Retro Sixth Boro 48B

Let’s go back a decade.  Then MSC Emma was on the west coast of Bayonne leaving town; now she’s on the west coast of Central America, leaving Lazaro Cardenas for Panama.

Above she was assisted by Gramma Lee T [now in Norfolk] and Margaret and setting up for the turn from Newark Bay into the KVK;  here we had almost gotten ahead of the trio of vessels.

A strange trio was in the sky

over the sixth boro. The piggyback rider is still in town, albeit likely to never fly again. More here.

Meanwhile, over in the Arthur Kill, a boring machine was placing charges in holes below the bottom of the waterway and connecting them to the stringy orange signal cord to blast when the time was right for them all to detonate at the same millisecond.  That day I touched some hefty but perfectly safe explosives, inert until the right signal is applied, which sounds like some folks I know.

More on “kraken” the bottom here.

Back then, I was spending a lot of early mornings near Howland Hook waiting for my work to begin, and I caught a Double Skin 37 moving bunkers

and maneuvered by Coral Coast.  Was that mechanical dredge Captain A. J. Fournier in the distance above?

The Joker was then a more sedate Taurus, before joining the hilariously-named over at Hays.

Put Tasman Sea into the picture too.  Is the Tasmanian still laid up in Louisiana?

And it was a great April 2012 day I caught the seldom-seen Patty Nolan

moving a houseboat into the sixth boro.  Patty seems to be preparing for a comeback.

And the 1972 2325 teu Horizon Navigator, here with Samantha Miller alongside,  was still working.  Is the 1972 container ship still intact?

And let’s wind this up with Ellen and Maurania III returning to base after a job.  Ellen is still in the sixth boro, and Maurania III is in the Delaware.

All photos, WVD, April 2012.

Entirely unrelated, check out these Smithsonian photo winners.

 

 

Glimpses of Gowanus 4

I can’t leave you on the Gowanus Canal as I did a week ago, so let’s head back.  Here’s a look back; small tug Jimmy moves into our location with a mini mud scow.  Btw, if you’re unfamiliar with Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, here‘s a bit of history.

From the inland side of the Ninth Avenue Bridge, we move through, looking toward the Hamilton Street Bridge and the BQE.  NYC DOT oversees 24 moveable bridges;  you’re looking at two of them right here. 

You’ve seen signs of “entering” and “leaving” on terrestrial thoroughfares.  This one on the Hamilton Street bridge is unusual.

We move our load of pilings, old but preserved in whatever you’d call Gowanus water.  Note the curve in the Canal just beyond the bridge.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people travel atop this Gowanus Expressway/BQE bridge.  Maybe dozens see its underside. 

The Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station has been open for just over three years.  For a look inside, click here.

In a previous post on “trashed universal product,” you can see the outbound transfer stations.  More on the whole process here.

Much more unexpected along the south bank of the Canal Bay are these “sea float” Siemens 76-MW aeroderivative gas turbines.

As much as I can tell, these units have been here for just over a year. 

Here‘s more on Vard Marine’s involvement with Siemens SeaFloat.  These must have been towed in,  Did anyone catch this?

As the spray denotes, we’ve now out of the Gowanus Canal, which may or may not be named for a Lenape chief,  and headed over to a disposal site, but that’ll be another post.  Lots more facts about the canal in the link in the previous sentence. 

Many thanks to James for the trip. All photos, interpretation, WVD.

Glimpses of Gowanus 3

Here are earlier installments of this.  And if you’re not familiar the the location of Gowanus or its history, check the links embedded.  If you live in the NYC area and drive or take Brooklyn subways, you have no doubt gone over it.  If you’ve wondered where the name comes from, check this alphabetical listing with great old photos.

Last week I had the opportunity to travel up the waterway, thanks to James Stasinos.  Gowanus Bay is marked by the grain elevators, (built in 1922!!), and the storage ship Loujaine.  For a full history of the cement carrier originally called Bahma, click here.

The tug was headed up the canal, as it does several times daily, is the cleanup, which has recently begun in earnest.

A bit farther in, Diane B turns John Blanche before heading across the Upper Bay. 

As we head in, we first head through the Hamilton Avenue  bridge and under the Gowanus Expressway flyover. The passage is narrow and located on a turn.

Here’s the view to port.

Once through there, we weave between a scrap yard and Lowe’s parking lot.

Above and below, that’s the Ninth Avenue bridge.  Like the Hamilton Avenue bridge, passing involves a conversation with the bridge tender.

Here we look over the bridge  and beyond while waiting for the bridge to open.

This is the view to starboard as we wait.

Once through, we arrive at the pickup site.  Note the excavator that could tell stories

 

of sifting through and removing the “black mayonnaise.”  Nuggets of historical interest are being collected for future display.   It’ll be years before this project is complete.

 

Many thanks to James for the trip.  All photos, interpretation, WVD.

Once I rowed to the head of the Canal here.  And in November 2013, I traveled up the waterway, and photos of the cargo are scattered throughout posts from late November that year. 

Random Tugs 147

Jay Michael  comes thanks to Bjoern Kils of NY Media Boat.  I’m not sure why I’ve “deep freezed” these photos since April.

I caught this photo of Lynx leaving for the Commonwealth a few weeks ago.

Notice the curved panel atop the front of the wheelhouse?

It’s an open upper nag station.  Check out the controls.  Ever used?

Her tow had an interesting name for a barge.

Recognize this boat from the mast?

For something really different, here are two clips from youtube.

First, on Chrysler Sea Mules . . . anyone have experience with them?  Are there any restored versions?

And second, on Kettenschleppers, toueurs,  or chain tugs  . . .  the video is not English but you can get the drift in two minutes or less.  They’re used in long unventilated tunnels which would fill with fumes if combustion engines were used.

 

 

Invisible Gold 1

What is this?

How about a little more of the same shot?  Now can you guess?  Cashman is a familiar New England company .  . . but that tug, Todd Danos, is not exactly a name known in these parts.

Have you figured out the location?  Dace Reinauer and Senesco are the best clues here. Of course, this is the Narragansett Bay.

Weeks tugs Robert and

Elizabeth sometimes work in the sixth boro . . . as here in June 2012.

“Invisible gold” is the term used at the event below–subject of tomorrow’s post.  The speaker to the right is Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, the project to place wind turbines in +70′ of water southeast of Block Island.  It’s happening now, and all the photos in this post–except the one below–were taken in July and early August by Nate Lopez.

And providing supply and crew support to get “steel in the water” are Rosemary Miller and

Josephine K. Miller.

Again many thanks to Nate for these photos.  More on this project in tomorrow’s post.

 

 

Random Tugs 142

Let’s start with two from New York Media Boat.  Can you identify this vessel?

It’s Jay Michael, on a foggy morning last week.  She’s headed to the dredge over by the passenger terminal.

Eileen McAllister last appeared in this blog –I think–over six years ago here.

Here’s Laura K. Moran doing what she does.  Anyone have an ETA of the next Moran assist tug arrival?

Ocean Tower has been towing and towering elsewhere these past few years.

Here’s Caitlin Ann, a new entry in the containerized garbage hauling?

Caitlin Ann first appeared here nearly seven years ago as Vivian L. Roehrig.

And closing today’s post, Evening Star.

The first two photos by Bjoern Kils.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 119

First . . . this foto by Bob Dahringer of Katherine (1979 in Louisiana).  As of this writing, Bob is back upriver playing with Hudson River ice cubes.

Next . . . this foto from Key West, thanks to my sister, who’s gotten a camera upgrade.  Yay!  A few years ago, I was snorkeling–sans camera–off a Key West beach and came up to notice two tugboats that looked a lot like these.  My first thought then was–wow!  K-Sea tugs in the Conch Republic.  My second thought was . . . I have no camera and therefore no one will ever believe me.  I’m now pretty sure I saw Titan (1974 in Long Beach, CA) and Ocean Atlas (1964 in San Diego, California).

Brian DeForest took this foto of Marjorie B. McAllister (1974 in Louisiana) last week of a very icy sixth boro.

And recently . . . in a springy waterboro of NYC, Brendan Turecamo (1975 in Louisiana) assisted a tanker on its way out to sea,

Doris Moran (1982 in Louisiana) assisted a chemical tanker into port, and

Miss Niz  (2003 from Alabama) moved some dredging equipment around.  Note the survey boat–Michele Jeanne–reading the bottom contours over on the Bayonne side.

Thanks much to Bob, Maraki, and Brian for use of their fotos.

ACL 3

Here was 1 and 2.  Twelve minutes elapses in the set of fotos.  In the distance beyond the pipelines, Siteam Explorer (more on her later) and ACL Atlantic Compass pass.  The green vessel center right is Atchafalaya, foto at the end of this post.

Tailing Atlantic Compass around Bergen Point is the vessel currently known as Elizabeth McAllister.  Click here for her long history, including a quite serious mishap almost exactly 25 years ago when she was called Elizabeth Moran.

Atlantic Compass–like some of her fleetmates–is 29 years old, built at Kockums in Malmo, Sweden–right across the water from Copenhagen.  Click here for some great archival fotos of this generation of ACL ROROs.

Atlantic Compass‘ green-faster-bigger replacement will come from near Shanghai, China . . .

That’s McAllister Responder now tailing portside.

Note the folded-down mast.

Unrelated:  Here’s a closer up of Atchafalaya.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Channels 2

Over six years ago, here was the last time I used this title.  At 09:23 this morning, E. R. Denver was at Howland Hook as an outbound tanker eased by.   E. R. seems to have been created by erasure from MaERsk.

. . . nine seconds later, it’s

Mount Everest.

This is serious, precision navigating,

with even less tolerance of errors because of the channel work, and

surrounding traffic, like Kristy Ann Reinauer and Paul Andrew and dredge units.

This short stretch of Arthur Kill, where serious dredging is enlarging the channel, were featured here and here (a blast!!) back last October.   I’m not given to playing video games or using simulators, but if such a thing were available, I can imagine spending time playing “games” imitating professionals piloting different types of vessels through ports of the world in every sort of conditions.  Hats off to the professionals.

All fotos today by Will Van Dorp.

x

Sixth Boro Maintenance

Like a galley or head or deck, the harbor itself needs maintenance of the routine as well as the extraordinary sort.  Given the amount of oil that’s found its way into the sixth boro the past two months, the latter sort is going on.  The bird sanctuary mentioned in the first sentence of this link is Shooters Island .  . whose history I spoke of here about a year ago.

A routine removal of silt from shipping channels is performed by the vessel below–Atchafalaya–as well as Padre Island, which I got closeups of here two and a half years ago.

Here’s shipspotting info on Atchafalaya (1980, Minnesota Twin cities along the river built!!) which I’ve yet to catch close enough for many details.   Here’s still another link on Atchafalaya.

Back to a different set of  post-Sandy extraordinary cleanups involve this vessel, with the appropriate name Driftmaster . . . not that it drifts around the sixth boro.  Rather, it collects and either removes or secures large floating materials drifting in the harbor.

These fotos come compliments of bowsprite.  What I believe is going on here is Driftmaster securing floating docks that in the highest of the surge floated right up off the pilings.  I’m not sure where this Driftmaster was built . . .  It may date from 1947.

Ditto here.  This floating dock needs to be locked back into the pilings.  The crane barge here is moved around by 1965 tug Harry McNeal.  In the bottom foto, notice the square holes through which the cylindrical pilings must fit.

All but the first two fotos (mine) were taken by bowsprite, whom I thank.