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.

 

East River Traffic 3

Here are previous iterations of this title.  Sometimes it’s energizing to return to places you’ve not visited in a while. We followed North River for a bit and then turned into

the Brooklyn Navy yard, a quite busy place.  Sugar Express was there along with Carolina Coast.  The barge shuttles less-refined sugar from Florida to Yonkers, where the sugar is further refined at a riverside facility.

 

Atlantic Salvor was in one of the graving docks.

Once under way again, we followed Genesis Eagle heading for the Sound.

North River was docked at DEP Ward’s Island Central (actually WPCP) by the time we passed by.

NYC Department of Correction Vernon C. Bain Maritime Facility was still where I last saw it, the only traffic being who goes in and out. 

Ditto this wreck, which deserves a name or a series of ex-names, where the only traffic is the ingress and egress of tidal current water.

All photos this week, WVD.

Morning 2022

Consider this to be in the spirit of Dawn 2021.  I wasn’t there at dawn because the ship I wanted to catch–CMA CGM Von Humboldt–departed in the 0’darks, but I arrived a bit later, cold notwithstanding.

The first tugboat I photographed in 2022 was Zeus!  Truth be told, her profile against the Raritan highlands was unmistakeable, but I was a half hour too late for a better shot;  I hadn’t expected a traffic tie-up.  She’s headed for Hampton Roads and beyond.

The second and third are Bruce A. McAllister and 

Ava M, going to the Narrows to see someone about a ship

Next it was Brendan Turecamo assisting a Liberian-flagged tanker, Horizon Thetis.  If you want some interesting origin stories, check a mythology text about the relationship between Zeus and Thetis. 

Chemical Petrochemical Trader with Brownsville as the prime mover was next.

A while later Bruce A and 

and Ava M came in with their catch, Ever Far.  I’ll put up more photos of this new Ever F-class vessel later. 

And finally, it’s my first view ever of Centerline’s Rubia, ex-Denise A. Bouchard.  If you look closely, you can see Centerline’s lion on the stack. And the name Rubia . . . that’s Spanish for “blonde”… hmmm;  it looks more platinum to me.

All photos, January 4, 2022, WVD, who finds it interesting what cold, clear winter temperatures do to photos.

Fog 25 B

Yesterday’s post ended with Timothy L.

Sarah Ann, and

Treasure Coast at different amounts obscured by the fog. 

Treasure Coast spun around before my location to set Cement Transporter 7700

into the Lafarge North America Bayonne

dock with assist by Pegasus.  I wondered about the vintage of Cement Transporter 7700;  she was launched from Todd Shipyard in Houston in December 1981 as Ideal II, then Midnight 1, and now its current moniker. Todd Shipyard has a distinctly Manhattan origin in the form of DeLameter Iron Works.

Meanwhile, from the western end of the KVK came

a Manzanillo-bound Lars Maersk assisted by James D. Moran.

At that same moment, Pegasus, after having completed the Treasure Coast assist, heads west of the Bayonne Bridge.

 

From that same fog bank west of the Bayonne Bridge emerge Daisy Mae pushing a light scow and

Cape Henry, returning to its barge at the west end of IMTT.

All photos, WVD, who is happy days will soon be getting longer.

 

Fog 25 A

Apologies in advance for possible whiplash, but let’s return to the sixth boro.  I write blog posts one day at a time;  only rarely do I schedule posts in advance, so more photos of the December road trip aka F2 remain and will be posted later in the month.  When I post them, you’ll understand why I delayed.

Given how bright today is, let’s peer back at yesterday’s sixth boro fog.  Marie J.

assisted Stolt Focus from a berth to an anchorage in the Upper Bay, as

Berto L. Miller traveled westbound in the Kills.   The word focus here seems important.

One thing I love about fog in photos is its selecting foreground details only, narrowing the field of view, if I’m understanding the terms correctly.

Going wider angle here, all that pops out of the textured gray water and the uniformly gray sky are the boats, channel marker, a bank, and some disused pilings.

The blue tug, Sarah Ann, is the central focus here, with no distracting details in the background.  Treasure Coast is there with the cement transporter, but that, I think, enhances the focus on Sarah Ann.  I don’t think about all this while taking photos;  I just go for what looks good to me.

All photos yesterday, WVD. 

I will return to road photos and even street photos in Louisiana later this month, and pick up the New Jersey road photos after that.

Retro Sixth Boro 42 B

The bridge photo at the end of part A was of Kristin Poling, right after she’d been taken out of service.  In her long life from 1934 until 2011, she carried the nameplates of Poughkeepsie Socony, Mobil New York, and Captain Sam, before taking on her last name. 

Here’s a shot from the bow, and

here from near the stern looking forward along the catwalk.

This is one of my all-time favorite photos.  I wonder where this Coastie is today.

A decade ago, Maurania III worked in the harbor, here alongside the venerable Chemical Pioneer and

here muscling Suez Canal Bridge around Bergen Point.

APL Coral was scrapped in 2017, I believe.  Anyone know what those bolts of green fabric are?  By their location, I’d guess an anti-piracy measure.  Nicole Leigh continues to work.

DEP’s Newtown Creek was in her last days;  currently she’s a dive destination in Pompano Beach, FL known as Lady Luck.

Lygra (1979) went to Alang in 2018, after carrying that name as well as Centro America, Nornews Service, and Transfjord. 

Does anyone know where Captain Zeke has gone to?  I don’t.   If I ever did, I’ve forgotten.

Catherine Turecamo assists SN Azzurra away from a dock. The tanker seems still to be working as Augusta;  she’s also carried the names Blue Dolphin and Stena Commander.  In 2014, Catherine T. went to fresh water and, the last I knew,  became a Chicago area based John Marshall.

If you click on no links in this post except this one, you will be pleased;  it’s the legendary 1937 commuter yacht Aphrodite.  HERE is the link.  Those all-caps are intentional.

Note the raked forward portion of Maersk Murotsu, getting an assist from Kimberly Turecamo. The tanker is currently known as Ardmore Seafarer, which I have seen but not photographed in the boro.  It’s impossible to keep up . . .  hang on to that thought until the end of the post.

And let’s close out  with some busy photos, here Barbara McAllister moves a barge, East Coast follows light, and Gramma Lee T Moran assists a tanker.  Barbara is now Patsy K.

And finally, the waters here are churned up by James Turecamo, Resolute, and Laura K Moran, as well as a few tankers off to the left.

All photos, WVD, who’s astonished how much changes if not daily or monthly but surely by decade.

And about that thought I asked you hang onto:  I’m considering taking a break, a sabbatical, or as Chapter 17 of Moby Dick explains . . .  a ramadan, a term used with respect. I say this as a solicitation of advice.

 

Newest Hull(s) in the Sixth Boro 11

Meagan Ann is not new, but that blue coaming on the barge looks to be.

Witte 3301 came into the harbor via Ambrose the other day for the very first time.

pushed by Meagan Ann.  Recently launched in Erie PA,

the barge, which I estimate to be about 220′, was brought to the sixth boro by Zeus, returned from the Great Lakes after at least five years up on the fresh water. 

Zeus, the first boat this October I see with pink trim,

moved both 3301 and 3302 around via the Saint Lawrence, but then handed one of the barges off to Meagan Ann just outside the VZ Bridge.

 

Welcome back, Zeus,  although soon after dropping off the barges, she headed off to the Dann Marine base in Chesapeake City.

One stop of the new barges was captured by my Halifax counterpart, Mac Mackay here. 

All photos, WVD.

Calusa, Delaware to Jonathan

Hot to sweet . . .  could have been a title too.

I hope obscure titles are not too off-putting, but I just realized that in late August 2019, I encountered Calusa Coast on the Cuyahoga while she was still on her contract to push liquid asphalt around the Inland Seas, aka the Great Lakes.  To be liquid, asphalt needs to be over 250 degrees F, so that assist tug Cleveland here is close to some very hot liquid, safely enclosed in steel barge Delaware.

 

Two years ago, Calusa Coast and barge Delaware were nearing their contract.  

Nine months ago, my friend Jack Ronalds caught the unit newly in salt water at the Strait of Canso.  Earlier this week, I caught this unit, Calusa Coast pushing

sugar barge (technically, dry bulk barge) Jonathan up from coastal Florida to Yonkers. 

That structure midships on Jonathan is a hatch crane.

As of this morning, they are still discharging at ASR, the sugar refinery.  I’ve caught Jonathan and Sugar Express there on other occasions.

Come to think of it . . .  Yonkers must be hot and sweet there now.

All photos, WVD.

Random Tugs 348

Colonel came into town a week ago with the new ferry.

Caitlin Ann has been here as long as I’ve been paying attention . . . although she had several names since then.

James D and Ellen McAllister pin YM Width to the dock. 

Jill Reinauer . . .  she’s been here from before tugster . .  .  AT and BT should be part of my new time nomenclature.   BT runs backward from this post. 

Atlantic Salvor has been here over 20 years, and among my favorite photos of her was here from the 2010 Labor Day race.

This has to be my clearest photo of Carolina Coast.  Know that tugboat in the distance?

I believe Julie Anne just recently arrived in the sixth boro, and this is my first time seeing her. 

And from a distance, it’s Mary Emma, formerly Evening Light, but now all in tan and green. 

Let’s stop with Ellen again, here passing in front of what must be the busiest background:  Geoquip Saentis, Cape Edmont, and Oasis.  Ellen is one of about a dozen reutilized USN tugboats in the McAllister fleet.  See more here.

All photos this week, WVD.

Other Peoples Photos 87

First,  the numbers, as Kai Ryssdal would say on NPR’s Marketplace show.  The numbers I’m referring to are the bids on Grouper yesterday. 

At 0600 yesterday, high bid was $150. That lasted until just after noon. By 1300, high bid was $420. More than 60 bids (out of a total of 104) were tendered in the last hour, some fractions of a second apart. Winning bid was $3100. At this point, I know nothing about the winning bidder or that person’s intention.

This will be a summer of many days away from the sixth boro, so I’m very happy when you send in photos. Great Lakes mariner retired (GLMR) sent in a few. Below is a cool pic, in the snow, of John B, for sale for some time now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a skeletal and unidentified fish tug.

Truckertim has sent a few along;  Little Toot has got to be one of the more common names for a small tugboat.  And it fits.

I like the color scheme.

I’d love to know the breadth here.

From Lewis Cobb, here’s one I’ve not seen in the sixth boro . . . Sea Coast, 60′ x 24′ and it has spent 41 years in Dann Marine colors.

 

Miss Judy, 59′ x 23′, works for a dredging company south of Norfolk, I believe.

A fantastic shot of Joker, here with her colors mimicked in the sunset, but who wore those colors better . . . why, Joker, of course. The 79′ x 25′ Joker used to work in the sixth boro–and out of it–as Taurus.

From Jake Van Reenen, up on the New York portion of the Saint Lawrence River, it’s Ruth Lucille, who’s gone into fresh water of the Great Lakes out of Milwaukee after working in salt water as Ocean Endeavor.

If you’ve never visited Clayton, you’re missing something.  It’s a place I could move to.

And let’s end here with tugboat Hudson.  I took this photo on July 3, 2017.  I’m not answering the following question today. Where is Vane’s Hudson today?

Many thanks to all of you who’ve sent photos in.

Let’s end this post with a number Kai Ryssdal might be interested in :  $11,200.

That’s today’s cost of moving a 40-foot shipping container from Shanghai to New York.