Made in Croatia 2

I’ve seen another Penguin here already, but it was not part of this colorful fleet that I first traced to Croatia here . . . and grouped by their bear logo here.

No vessel–not even passenger carrier–is quite so distinctively colored.

Given their frequency here during winter, I think of the fleet (of which I’ve recorded more than half) as an uncommon seasonal indicator:  hungry bears coming to town . . . happens in the cold season. Name and placement on this vessel suggest the bear chases forever across all the seas–like Ahab–but never catches.

Assisting Penguin into port were Brendan Turecamo and

Margaret Moran.

Be on the lookout for more bear ships in the sixth boro.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Made in Croatia

Stuff I’ve bought comes from many places, but nowhere among my possesions can I find a stuff with the provenance of the 27-month-old tanker Stena Perros.

Stena Perros came off the ways in Split.  Check out the a great first line in this wiki article about the Brodosplit Shipyard:  “There has been shipbuilding in what is now the outskirts of Split for a thousand years.”

Stena Perros‘ bublous bow dwarfs Stephen Scott and barge.  Ok, make that “bulbous.”

In ballast she draws about 20 feet.

I estimate the letter “s” here to be about 15 feet top to bottom.

Skegs?  I’d like to see this stern in drydock.

Here, here, and here are previous posts about Croatian-built vessels in the sixth boro.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

By the way, famous Croats include Marco Polo, Nikola Tesla, and Mario Andretti,   See lists here and here.

Unrelated:  I’ve haven’t seen any of the movies up for an Oscar, but one that’s nominated and I’d love to see is The Cove.  Hear an interview with the director National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos here.

Views of Outerbridge

Answer to yesterday’s TugsterTeaser:  that BIG tall ship is NOT Peking, which didn’t arrive in the sixth boro until late 1975. Answer is Moshulu, mentioned in the wikipedia site, although if you look at the Moshulu site, it appears she went directly from Finland to Philadelphia.  Does anyone remember how long she stayed at South Street Seaport?

Background below: Outerbridge, named for Eugenius H. Outerbridge, first chairman of the Port Authority of New York.  Foreground:  That’s for you to ponder a bit.  Info later.

What unifies the fotos in this post is the background . ..  all show a hint of Outerbridge.   Inspiration here comes from Hokusai and his 36 views of Mt Fuji, one print of which–Great Wave–everyone knows, just about.

Foreground:  Cable Queen.  What is her story, anyone?  For as long as I’ve been watching, she’s been moored just north of the Moran yard on KVK.

Twin props, shallow draft.  Did she get to the yard under her own power?

And the floating clubhouse aka the honorable William Wall (rope maker, US Representative, Williamsburg politician mid-nineteeth century, and who knows what else) also no longer floats for the season.

Elka Nikolas, Croatia-built,  heads for sea.

The elegant Little Bear awaits in the bridge’s shadow earlier in the fall.

and a Coast Guard 40′ comes back to life.

ATB Pati R Moran heads north on the Arthur Kill under the bridge.

Foreground:  Rae (ex-Miss Bonnie) waits her turn.  The blue tug is Ron D. Garner, and the bridge, background.

Scrapped vessels, now disintegrated, await a rise in scrap ferrous metal prices.

Which leads back to this foto, showing the Outerbridge in the background.  The year is 1964, and this is one of several thousand Liberty ships, and  she’s waiting here to be

scrapped.  Anyone know the name?  I don’t but I’d love to.  Foto comes from the Bob McClaren collection via Allen Baker.

All other fotos by Will Van Dorp.  If I wanted to mirror Hokusai’s 36 views, I guess I need 26 more shots.  Well, another time, different angles.  Or better yet, if you’re on the Arthur Kill, take some unusual shots with the Outerbridge as background and please send them along.

Asphalt Seminole

The name reveals the cargo, so no mystery exists in that respect.

Asphalt is used in applications as diverse as  cattle spray to shingles to paint to–of course–roads.  See a complete list here, all part of our petroleum diet.  When will this feast on processed dino-era greens end?

As it turns out, Asphalt Seminole has appeared on this blog before not quite a year ago.

A year ago, Miriam was part of a tug parade to celebrate the opening of an exhibit on tugboats at Snug Harbor.  She was also featured here in the countdown to the race in September 08.

Here’s a YouTube of Asphalt Seminole transiting Cape Cod Canal.

As it turns out, fellow-NY blogger Claude Scales did a post on Asphalt Seminole over two years ago.

All images by Will Van Dorp.

Daily Ship 2

Not the best foto, but with highway repair season upon us, an intriguing ship. With a name like Asphalt Seminole, clearly it’s not hauling orange juice or wine. Where and when constructed? Who owns? Answers below.

Here’s a link to the owner. Here’s one that speaks to its vintage. And a last one on the shipyard, which has operated since 1729 (!) and which once employed Josip Broz Tito. And this has gotten us really far from highway repair and asphalt.

Photo, WVD.

Cryptofleet

 

Part of the reason I keep doing this blog is that “looking” leads to understanding. So look at exhibit A, bow of Fr8 Endeavour. Cool name. Oh, that’s bunker vessel Rolf Williams passing to starboard.

 

Here’s the rest of Fr8 Endeavour.

 

And yesterday I saw Stena Contest. Again, cool name. Fancy paint job. Exhibit B. Strictly speaking, Stena Contest has three siblings, and four cousins.

 

That’s K-Sea Falcon behind that fuel barge to starboard and Don Jon Marine’s Atlantic Salvor (I think) towing off in the distance.

 

Silhouette says Atlantic Salvor, but I couldn’t confirm it. So which two of these vessels make up part of the same fleet?

I’d never have guessed, but Fr8 Endeavour (note the British spelling) and Stena Contest are part of the same fleet operated by Stena. Scroll on through to the MR (Middle Range) list, and you’ll see it. Launch sites differ: Fr8 Endeavour is South Korea and Stena Contest is Pula, Croatia.

Bluered

“A cargo ship” I recently heard someone say, referring to a vessel in the harbor. That’s correct, but we each choose to fields to use generic terms about. Mine happens not to be cargo ships, though that’s specific in its own way.

 

Seeing this lightering take place in Gravesend Bay, I wanted the usual specifics. By the way, notice the Coney Island parachute jump just off the bow. This blogger’s joy derives from these details as well as the mere sight of a blue hull and red deck.

 

Histria Coral (scroll to page eight) comes not from the shipyards of Japan, Korea, or China. Croatia? Instead, about a year ago off the ways into the Black Sea at Constanta, Romania. Who woulda thought! In Lower New York Bay! And a peruse of Constanta and its environs–I imagined the mouth of the Danube, erroneously–apprised me of a recent canal dug with some notoriety.

By the way, next time I refer in a generic way to something you care about, let me know. Instruct me. you know who you are. Yes, you of course.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Branding

My brother buys a Hess truck each year. He likes the iconic colors that make the brand and has no interest in Hess history.

 

This post from December I had thought to call “Branded,” given the photos. So the iconic markings on this ship have brought up this notion again. Here’s a link to a fabulous foto of the same ship under construction and before it’s branded with the corporate colors.

 

It is a remarkable vessel; check out the P-Max microsite on the right side for safety features of this Bermuda-registered ship.

 

If you’re wondering by now what connection this has with Hess, it’s a transporter of Hess petroleum: a branded ship carrying a differently branded fuel for our branded vehicles. Further interesting, Stena Performance is Swedish-owned and US-leased. And Croatia-built, land of the argosy.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Blueblue

It’s the color of sky, water, twilight ice, and distant land. Which blue would you call the vessel that has been anchored outside the Narrows this week? Dark azure or indigo? Certainly not cerulean, though I wanted to use that word.

The colors draw me in, and I’m not alone.

 

What I find fascinates as much as the color: Palva is less than three months off the ways at Brodosplit in Croatia and a first-timer to New York and its nightlife.

Palva incorporates redundant safety features in its design: two separate engine rooms, rudder and steering gear systems, props, control systems. Blueblue. 700 feet long, 100 feet beam, 60 feet draft. Double hull to operate safely in three feet of ice. Crack and crush. Check out this March shot in the Baltic. Palva works for Neste Oil; see the ice and similar vessels on ice.

See the stern windows of the pilot house that give 360 degrees view of ice or blue sky and water all around.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.