 1

I have more Saint Lawrence posts, but with a chrononautical weekend behind us, let me digress and report.  The mood for the first ship was set by the weather;  see what the mist did to my favorite downtown building–70 Pine.  Click here and be treated to a slideshow of views through time of boro Manhattan’s  tall observation cliffs, past present and future.

Looking eastbound up the East River, I saw her waiting, as

first one of her entourage arrived and

and then another.

The term “haze gray” was certainly demonstrated yesterday,

as was the vintage of this Liberty ship headed to sea, for a cruise.

 

Even the Higgins T-boat in the distance is a whole decade closer to the present–in inception– than Brown, although  yesterday all crowded into 2016.

 

It was a moving sight,

which I beheld,

only slightly regretting I was not aboard.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Fog 16

When Walter’s building looks like this in the center of the island,

the sixth boro looks like this.   Here Ava Jude pushes a Hughes barge past Ruth M. Reinauer wedded to RTC 102.

Eastern Welder fishes as Emma Miller services Asphalt Star.

Wolf River does hydrographic work while

Chesapeake Coast lighters Elixir, and just beyond

Amazon Brilliance belies her name.

Awaiting orders or favorable tide and each with a barge, it’s McAllister Sisters and McKinley Sea.

Here’s to hoping for fog to dissipate.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Eyes on Staten Island

If you ever drive eastbound on Staten Island’s northern “land edge” route aka Richmond Terrace, you’ve probably seen this mural by Ian Kelleher.   The other day I stopped for a closer look and noticed

a delightful additional spoke on Bayonne’s windmill–harkening back about 400 years–and a huge upside-down unicycle just west of the ferry racks.

When I approached the ferry terminal, I noticed some wheel hardware beginning to accumulate.

Parking racks?

Keep your eyes on this location . . .  things could be happening soon.  By the way, notice there are details of ships hidden in the background of the three previous photos, speaking to the proximity of the Eye . . . or Wheel . . . to shipping channels.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Canal Craft 5

This is probably the last of this series as well.  These photos were all taken between October 2 and 19 in an area of the western canal, the extreme western portion of which is now more than a little snow-covered.  I don’t know much about this little 1985 one-off (I was told) fiberglass tugboat named Tilly.  Not the Tilly that’s currently underwater.  

Mandalay . . . said to have down east fishing origins from the first decades of the 20th century . . . is a stunner.  Reminds me of Grayling, third photo down here.   Mandalay is on the Genesee river, not technically the canal, although their waters commingle.

Capt. Green . . . another Genesee River denizen said to be a converted landing craft.

Any word(s) on this?

Truly a unique craft of western NY, cobblestone architecture–its height came during the first few decades after the completion of the Erie  Canal)  is celebrated in this museum just north of the canal in Childs, NY.

Heidi, a 37′ 1941 Richardson, is truly a gem on the western canal.

And this looks like almost too much fun!

This brown “sculpture” made no sense to me when I first saw it, but then at a farmer’s market in Lockport, I notice a reference to “farm to pint” and local hops sales and tasted a range of local craft beers . . . of course . . . it’s a huge representation of a hops cone.

Hobbit house?  dungeon?

Try . .  outlet for a 19th century water power system in Lockport.

And for a feat quite unimaginable to DeWitt Clinton and his cronies, here’s the Red Bull take.  Click on the photo below.

Finally . . . I know I’ve posted a version of this photo previously, but this culvert under the canal begs a tip of the hat to that craftwork of an earlier era.

I was truly fortunate to see this variety of craft, but for a time traveler’s view, you must read Michele A. McFee’s A Long Haul:  The Story of the New York State Canal.  One of my favorite sets of photos from the New York State Archives and featured in her book relates to Henry Ford . . . his 1922 vacation on the canal and subsequent decision to ship auto parts on the canal.  In fact, on p. 193 there’s a photo of new automobiles shipped across the state NOT by truck or train but by barge!

 

 

Graves of Arthur Kill T minus 3

I didn’t want to call this post “something different 19” because clearly it wouldn’t be different from the previous days.  A pattern has emerged, and then I realized that part of the pattern is that these photos depict some of the unidentifiable vessels lost in boneyard or ship graveyards like the one focused upon in the documentary Graves of Arthur Kill.   Here they are, in their prime or at least working although forgotten.

All the photos in this post were taken during the Great Depression, by photographers who were funded through the WPA, Works Progress Administration.  I am grateful this documentation happened.  And my caption are based on the captioning–specific or general–accompanying the photos in the archives.

Below . . . US Gypsum tug.   notice the Bayonne Bridge on the horizon near the left edge of the shot.

Photographer Ralph de Sola took this shot of tug Sarah and much smaller one without a name I can find.

Caption says SS Brennen May 1937.  But I believe the vessel passing Pier A is actually SS Bremen.  Assorted small boats here I can’t identify.

I’m intrigued here by the “car float” marked “Brooklyn Jay Street Terminal . . .”  shifting rail cars from right to left.  Is that a McAllister tug on the far side?  And is that how the Staten Island ferry terminal looked in the late 1930s and what is the building on the water left side of photo where the Coast Guard Building is now located?

Here’s an intriguing E. M. Bofinger photo dated June 1938, taken from  . . . foot of Wall Street?  If Bennett Air Service is at all related to Floyd Bennett and the now unused Floyd Bennett Field, it’s noteworthy that Floyd Bennett himself had died–age 37– in April 1938.  Click here for many more Bofinger photos.

Another photographer of water scenes in the archives is James Suydam.  Here are piers 13 through 15, the area currently just south of South Street Seaport.  Prominent against the sky then was 70 Pine, just to the left of stepped back 120 Wall.  The other two are 40 Wall (with antenna) and 20 Exchange, south of 120 Wall.

Here’s a photo attributed to Treistman, said to be taken from the top of Seamen’s Institute and looking over the same piers as shown in the previous photo.

Moving back over to the other side of Manhattan, it’s SS Conte di Savoia at the pier with an unidentified steam tug to the left.  For a photo of the liner with more color, click here.

Again, the context here . . .  Wednesday night, come see the Graves of Arthur Kill, our documentary screened at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival on tugboats and other vessels of this era and older and what became of them.

And if you’re free the night before, check out this program on salvage sponsored by Working Harbor Committee.

 

Something Different 17

Last May I traveled willingly into around a corner in time . . . enjoyed it, and posted the “fifth dimension” series that ended with this post.    So I toying with the idea of strolling into another.  Sadly, about all I know about these photos –other than that they show the sixth boro as it was more than half century ago–is the dates and some names.  I hope someone can add some information.

NYPD, 1949.  Launch is named for Patrolman/Boatswain’s Mate 2nd class Robert Steinberg, who died in March 1945 while serving in the Navy.

1951 departing (for where?) troopship City of Keansburg.  Tug is unidentified.

1952.  Lehigh Valley Victor.  Notice the Woolworth Building near the left margin of the photo and the Singer Building –demolished 1968– near the center.  Is Victor considered a tug?

July 1952 . . . Carol Moran and two other tugs, near Haverstraw.

1953.  East River  . .  . tugboat is Manhattan, floating property of the Department of Docks but I’ve found nothing else.  The building partially shown along the left is 70 Pine–I think, and the building in the center of the photo is 120 Wall.

Photo taken by Allen Baker in April 2014 . . . last week . . . of a USS Slater,  launched and patrolling the oceans before the photos in this post were taken.  Obviously, I’d love to know more about all these vessels.

All these photos can be found in the NYC Municipal Collections.

Oh . .  if you recognize the “corner in time”reference in the first line . . . here’s the music, one of my all time favorites.