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August 2021. Samatha Miller follows the channel just north of the Staten Island Yankees stadium. Note today’s skyline.
1970. The rest of these photos I share thanks to Steve Munoz. Note the early night skyline here shows the Towers under construction.
1970 Dalzelleagle in the Buttermilk Channel passing USCG cutters tied up alongside Governors Island. Dalzelleagle, a 1958 Jakobson product, later became McAllister Bros, which was scrapped earlier this year. In a comment in an earlier post, Tony A identifies one of the cutters as the storied USCG Dallas (WHEC-716), now BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16), pride of the Philippines Navy.
1971. McAllister Bros southbound in the Upper Bay.
1971. The aircraft looks to be amphibious. Anyone help? I’d say that’s a Kennedy-class ferry, And at the foot of the Tower, note the fireboats tied up at Pier A, occupied by FDNY from 1960 until 1992.
1973. SS Olympia headed for sea. Her career spanned 1953 until 2009, when she was beached in Alang.
1973. McAllister Bros. northbound off Hoboken.
1973. Dalzellera. That makes her 58 years old at this point.
1973. Concordia Gulf bound for sea.
1985. Statue scaffolded for repairs.
1992. As seen from a ship on Newark Bay at dawn.
1992. Kerry Moran seven years before her wheelhouse and propulsion were reconfigured.
Many thanks to Steve for sharing these photos, pre-dating my time here. I moved to the area and started working in Brooklyn in 2000.
It should go without saying what the focus here is. More to come. Here‘s what I posted exactly 10 years ago, when it seems to me, we were still a united people sharing common losses and goals.
Steve’s uncle Bob was a captain and pilot on the Dalzelleagle/McAllister Bros from 1968 to 1985. That makes for a special connection and lots of vintage photos. Enjoy these thanks to Steve. I’ll use his captions.
Dalzelleagle assisting ship in East River in September 1968.
Dalzelleagle heading down Buttermilk Channel-from pier 12 Brooklyn in September 1970. The tug is interesting, but so are the details in the background.
Cook Ralph Andreason waves from the stern on Dalzelleagle departing 69th St pier Brooklyn in September 1970.
McAllister Bros in North River off Hoboken pier on August 24, 1973.
The is the same time and place, roughly. The Twin Towers had opened earlier that year.
Tug McAllister Bros leading Atlantic Champagne thru Newark Bay Draw on July 5, 1976. This picture brings to mind a story that my Uncle Bob Munoz told me. Bob was a captain and pilot on the Dalzelleagle/McAllister Bros from 1968 to 1985. One time he was piloting a ship in Newark Bay toward the Newark Bay Draw Bridge and a woman passenger came over to him on the bridge of the ship and asked him if the ship was going through that little opening in the bridge. Bob said that they were. She then asked how he did that. So he looked at her and said, “When we get real close I just close my eyes.” Atlantic Champagne, an ACL vessel, was launched in 1969 with a teu capacity of a dazzling 882 teu.
McAllister Bros in Newark Bay from a ship on June 26, 1987. That CRRNJ bridge was used starting in 1926; I saw some remaining piers about a decade ago, but it is entirely gone now. Given the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, keep in mind that vertical clearance here was 136′. Maybe someone can tell me the width of the channel.
McAllister Bros galley on January 11, 2001,
and her engine room on the same date.
And finally, McAllister Brothers here along with Christine M. McAllister on November 6, 2006.
It’s hard to say good bye. Many thanks to Steve for use of these photos.
And thanks to Birk Thomas for posting this on FB today, Dalzell Towing.
First, see these three photos from 2009 with updates. I passed by this spot in Seaford DE this past week . . . on a mission, and the former Flagship Nanticoke Queen restaurant is no more. Only a graded lot remains where the USS McKeever Brothers (SP-683) WW1 patrol and minesweeper vessel and fishing boat both before that and after the war once was. Route 13 has a bit less character. The wooden hull was likely buried in a landfill.
From 2009, this is the 1958 Jakobson-built Dalzelleagle and then McAllister Brothers. And yesterday, she was was towed away to be scrapped. At temperatures between 2500 and 2750°F, that steel will puddle and take new shapes. Tomorrow I’ll post more photos of this 1958 beauty.
Another photo from 2009 of the 1907 Pegasus . . . now also history and headed for the same high temperatures and red hot puddles.
A photo from 2012 . . . Siberian Sea, still afloat, and currently called Mike Azzolino.
Also still extant, in fact, David Silver took this photo less than a week ago, the May 1921 launched Day Peckinpaugh. Yes, that is the Erie Canal between Locks E2 and E3. The canal water level is drawn down in the winter/spring for maintenance.
May 21, 1921 precisely was the day Interwaterways 101 came off the ways at the McDougall-Duluth Company shipyard. Shouldn’t we hold a socially distanced party for the freight ship?
Here was the neat and active Eriemax freighter in 1961.
Thanks to David and Craig for use of their Day Peckinpaugh photos; the others from 2009 and 2012, WVD.
As to the tragedy of 231′ x 71′ Seacor Power, Seacor Supporter, 131′ x 66′ , came to do some work in the sixth boro here a few years ago. Brazos is 145′ x 100′.
The “4” here refers to the dry dock, not the fourth post in this series. The last post on Caddell was Something Different 57. And in the “high and dry” series, this would be number 11. I’m just trying to anchor this post in the previous body of work. Also, I believe this dry dock was originally built as an auxilliary floating dry dock (ARD) by the USN to lift submarines out of their watery habitat, but I can’t corroborate that.
In Dry Dock 4 a half dozen years ago was the pilot boat New York. I put this first so that the vessels in the rest of the photos can be compared against a standard, the dimensions of the same dry dock.
See above for scale. On this date, winter 2014, Dry Dock 4 was shared by W. O. Decker and schooner Pioneer, currently both in Albany getting refurbished and improved.
This boat’s a mystery to me; the livery on upper pilothouse says it’s a Reinauer boat, but I took this photo over 10 years ago and have lost track of its identity. You may know?
McAllisters Brothers was originally called Dalzelleagle. I believe it’s currently in the sixth boro but mothballed.
The Fireboat John J. Harvey had some work done in Dry Dock 4 . She has a long and storied career.
Doris Moran is a 4610 hp tugboat that does some sixth boro work, although she’s currently in Louisiana.
East Coast has not appeared on this blog very often. She used to tow the sugar barge, and she may well still do so.
Let’s get to the end of this post with Clipper City, having some bottom work done on a cold winter’s day eight years ago already.
All photos, WVD, who’d love to know more about the history of Dry Dock 4.
Arthur Tickle Engineering Works (ATEW) is now gone, but other marine service businesses (MSBs) remain. I’ve long thought to do a series of posts about the MSBs like Caddells, GMD, Bayonne Drydock, Hughes Marine . . . and many others.
A while back, Steve Munoz sent these along, and it’s taken me a bit to figure out how to place these photos, but that’s it . . . MSBs, a series I’d love to do, and I can start it here. Steve’s father worked at ATEW for many years and until it closed in 1987.
I’ll use Steve’s captions with my annotations in [ ]. Below … “is a picture of the ATEW, established in 1904. Photo shows the delivery wagon and probably Arthur Tickle himself at the front door. He died in 1945.” [I wonder what the letters on the side of the horse wagon says, some precursor to FedEx?]
“This is the ATEW building housing the machine shop probably in the 1920s.” [Is that a Ford?]
“Ship’s rudder being repaired in one of the shops.”
“This poster was published in the Maritime Activity Reports on November 15, 1945 showing the number and types of ships converted, repaired and altered, including some specific names, during the war. All of these repairs were completed along the Brooklyn waterfront. One of the conversions was the former MV Carnarvon Castle, a Union-Castle Line ocean liner before the war, requisitioned by the Royal Navy for conversion to an armed merchant cruiser and then converted to a troopship by ATEW in 1944.”
[I looked up USAHS Aleda E. Lutz, USS Pontiac, USAT Colombie, USAT Kota Inten, USAT Cape Canso, MV Marechal Joffre, USADS Blemheim, and USADS Lock Knot. Some of those links have photos.]
“The steel yawl named Steel Sylph was built by the various shops at ATEW for Arthur Tickle, Jr. in the 1940-50s. I assume that it was launched in Brooklyn as the bow of a ship can be seen in the picture at the launching, but does not appear to be at Pier 4 as the BQE is not seen in the background.” [Steel Sylph is listed as placing in the Newport to Annapolis race in 1947.]
[This is a very formal looking photo of an unidentified gent. That would be a fun one to colorize.]
Steel Sylph was designed by Philip Rhodes.
“During WWII, ATEW leased a number of piers from the New York Dock (NYD) Company in Brooklyn south of the Brooklyn Bridge to repair military and commercial ships supporting the war. After the war, the ship repair business slowed down, but ATEW continued to repair ships into the 1960s at pier 4 such as the SS Comet Victory seen in this photo. Pier 4 was demolished sometime after the year 2000.” [I presume this photo was taken from the promenade. It might be fun to go there today and reframe/redo the shot of the skyline from 120 Wall to just south of the Staten Island ferry terminal. Can anyone identify the tall rectangular building directly behind 120 Wall and obscuring most of 70 Pine? In the foreground, that space is now Brooklyn Bridge Park, as seen from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.]
“A bronze propeller was cleaned and repaired in the foundry shop and
returned to the SS American Aquarius, probably as a spare.” [On the frame of the flatbed I read W. J. Casey, a trucking firm that still exists, although they’ve moved from Brooklyn Bergen Street to New Jersey. Here‘s their site, which has some antique trucks from their past fleet. ]
“The SS Cape Catoche in the Hudson River on a hawser behind the tug Dalzelloch and the tug Fred B Dalzell alongside. The ship was going to/from the Jones Point reserve fleet in the 1950s. In the 1960s many ships were taken from the reserve fleet to Brooklyn where ATEW had the contract to prepare the ships for the Vietnam sealift. For one ship the capstans and winches were opened in the machine shop for USCG inspection and because the components were in such bad shape the whole ship failed inspection and was subsequently sold for scrap. This occurred with a number of the ships. ” [Looking at the dates here, there may have been more than one SS Cape Catouche, although I’m not certain. Clearly, this move was made in winter.]
“ATEW repaired the ship’s turbine and reinstalled it in the engine room on the SS Pomona Victory. My guess is that the ship was docked at Pier 4 Brooklyn as ATEW leased this pier for years from the NYDock Company. Note at least one Liberty ship docked in Manhattan across the East River having gun tubs and the ship having the turbine installed had a gun tub and life rafts indicating that this picture was taken during WW II or very shortly after since I do not see any guns.” [This view of the Manhattan side south of the Brooklyn Bridge shows a very different place than is located there today. Someone more familiar with that stretch of riverfront might enjoy identifying which buildings are still there; I recognize the Woolworth Building directly below the suspended turbine, and 120 Wall and 70 Pine buildings to the left. That opposite shore would be the area of South Street Seaport today; I’d love to find a photo of that same area from the Manhattan side, maybe looking down Fulton Street.]
Many thanks to Steve Munoz for his comments and use of his photos.
This batch of photos is from 1958 from Steve, who has shared photos for at least 17 posts, and maybe more. I’m grateful Steve provides the captioning, because I was in second grade at the time. Steve explains: “I was just over 10 years old, and although being brought up on the water on my grandfather’s old 40’ cabin cruiser, I had never been on a tugboat—yet. When I came home from school at lunchtime, my mother told me to come home from school quickly at the end of the day so that I could get my homework done . . . because my aunt was picking me and my father up to meet my uncle, Capt. Bob Munoz, on his tugboat to do a special job.” More of that narrative follows at the end of this post.
Below, from that day, with Steve’s comments in quotes: “Diana L Moran alongside USS Franklin D. Roosevelt …”
I gather from records that the 1945-launched carrier had just completed a refit and overhaul at the time. Diane L was Jakobson built and two years old at this time. If you’re not familiar with the sixth boro, that’s the Williamsburg Bridge and in the distance to the north, the Empire State Building.
“Dalzellera pulling USS FDR-CV42-with assistance from Catherine Moran and Dalzellaird.”
This Catherine Moran, built in 1939, was mentioned in relation to Erie Canal work here, and may still be working as Sherry D in Napa CA.
“Dalzellera pulling with assistance from Catherine Moran, Dalzellaird, and Fred B Dalzell.”
“Taken from the stern of Dalzellera alongside USS FDR.”
“USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Brooklyn Navy Yard.”
She participated in more major battles in WW2 than any other USN vessel. Efforts by NYS to purchase and turn her into a memorial were unsuccessful. Soon after Steve took these photos, she was sold for scrap, done subsequently at Kearny NJ.
“USS Independence (CV-62) at Brooklyn under construction.”
For this carrier as I saw her in 2010 in Bremerton WA, go to the end of this post. In March 2017, she was towed out of Bremerton, 16000 miles around Cape Horn to be scrapped in Texas, which was completed in early 2019. Anyone know who did this tow?
“Barbara Moran in East River, heading east.”
This was the 1949, not the 1948, boat by that name.
Steve gave me a long version of his account of the day, but I’ve taken liberty to abridge it. “Uncle Bob greeted us as we boarded the Dalzell Towing Company’s Dalzellera, flagship of the Dalzell fleet and converted from steam to diesel only 5 years earlier, was previously the Jersey Central RR steam tug Bethlehem. Dalzellera had a 1750hp diesel engine, a surplus WW II submarine engine coupled to a new unique drive system for NY harbor–a controllable pitch propeller. When Dalzell was purchased by McAllister in 1965, she was renamed D. E. McAllister.
But that day our special job happened to be at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn Navy Yard, helping move the aircraft carrier USS FDR from its slip into the East River, downriver, and then into the graving dock. It was a dead ship, 968’ long, 45,000 tons, in port for overhaul and repairs. The time for this move was selected to take advantage of the slack water in the early evening. Dalzell had the contract with the US Navy to move the ship, but did not have enough of its own tugs available to do the job alone. Hence, tugs from McAllister, Bronx Towing, Red Star, and Moran were also involved, for a total of 13 tugs.
Uncle Bob was the mate on the Dalzellera, but for this job he was one of several pilots assigned to control and monitor the movement of the ship and the tugs assisting the carrier. He was stationed up on the port bow on the flight deck.
Having the ship on a hawser allowed a unique vantage point as seen in the pictures. And, it was uneventful. I was on the port side of the main deck with everyone else away from the after deck, just in case the line snapped. Then it happened. BANG! I watched the line part and jump up toward the carrier’s bow. No one was on the after deck, so no one was hurt, no damage done. Another line was lowered and the towing continued like nothing ever happened. As we got closer to the dock, Carol Moran got too close to one of FDR‘s overhangs on the port side and destroyed her mast, which fell onto her deck. Shortly afterwards the tug was relieved to allow it to head back to the yard before dark, since her mast lights were out.
Dalzellera was relieved of hawser duty just before the ship’s bow entered the graving dock and helped continue the push into the dock while the yard personnel started getting lines up to the ship to guide it into position. It was dusk when the task was finished. We picked up Bob at the end of the pier and headed back to our base. After this day I was hooked on tugs.”
Thanks much, Steve. As with the Enterprise, efforts by NYS to purchase USS FDR and turn her into a memorial were unsuccessful, and she was scrapped in Kearny NJ in 1978. Some photos of that last trip to the scrapyard can be found here.
For more tugboats of this decade, click here.
Finally, here’s USS Independence as I saw her in 2010 in Bremerton WA.
What’s prompted the reappearance of the past here is that I’ve been sorting my archives.
So let’s start in April 2008, and this vessel will reappear tomorrow. I miss that orange in the harbor.
This is November 2009. Where is McAllister Brothers (built as Dalzelleagle) these days?
This is what Eagle Service (now Genesis Eagle) looked like in March 2010.
Here’s a closer up of the vintage Horizon ship. Is she still in lay up?
Ivory Coast, headed into the KVK here on a foggy morning, appeared almost to be floating on air above the water’s surface.
And here, a mysterious swimmer, Edith Thornton (now in Trinidad as Chassidy?), and a Hanjin ship.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who wonders who says things stay the same.
The race took place exactly 60 years ago today, and megathanks and superkudos to Harold Tartell for finding fotos of more than half of the boats involved in the race.
Top Class A (over 1250 hp) finisher was Reading Lines Shamokin.
Second was Barbara Moran.
No foto found yet of third place Socony 11, but fourth place was William J. Tracy of Tracy Towing Line.
Again, no foto of Dauntless #14, but here’s sixth place finisher Russell #17.
Number seven finisher was this Turecamo Girls, painted in “wood.”
And rounding out Class A, here’s Dalzelleader.
In the Class B division (850 to 1250 hp), top boat was Pauline L. Moran.
Number two finisher was Red Star Towing & Transportation‘s Huntington.
In Class C (less than 850 hp), the top finisher was steam vessel Latin American, operating for the Texas Company.
Number two Class C boat was Providence, of the Red Star Towing & Transportation.
Third place Class C finisher was Ticeline, of Tice Towing Line, Inc.
Unranked Class B boats include Fred B. Dalzell here and
here, as well as
Anne Carrol, a 1910 steamer of Carroll Towing Line also ran.
I’m reposting this image, made available by Paul Strubeck and posted yesterday. 1952 is especially significant for me because it was the year I was born. It was also the year that
Queen Elizabeth was crowned, nuclear sub Nautilus keel was laid, a B-52 first flew, SS United States first crossed the Atlantic, Ike became President, the word “smog” was coined in reference to London weather, Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Peace Prize, lots of UFOs buzzed Washington DC airport, and Werner von Braun published Man Will Conquer Space Soon.
This last entry reminds me of the Mr Armstrong that died a few days ago. I’ll never forget the July night in 1969 that I, age 17 then, stayed up all night even though it was haying season; I’d worked in the hay all day July 20, and stayed up much of the night before working again all day on the 21st. My father thought I was crazy but my mother came downstairs to watch with me a few times during the night. “What will it change?” she asked in different ways, and I surely had no answer, as excited as I was.
A few days later a farmer nearby told me it was all a hoax. “Nobody really walked on the moon,” Elmer said. “It’s all just a movie they made in Hollywood.”
43 years and a month later . . . well, maybe it didn’t change anything related to our travel destinations, but the some of the technology we live with on earth stems from those efforts.
A final thought: I recently read a statement by Robert Ballard saying that the NASA budget (I’m not sure which year he was talking about.) for ONE year equals the NOAA budget for 18 years. As much admiration as I have for Neil Armstrong, maybe the next heroic explorations should involve walking along the bottoms of the oceans.
Harold . . . I hope your family illness will subside so that you can attend the tugboat race this coming weekend. Thanks again for these archival fotos.
Here was Pairs 3, a series I decided to revive when I saw this rough if felicitous pairing of hormone-intoxicated geese one springy morning last weekend.
A pair of eagles atop two Dalzell boats. More Dalzell boats can be found in video #8 here, thanks to Bellboatbob.
A pair of Moran tugs (James Turecamo and Jean Turecamo) help River Elegance do circles off the Statue of Liberty.
A pair of Weeks tugs (Robert and Kathleen) move Weeks Crane 533 eastbound out of the KVK.
Amy C and Charles D McAllister head back to the yard after a shift.
Susquehanna and Quantico Creek partner Doubleskin 59 into a dock.
Brendan J and Rhea I Bouchard do the same with B. No. 215.
Ah! springtime seems to compel pairing. Merry Mardi Gras!
All fotos except number 2 by Will Van Dorp. Special thanks to Allen Baker and Bob McLaren for the Dalzell foto.
This is a post for Bonnie, in response to hers in which she reveals she’s crazy about buoys, very crazy . . . by her own admission a week ago. Further, Bonnie’s post was in response to Tillerman.
I feel compelled to say I’m equally crazy about gulls, all kinds of gulls including eeeee
gulls . . . er, eagles.
But I don’t like dogs or
snakes.
The second foto comes thanks to Bob McLaren via Allen Baker. Taken in the early 1960s, the fotos shows the house of Dalzelleagle, now McAllister Brothers as seen here and here. Previously, Allen has supplied this foto and others. Please get in touch if you have ideas on how I can locate and photograph any remaining Dalzell trademark eagles. Other vessels with ornamental eagles are Huntington and Pacific. (Use “find” to locate the ornamental eagle reference within those articles. I’m curious about this tradition. )
The third foto shows McKinley Sea (1981, ex-Annabelle V. Roehrig and El Oso Grande II). And the boa, I took the foto on Coney Island after the mermaid parade in 2007.
tugster: a waterblog 
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