BW2M b

BW2M, being “backwards to Montreal” and here, it’s aggregate land.  Once it was about coal and brick coming down river and into the systems…. long before my time…. but today it’s earth products moving both ways.

You can’t have the supertall buildings of 57th etc. or the new streets and bridges without rock.

Frances stands by as the crushed Catskill is conveyed in.

 

Two loaded Witte barges wait for a prime mover

 

with what appears to be slightly different cargoes.

Meanwhile, Mister Jim pushes a barge load of sand upriver for projects there.

I’m not sure the function of this equipment.

Doesn’t this look like southern New Jersey sand?

Cement moves out and

down bound, while

salt comes upriver to nearly salt country from the ocean.

Later, Frances arrives in the sixth boro with barges from two different locations for materials for projects in the dryland boros

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who hopes he got all of that right.

 

Back in the Sixth Boro 4

Here are the previous three installments of this title.  After seven straight weeks away, I’m back in the boro for a while, a short while, and it seems the best way to catch up–attempt to–is to work backwards, starting from now.

A welcome sight on the west side of midtown . . . . Chandra B, ensconced here in the marine guard.  A great name for an organization?

Nearby, Miss Circle Line stands at the ready.

Still earlier this morning, I caught St. Andrews, 

and before that Frances.  More of her as I work backwards in time.

Earliest of all today . . .  Helen Laraway.

 

One from our arrival yesterday . . .  it’s Thunder Bay, an icebreaker assigned to summertime and UN Week duties.  As the name of a Lake Superior port, this name goes with lakers as well.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who feels a bit like Rip Van Winkle this morning.   Maybe I should gallivant a bit in the sixth boro . . .

 

Random Ships 71

How’s your Greek?

Cape Taft, here with Miriam Moran, has been in the boro before.

Stolt Ocelot appears on the blog for the first time, as

 Fivelborg and Maria G. await dock activity.

Here’s USNS Sisler dug in before she departed for sea trials.

Celebrity Summit is currently in port  . . . for enough time to debark one set and embark the next set of passengers.

Acrux C followed by Mary Turecamo and  . . . Helen Laraway.

Cape Ann (T-AK-509),is still in the East River, as is Cape Avinoff (AK-5013),  pictured here, here, and here.

Bright Ocean 3 (III) is headed for Turkey, after having made a stop on the Delaware River.

Weco Josefine is currently Egypt bound.

All photos since the start of summer by Will Van Dorp, but one of the photos was not taken in the sixth boro.  Any ideas which?

Unrelated but current:  yesterday the USACE tender Hudson was reefed off Fire Island.  You can see three photos I took here, and the press release from the USACE here.  The press release answers a question I long had:  where was it built.  The answer is Paasch Marine Services on the Delaware River.  This is itself confusing, because Hudson is not listed as being built in Paasch Marine, which was in Erie PA and did build boats.  There is a Pasch Marine on the Delaware River (actually in Easton PA–opposite side of the state from Erie PA) but I don’t know that they ever built boats there.    Hmmm.

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Daisy Mae

Here’s my article on Daisy Mae in the August 2019 issue of Professional Mariner magazine.  And as I have often done, this post is mostly images that didn’t make it into the magazine.

All the specifics are in the article, but here’s the SW New Jersey dock where this sand is loaded.  Washed sand from the conveyor in center right of the photo below is falling into the barge CMT Y NOT 2.

Here’s the shore side loading, and

here’s the waterside view.

Once loaded it’s a short but

tricky run out of tidal Salem River when there’s sufficient water.

After arriving in Delaware Bay, the transition is made from push gear to …

[I’ll bet you didn’t expect this front-end loader here.]

… the wire.

 

I know the coastal NJ waters are not always this flat.

Just outside the Narrows, the tow is remade so that

 

 

the last few miles to the Brooklyn dock

can be performed with precision and efficiency.

Many thanks to CMT and the crew for helping me tell their story.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Check out the link to the story here.

 

Commercial Tugs in NYS Canals 2

Here was the previous installment in this series, half a decade ago.

Now let’s take a high lift lock, a Thruway access road bridge, and “just my luck.”

When I arrived the other day, this double-locked unit was exiting the lower side of E-17.

CMT Pike was eastbound with barges used for a job in Syracuse Inner Harbor, I believe.

So after CMT Pike was on her way, I walked to the top of the lock to see what I could see and saw . ..

another unit eastbound and just arriving on the upper side.

Oh THAT Three Sisters.  Click here and scroll . . .  might these be the same boat just four years apart?

 

And eastbound they go.

Since I was here waiting for something else, I took the time to read signage I’d never noticed.  Double-click enlarges the text;  this sign dated 2005 gives some perspective to a high lift on the Erie Canal, albeit built a century ago, with a high lift on –say–western rivers a half century ago.

Click here and here for previous examples of commercial tugs on NYS canals.  Of course, here and here are more . . . the classic Cheyenne.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Two Hours on the Narrows 4

The Narrows is a prime location for me to get photos of vessels coming in from sea if they have AIS because I have several hours notice of arrival for any traffic going anywhere into or through the Upper Bay, eg., on their way to Brooklyn berths, the North River, or the East River.  I can walk around or–in case of rain or cold–sit in my car.

The downside is that it’s a wide spot, so even the zoom can draw in only limited detail.

Having said all that, here’s a shot from Bay Ridge over to the Sandy Hook Pilots station, showing (from far to near) the current black hull-yellow trimmed pilot boat mother ship New York No. 1, its eventual replacement currently with a blue hull, and the smaller boats.  Lop off the thin upper wheelhouse and paint the hull/trim, and make a thousand more modifications . . .  and you’ll have the new mother ship.

My goal was to get photos of Commander Iona, which I did and posted here. Unexpected was the arrival of Dina Polaris, which I’d first seen only a month and a half or so ago.

 

Mister Jim has been a regular on this blog and in the sixth boro surrounding waters since she first arrived a few years ago.

 

The Severn Sailing Association came through the rain with a whole host of sloops . . . from closest to farthest:  Commitment, Intrepid, Valiant, Courage, Invincible, Renaissance, Daring, Brave, Warrior.

Rhea I. Bouchard headed in with her barge, but by this time the rain was falling so hard I couldn’t confirm the name/number on the barge.

Magdalen headed out, passing a sloop and

R/V Heidi Lynn Scuthorpe, a first sighting for me.

Click here for more info on Heidi Lynn and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute. Click here for a more technical article from Workboat on this vessel.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who feels compensated for staying out in the rain.

I saw Nauvoo (Heidi Lynn‘s previous name) years back and I posted a pic here.  I also saw Beglane.

Random Tugs 262

Sarah D makes for Global Terminal,

Helen Laraway passes an inbound container vessel,

Ava M. guides a ULCV in beside a cruise ship,

Rebecca Ann moves a light scrap barge,

Capt. Brian A. tails a box ship into her berth,

Genesis Glory passes GM 11105,

Eric McAllister assists a tanker into its berth,

Rhea I. Bouchard heads westbound light in the KVK,

and Frances pushes a scow.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who loves that the sixth boro never sleeps.

And now one more, taken this morning in San Juan PR by Capt. Neftali Padilla, it’s the arrival of the cranes towed by Capt. Latham after not quite an 18-day run. See the tow departing NYC here.  Thx much, Tali.

Random Tugs 257

New in town but probably only in as a transient . . .

It’s Michael L. Daigle, fleet mate of some Hebert boats that have also passed through the sixth boro and likely working on a dredging project in the region.  Note the white horizontal supports above the wheelhouse door on either side.  I’m guessing they’re for quick egress lines   . .  as seen here if you scroll through the 2010 post to Gulf Dawn.

Unrelated . . .  two Vane units approach the Narrows;  the forward unit below has already evolved from wire towing to alongside towing.

As a heavy squall approached, Potomac enters port allowed by

Patuxent, still with the wire out.

A few years back, HMS Justice was a regular in NYC.  These days not so much, but she called here recently.

Fleet mate HMS Liberty follows along behind.

CMT Otter heads outbound, likely towards Queens and Inwood.

And let’s end today’s post with another transient . . .  Captain Sam, here meeting Capt. Brian.  Captain Sam is a triple screw Rodriguez Shipyard boat from 2002.

All photos taken within the general confines of the sixth boro by Will Van Dorp.

 

Really Random Tugs 45

Here are all the previous installments of this series.

Glenn Raymo caught this photo up the Hudson the other day, as Joker assisted a Weeks crane.  Hays tugs do come up here occasionally, but I’ve never seen them.

Back almost exactly six years ago, the same boat headed upriver as a dead ship.  And eight years ago, working for a different company and painted in a different livery, here she was . . .  2011, eastbound in the KVK.

Justin Zizes was coming down the Hudson recently and caught this spring-evoking photo of Nathan G, her gray livery and aggregate cargo set off by the hint of leaves on the tree-lined far shore.

Thanks to Justin also for this photo of Mister Jim in her homeport in Coeymans.

Jan van der Doe sent these photos along of a group of northern European tugs at work, taken in early April by Jan Oosterboer, not far from Rotterdam.

Mutratug 32 is a Carrousel Rave tug, which means she rotate her point of attachment to better brake the assisted vessel.  To see her in action, click here.

And finally, see the tugs in this photo I took on the East River the other day?  Two of them?

Thomas J. Brown is obvious and always a delight to see.  But then there’s Bosco on the barge.  I believe she was heading for a job on the Hutchinson River.

Thanks to Glenn, Justin, Jan, and Jan for photos here.

 

All CMT Today

Years ago when Odin departed the sixth boro, someone said there’d likely never be another tug here of that sort.  Well, there is.  Every time I see either CMT Otter or Pike, I recall the unique Odin.

In CMT colors, Otter looks quite sharp.

Also in these sharp colors, it’s Daisy Mae westbound in the KVK a few days ago, pushing CMT Y NOT 2 with a good 8000 tons of southern Jersey sand.

I have an article about the sand run that will be published later this year.

Eastbound at the same point on another day is Mister Jim pushing

a barge deeply laden with aggregates.

And still fresh from a rehab, it’s Helen Laraway, ISO

a barge to load up with aggregates as well.   Here was probably the first photo of Helen Laraway on this blog.

CMT . . . the company had no tugs, actually was no company, just a half decade ago.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.