Winter Light 2023

If it seems I have a dirty lens, I don’t, but this winter has been a season of the good light and my schedule not coinciding.  No matter . . . the subject just looks grayer than I’d like much of the time.

When this ULCV arrived the other day with Mary Turecamo as one of the assists, I was reminded of how high the deck is on these ships, and they’re getting ultra-larger and higher.  In this post, Mary’s upper house was way above deck level on the tanker. 

Will this nose be superseded by Marco‘s style of nose?

Janet D was sharp, but note how hazy the distant shore is.

HMS Liberty is appreciably closer than Barney Turecamo, and therefore is sharper, until 

Barney gets closer. 

Enjoy these others:  Jillian Irene, 

Horizon’s Edge (a newby in the boro?) and Regulus, 

Schuylkill, 

another shot of Liberty, 

Crystal Cutler and Patricia E. Poling, 

and finally Margaret. 

All photos, WVD.

Random Tugs 382

Quick post today with sights around the boro . . . like Morgan Reinauer

and James William

and Alex McAllister

and Ava M.McAllister and 

Janet D and 

Fort Schuyler and 

Brinn Courtney and 

Ivory Coast.  Note these last two mark the October awareness. 

All photos, my hat tip, WVD.

 

Random Tugs 379

Janet D, product of 2015, comes in a 67′ x 26′.

 

Ellen McAllister, the oldest here launched in 1967, measures 102′ x 29′.

Marjorie B McAllister, from 1974, is bigger than I imagined . . .   112′ x 30′.

The two McAllister tugs were heading to assist tanker Sakura Belle, 26960 dwt contained within 558′ x 88′, launched in 2011.

Janice Ann Reinauer, the newest tugboat here, came off the ways in 2020.  She measures 113′ x 35′.

 

And finally, doing dredge spoils runs, we have Douglas J, 2004, 110′ x 38′ and

 

Atlantic Enterprise, 1976, and the largest tugboat in this post, measuring 136′ x 40′.

 

All photos, this week, WVD.

Random Tugs 375

Random and quick for now .  . . the 2015 Janet D makes her way across the Bay.

 

The 1974 Marjorie B. McAllister  moves its car float float from NJ to NY.

 

The 1996 Martin Explorer and her barge has been in town at least once before here a little over a half year ago.

 

 

And finally, the 2012 Jordan Rose came into the sixth boro for the first time as Evening Star a decade ago. 

Here‘s a post from five years ago when Evening Star was still painted in red and yellow.

All photos this week, WVD.

RetroJune 2017-21

The Hudson treats the traveler with magical sights like these.  The castle atop the lush riverbank is still there, but that tug–Viking–is no more.  I’m not sure the disposition of DBL 134.

One morning soon after sunrise that summer 2017 I followed Delaware a ways up the Hudson before overtaking her.

Ernest Campbell had started working in the sixth boro by 2018, but its livery has changed since then.

On the last day of June, I took a ride on the Rondout and saw (l to r) Johannsen Girls, Fells Point, and Severn.  Severn now works in the Pacific Northwest although still for Vane.

Tarpon was working in the boro, but since that time has been sold to interests on the West Coast, although I’m not sure she’s made it there.

In June 2019, I caught Stephen Reinauer heading out the Narrows to rejoin its barge;

North of the border, SLS aka Sheri Lynn S was tied up at a Picton ON dock.

June 2020 one morning, I spotted Kirby Moran meeting ONE Minato, and

Janet D returning to her Elizabethport base.

In June 2021, it’s Charles D passing Adventurer while standing by for an incoming ship.

And finally, Sarah D was eastbound here in the Kills.

All photos, WVD, who may have made some errors here with dates, having had his brain baked in the Louisiana heat.

 

Exotics 30

aka “thanks to Tony A 34” is the best title for this, and I’m sure you’ll agree. 

If you’ve lost track, “exotic” is my term for unusual vessels calling in the sixth boro.  Although the series started with a workboat repurposed as a live aboard, in the past few years the term has evolved to categorize mostly vessels coming here in conjunction with special projects, many of which recently have been related to offshore wind farms.

I’m not sure why this boat is in town, and I believe the location is the CME Co. terminal (excuse me if I’m mistaken), but it truly fits the exotic category.

She’s a 300 class member of the Hornbeck Offshore (HOS) Mexico fleet, and not a new boat. A member the the 250 class was in the boro just over a half year ago here. 

I’m not sure how the naming convention for HOS works, but say hello to HOS Browning.

Many thanks to Tony A who sent this along by the robotic system some since 1990 have called the World Wide Web. 

Thanks to the robots in tugster tower who reconfigured the queue of scheduled posts.  WVD is sweating away in the land of alligators, shrimp, sugar, and beaucoup de plus.  Tony A is likely sweating away in the sixth boro; thanks to him for this reminder that in the boro which never really stops running, flooding , and ebbing, there truly are a million stories we never notice.  And let’s hear it for the robots who  . . . I don’t even know if they have sweat glands, or glands of any sort.   

Random Tugs 371

Dace lighters STI Excel.

 

Neptune comes into town again.

Buchanan 12 makes a rare appearance light, but everyone needs to refuel periodically.

Janet D follows Seeley into the Kills.

How a bout a four’fer . . .   counter:  Marjorie, Kristin Poling, Nicholas, and Jordan Rose.

Sea Lion heads eastbound.

B. Franklin travels west, and

Discovery Coast, east. .  .  both light.

Nathan G moves a deep scow into the Kills with Cape Wrath lurking in the background. 

Traffic never stops, and it’ll outlast me, the photographer, WVD.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 48

Does equipment ever change in the sixth boro?  Of course.

Thornton Bros, the 1958 Matton Shipyard product, was scrapped in 2014.

The 1971 Maria J is now Nicholas Vinik.

USACE Hudson, the sweetest Corps boat I’ve ever seen, got transformed into a fish house in 2019.   Advance Victoria, 2006, is now Kition M, anchored in the Persian/Arabian Gulf.

The 2002 Labrador Sea is now Vane’s Brooklyn.

The 1944 Gage Paul inadvertently became a very deep fish house in 2015.

The 2002 Gramma Lee T is now in Norfolk.

Does the US Navy still have airships?  If ever I have the chance to ride in one of these, I’ll take it in a heartbeat!

Bruce A brought in the 1970 Crowley Mars and

Michael J brought in the 1975 Crowley Pioneer;  both Crowley’s were shipped off to Africa later in 2012.  The 1971 Michael J. was scrapped late in 2021. Christine was working for Reinauer.

The massive 1970 Penn No. 6 is now the massive Vinik No. 6.

The 1972 Catherine Turecamo is now on the Great Lakes as John Marshall. 

Do you still want to tell me nothing ever changes in the sixth boro?

All photos taken by WVD during the first SIX days of 2012.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 43

I hope you enjoy looking back 10 years as much as I do, although some might say I live in the past a little too much.  Here’s some dense traffic, l to r, Twisted Sisters, Lucinda Smith, Maurania III, and Petrozavosk. 

Up in Lyons NY at the drydock, Governor Roosevelt shows her deep 8′ 6″ belly. Rosie will turn 100 in summer 2027.

Greenland Sea . . . one of my favorites is likely on her terminal lay up.

Does Duty still do duty on the Delaware?

Maria J is now Nicholas Vinik.

Charles D. is still working hard  in the boro, as she was here helping Zim Virginia around Bergen Point.  I do miss the walkway on the WEST side of the Bayonne Bridge.

This Peter is now Long Island . . . or Long Peter if you like.

Resolute assists Maersk Kentucky around that same point.

Amberjack is now Kirby Dann Ocean white and blue, and some of the Bouchard boats are now this Penn Maritime gray. 

Giulio Verne was in town for some submarine cabling, and I’ve heard tell there was a fabulous Italian chef on board.  She’s now docked in Naples IT.

I went to Detroit for Thanksgiving, and made a stop at Mariner’s Church, alluded to in “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” [In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed.  In the maritime sailors’ cathedral.  The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine time…]  .  I’m told the pastor at the church objected to the word musty and now Lightfoot sings it as “In a rustic old hall in Detroit …”  In fact, you can confirm that here.

And let me throw two more in.  I took this photo seven years ago from Rhinecliff as I headed south the day I completed my season on tugboat Urger.  This was my way of reconnecting with the sixth boro. Maryland is now Liz Vinik.

And finally, a photo from Jason LaDue . . .  it’s Grouper as she looked in 2000.  A week ago her second auction concluded with a winning bid of $4850, but I don’t know who tendered that bid.  According to my source, no movement has happened since the auction concluded. 

Happy November.  All photos except Jason’s by WVD.

 

Before Golden Hour

It should be no secret that I’m an early riser, have always been one to get up in the “o’dark” hours for the morning golden hour, the best time of day.  Here are two Miller’s Launch OSVs, possibly Rana and Rosemary.

 

A bit later on a different day, I caught Dylan Cooper westbound, with another Reinauer unit off in the distance.

 

Janet D headed into that  same morning, here eastbound.

Ditto . . .  Charles D McAllister and

Mary Turecamo.  In fact, in the photo below, you see all three.   Did you get the golden hour this morning?

All photos, WVD, who thinks this morning’s overcast skies here blocked any gold.