New Hulls, New Names

ACV Enviro provides boom service at IMTT;  this means they use a small boat to deploy and retrieve oil containment precautionary booms around vessels  transferring petroleum products there.  Here and here are examples appearing here previously. I don’t know how long booming has been required– years, I suppose;  it’s not new.

Miss Beth, however, is a new boat.  At least, this is my first time to see her.  My question is . . . what was her previous life?  She looks military.

 

The photo quality below is not the best, but I hope you find it as interesting as I do:  Left to right, most prominently that’s Martin Explorer and Douglas J., whose livery says Donjon and whose lines are unmistakably those of the former Mediterranean Sea.  Before that, she was Donald C.  Interestingly, I believe I see the stack of Lilac there too, just forward and above the stack of Douglas J.

Also, this is not a great photo of Annie Moore, a relatively new hull in the boro, given that this Bristol Harbor Group-designed (Or was it designed by TAI Engineers??) workboat was delivered at most a half year ago to work the Statue of Liberty for the National Park Service.   This is my first sighting for this boat. Her namesake is a 17-year-old Irish immigrant, the first person to pass through Ellis Island in early 1892 from steamer Nevada. Click here for more of the Annie Moore immigrant story.

Many thanks to Tony A for catching the Douglas J photo;  all others, WVD.

 

Hazy Gray Sea Daze of Summer

“Scarlet Begonias” has a line “the sky was yellow but the sun was blue…”  Well, you may have noticed the sun this morning here was pink and bluish;  the sky was a uniform gray, and 

that made the water gray as well.  Thank the Canadians . . . well, the smoke from wildfires in western Canada.

 

 

See the WTC1?

 

All photos this morning, WVD.

 

New Jersey Responder

The other day I caught Marine Spill Response Corp.’s  New Jersey Responder in the KVK out for training run. Click here for a list of MSRC’s assets around North America.  Of those assets, the sixteen 208′ x 43′ boats like the one below are the largest and most costly.  Previously I’ve posted photos of Delaware Responder and Deep Blue Responder.

Click here for an example of the 47′ class.

As I said, this Responder is one of sixteen that were built, all not quite 30 years ago.  New Jersey Responder was hull #K008;  hull #K009 was launched the same month, April 1993, as Caribbean Responder, which along with Maine Responder, makes up two of sixteen sold out of the fleet. 

From my understanding, this article is generally accurate concerning the operations and funding of MSRC. 

To get back to Caribbean Responder . . . she’s been sold twice, changed name twice, and is currently on the other side of the world.   Where and by what name?

She’s in the Arabian Sea off Oman somewhere, or last was when recorded by AIS two months ago, which means she could be anywhere on the watery planet.

She was renamed Mamola Responder and then Sophia.

All photos, WVD. 

Claremont

Claremont  . . . the place of ore and scrap.  Stand by. 

Let’s get oriented.  See the Statue midright slightly top in the map grab below?  Now follow the line representing the longer ferry route.  That is the Claremont Terminal Channel, a place you don’t go to unless you have to.  That ferry picks up on the south side of Port Liberté.  Here‘s a great montage of images in different directions from there.

See the bare earth and all the scows stacked up along the SW side of channel?

This is the domain of Sims Metal Claremont Jersey City. Find out about the shredder pulpit, zorba, and the monetary values of things related to Claremont here.  Sims is named for Albert Sims, of Sydney AU, who started the company over a century ago. To see the yard closer up, go to google earth and zoom in.

Quite often a bulk carrier is docked there, loading mostly steel and ferrous scrap in chunks created by the megashredder mentioned above along with zorba. 

One fact that’s interesting to me is from 150 years ago back to time immemorial, this was likely marsh grass leading into rich oyster beds.  In 1920 it was bulkheaded “by the Lehigh Valley railroad to unload ore-laden freighters from South America, the Claremont Terminal’s considerable dockside trackage was used to quickly deliver raw ore for use in the steel mills of Bethlehem Steel at Bethlehem, PA.”  During WW2, it “was repurposed for the loading of US Army troopships and transports following the war and working in conjunction with the Caven Point Army Terminal provided much of the material used by US forces in the early years of the Korean War.”  I’d love to know where in South America the ore came from.

On the other side of the channel is Caven Point, “operational from early 1900’s until the early 1970’s [as] a large US Army installation located on the tidal flats of Jersey City. Caven Point’s proximity to key rail networks and the ports of New York and New Jersey made it invaluable for the marshalling of troops, munitions and materials heading for front lines in Europe. During WWII, the facility was one of the major points of embarkation of US soldiers heading overseas, and was also one of the major East Coast POW processing points for captured German and Italian troops during the war. Following the cessation of hostilities, Caven Point was a key receiving point for homeward bound American servicemen, and again used its proximity to US rail lines to send tens of thousands of troops on their way home.”  Sources are here and here. Near the end of this link are photos of USN vessels at Caven Point.

This photo is taken from the innermost area of Claremont looking back out.  The USACE buildings at Caven Point are to the left, and Atlantic Veracruz is along the dock to the right.  Rebecca Ann and Sarah Ann are managing the scrap scows.  Shoreside here is not Sims but Clean Earth, Inc.

That’s Brooklyn in the distance.

All photos and reads, WVD.

Glimpses of Gowanus 4

I can’t leave you on the Gowanus Canal as I did a week ago, so let’s head back.  Here’s a look back; small tug Jimmy moves into our location with a mini mud scow.  Btw, if you’re unfamiliar with Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, here‘s a bit of history.

From the inland side of the Ninth Avenue Bridge, we move through, looking toward the Hamilton Street Bridge and the BQE.  NYC DOT oversees 24 moveable bridges;  you’re looking at two of them right here. 

You’ve seen signs of “entering” and “leaving” on terrestrial thoroughfares.  This one on the Hamilton Street bridge is unusual.

We move our load of pilings, old but preserved in whatever you’d call Gowanus water.  Note the curve in the Canal just beyond the bridge.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of people travel atop this Gowanus Expressway/BQE bridge.  Maybe dozens see its underside. 

The Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station has been open for just over three years.  For a look inside, click here.

In a previous post on “trashed universal product,” you can see the outbound transfer stations.  More on the whole process here.

Much more unexpected along the south bank of the Canal Bay are these “sea float” Siemens 76-MW aeroderivative gas turbines.

As much as I can tell, these units have been here for just over a year. 

Here‘s more on Vard Marine’s involvement with Siemens SeaFloat.  These must have been towed in,  Did anyone catch this?

As the spray denotes, we’ve now out of the Gowanus Canal, which may or may not be named for a Lenape chief,  and headed over to a disposal site, but that’ll be another post.  Lots more facts about the canal in the link in the previous sentence. 

Many thanks to James for the trip. All photos, interpretation, WVD.

Glimpses of Gowanus 3

Here are earlier installments of this.  And if you’re not familiar the the location of Gowanus or its history, check the links embedded.  If you live in the NYC area and drive or take Brooklyn subways, you have no doubt gone over it.  If you’ve wondered where the name comes from, check this alphabetical listing with great old photos.

Last week I had the opportunity to travel up the waterway, thanks to James Stasinos.  Gowanus Bay is marked by the grain elevators, (built in 1922!!), and the storage ship Loujaine.  For a full history of the cement carrier originally called Bahma, click here.

The tug was headed up the canal, as it does several times daily, is the cleanup, which has recently begun in earnest.

A bit farther in, Diane B turns John Blanche before heading across the Upper Bay. 

As we head in, we first head through the Hamilton Avenue  bridge and under the Gowanus Expressway flyover. The passage is narrow and located on a turn.

Here’s the view to port.

Once through there, we weave between a scrap yard and Lowe’s parking lot.

Above and below, that’s the Ninth Avenue bridge.  Like the Hamilton Avenue bridge, passing involves a conversation with the bridge tender.

Here we look over the bridge  and beyond while waiting for the bridge to open.

This is the view to starboard as we wait.

Once through, we arrive at the pickup site.  Note the excavator that could tell stories

 

of sifting through and removing the “black mayonnaise.”  Nuggets of historical interest are being collected for future display.   It’ll be years before this project is complete.

 

Many thanks to James for the trip.  All photos, interpretation, WVD.

Once I rowed to the head of the Canal here.  And in November 2013, I traveled up the waterway, and photos of the cargo are scattered throughout posts from late November that year. 

Retro Sixth Boro 25 b

Followingup from yesterday and “…maybe it’s time for new permutations of truckster, teamster, bikester, autoster, planester, hutster, hikester, storyster, . . . ” let me say you’ve sent in some great ideas which I’ll follow up on in the next few days.

For now, let’s glance back 10 years to April 2010.  Any idea what this is all about?

Indeed, it was the arrival of 343!  Here‘s the post I did on that event.

A perennial harbor towing star is the Thomas J. Brown.  Here‘s the post with these now reposted photos.  What’s amazing to me here is the fact that two scows are being towed on a single hawser attached front starboard side of the lead barge.

Maybe there’s a term for this, other than brilliant?

Currently a tug operates through the harbor with the name Curtis Reinauer. Actually it’s the third boat with that name.  The one depicted below, 1979, the second iteration, is now in West African waters.  The original Curtis was reefed, although I haven’t located where.

APL Japan, with its port of registry as Oakland CA, was built in 1995;  since she appears not to have moved in some months from its anchorage in Gulf of Khambhat, I’m guessing she’s scrapped, although I can’t find evidence of that.

I count 15 containers across on the stern.

And finally, Steve Irwin, the Sea Shepherd boat, was in town in April 2010.  It has since been retired, was slated to be scrapped, but then saved as a museumship and is currently in Williamstown, Victoria in Australia.

The post I did on Irwin back then did not include the photo below, and

although I included the photo below, I did not comment on the ports of registry given, Rotterdam AND Kahnawake.  Now that I recognize what that is, I’m wondering about that relationship.  how many other vessels are Kahnawake registered?  Here‘s part of the story.

All photos here, WVD, taken in April 2010.

Stay healthy.

Local Spill Response Vessels

I wanted to call this local exotic vessels, exotic because they are seldom seen here.  And, you don’t want to see them . . . actually, you don’t want the emergency that brings them out.

Take NRC Guardian.  I’ve seen it docked for several years, but this is the first time I saw them underway.   I know there are drill runs to make sure the team and the equipment are ready to go; still ths is the first time I’ve seen it move.

She was unlocked and loaded the other day.

When this small boat went by, I knew another local exotic might be moving.  Click here and here for more info on NRC.   Since NRC Guardian was built in 1980, likely before NRC, I’d love to know what she was called earlier.

I believe this is one of the smallboats that rides

New Jersey Responder.  MSRC expands to “marine spill response corporation,” somewhat like an ambulance or a firetruck, loaded with all manner of equipment to (one hopes) quickly contain a petroleum spill in the sixth boro.  The New Jersey boat is one a set scattered around US waters.  The link in the previous sentence is dated; I know that Maine Responder was sold out of MSRC last year and is being converted into a Sandy Hook Pilots vessel.

Although I’ve never been aboard either Guardian or Responder, I’m guessing they carry roughly the same type of equipment, differing only in the quantity of such.  For example, oneach of the spill boats I see the orange skimmer.

 

And as the NJ Responder departs the Kills, another pollution response vessel enters, but that’s a different story.

All photos, WVD.

 

Specialized 24

Neither the lines nor the color scheme is typical.   To briefly digress, that load of vehicles on the VZ Bridge is all too typical for this time of day.

Shelia Bordelon has been off the south shore of Long Island for the past month or so. I could have put this post into the exotics category, which it is, but this vessel, her fleet, and this type are exotic because they possess specialized capabilities not frequently called for in our regional waters at this time.

Technically, Shelia Bordelon is an ULIV PSV, the third in the Bordelon fleet. . .  ultra light intervention vessel and a specialized type of platform supply vessel.  Click here for more info on specialized uses of ULIVs.

Click here for more products of the Bordelon Marine shipyard, one of which, Josephine K Miller, is based locally.   I caught photos of her recently, which I’ll post one of these days.

Is the pink splash making more sense now?  Click here for the specific connection between this vessel and breast cancer.

See the person in the protected space below the yellow boxes for scale?

I believe this is Shelia Bordelon‘s second trip into the sixth boro, the first being a few weeks ago while I was a few hundred miles inland.

By now you must be wondering what specialized task brings her to local waters.  So a British tanker —Coimbra— has been on the bottom, along with most of her crew, all victims of a U-boat attack in January 1942,  for over 3/4 of a century, south of Shinnecock, and the ULIV is here to monitor it. 

I’d love to see the underwater video images they’ve gotten.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp.

Brigitte Bardot

Is this the latest tagster post?  A fan club for an octogenarian who quickened the pulse of boys I knew back in the 1950s and 1960s?

And this?

MV Brigitte Bardot is one of the “Neptune’s navy.”  Almost 10 years ago, I toured another one of their vessels, Steve Irwin, while it was in NYC. Irwin has recently been retired and may already be recycled.

Here’s more about the organization.

 

Bardot is Dominica registered.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks the “interceptor” will be in NYC through at least Sunday evening.   Check the link in the previous sentence for info on Saturday and Sunday tours of the vessel, 11-4 first come first serve.

Click here and here for info on SS fleet.

For some other truly unusual vessels that have called via NYC’s sixth boro, check PlanetSolar here, Abora II here, and Proteus–one that I missed but another blogger caught.