Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 16

Tankers don’t usually dock here, and 

tankers of this size, Suezmax and 910′ x 157′ are not even the norm in the sixth boro.

I don’t know the story, but 

since she’s so light, I needed to get these close ups at

dawn.  

She’s sailed the oceans for less than a year since leaving a shipyard–don’t know which–of this company.  If she’s not the actual newest, she’s certainly among the newest, and since she’s the only Suezmax tanker in town, I’m certain she’s the newest Suezmax tanker in the sixth boro this morning. 

She’s exposing a lot of hull.

All photos, WVD.

Here are her fleetmates. 

Government Boats 58

The sixth boro has lots of government boats . . .  aka taxpayers’ boats, like the 29 Defiant…

This RB-M appears to be training a large crew.

This BUSL is headed out for some ATON work.

Besides the many federal boats, NYC has its own fleet including three GUP carriers of this latest class.  This is a front light Rockaway.

One of two large fireboats, 343 here is at her base beside Little Island, aka Diller Island.

USACE in the boro has some small survey boats.

Sturgeon Bay holds station at the star. 

And to close out . . .  here’s that same 29 Defiant executing a tight turn in the ferry wake. 

All photos, WVD, who’s still on the road. 

Government Boats 57

I have to go back over 14 years to find the previous appearance of Tybee on this blog.  Is she still based in Woods Hole?  Has she been here and I just missed it?  I can’t say.  I would say she rolls . . .

The groupbrain internet says she’s still based in Woods Hole, all except earlier this week. 

 

SSG Michael H. Ollis continues her training runs in the Upper Bay.  I’m eager to catch my first ride aboard her.

At least when her sisters show up, crews will be trained, having done their orientations aka Familiarization 101 aboard Ollis. Anyone know ETA of next of the class?

And finally, I was thrilled to catch Susan Miller and Gabby escorting retired FDNY Alfred E. Smith to another berth.  I forgot to follow up, so I don’t know where Smith is currently located.  Anyone help?

I was fortunate to catch her with backgrounds Pier A and

the Colgate Clock. 

All photos, WVD.

Unrelated:  I’m planning a post on the 1946 Matton-built tugboat that carried the following names:  Margaret Matton, Fort Lauderdale, Evening Light, Hudson, and Chyanne Rose.  As Hudson, she worked for Reinauer/BTT from 1978 until 2005.  She came up recently in a conversation about running oil up the Passaic as far as Wallington, and I’d love to collect stories.  Please help out with stories and photos if you can.

 

Government Boats 56

I believe this is the first time I post a photo of 1961 FDNY Alfred E. Smith.  She was sold to private owners in 2016. 

Nearer the mainland on Pier 25, Lilac has held this berth since 2011.

USACE Gelberman has been a regular here, as has 

Dobrin.

USACE Driftmaster has worked collecting debris since 1949!  I wonder how plans to replace her are coming along. 

I could not identify this heavily-laden sludge  . . . I mean GUP . . . carrier. 

NYPD’s Cardillo and 

Hansen are two boats of the Harbor Unit, itself a part of NYPD since 1858.  Hansen has been in service since 1994. 

Soderman is the current occupant at Bayonne Drydock & Repair.

Oops!  It’s Alice and Ollis.  Alice Austen usually runs in the wee hours, and Ollis arrived in the boro back in August and will enter service as soon as training is complete. 

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All photos, WVD.

 

Happy 90th to Fireboat John J. Harvey

Here’s something to celebrate:  the 90th anniversary of fireboat John J. Harvey.  There’s a party, and you can get your tickets here.

From the 1931fireboat.org site, the fireboat was “the boat was launched in Brooklyn on October 6, 1931. and commissioned on December 17..” with many superlatives “the first fireboat powered by internal combustion engines and the first that could pump and maneuver simultaneously… the largest, fastest fire fighting machine of her time, capable of pumping 18,000 gallons per minute, roughly the equivalent of 20 terrestrial fire trucks. The innovations of her design influenced all subsequent fireboats.”  

Who was John J. Harvey?  “Firefighter John J. Harvey was pilot of the steam fireboat Thomas Willett. In February 1930 a fire broke out aboard the North German Lloyd Lines ship Muenchen.   Willett came alongside and her crew started working aboard the burning ship. The fire could not be contained and a series of massive explosions rocked Muenchen. The largest explosion sent a section of steel plate through the pilot house of Willett, killing Pilot Harvey instantly. All except for John J. Harvey survived the disaster.   John J. Harvey was the first New York City fireboat named after a member of the department.

In early October 1937 Mayor Fiorello inaugurated the two-way radio system, linking all nine FDNY fireboats.

The Harvey/Normandie story is complex;  even more so is the Harvey/World Trade Center story.

 

FDNY retired her in 1995, and “placed up for auction and bought by her present owners on February 11, 1999.”  Note the condition of her starboard propeller in drydock in 2000.   Refurbished, she made her first voyage on August 4, 1999. She performed and pumped well, signaling the first of many new trips as a preserved historic vessel.

She appears in many maritime festivals outside NYC, as here in Oyster Bay, and

here at the Waterford Tugboat Roundup.

To close out, here are some of my photos of Harvey, dazzled in memory of the camouflaged vessels of WW1.

 

She not only looks good:  she also moves, her bow slicing through the river as here in September 2013.

 

I once rode as guest on Harvey years ago . . . July 4, 2009, from Manhattan to Poughkeepsie, as reported here.

Happy b’day and long may she sail.

 

TS Empire State VI Returns 2021

Welcome back from Summer Sea Term this year.  An FDNY boat provided a water display welcome on the far side of Governors Island, but my vantage point, as suggested by a SUNY grad, was Brooklyn Heights.  This was the view from the Esplanade and Pierrepont.  To see my perspective on previous occasions, click on the tag above.   From the Heights, the overcast and almost precipitating morning dimmed the many gantry cranes in the distant port.

When she was delivered in 1962 as a break bulk freighter SS Oregon, she would have been typical of freighters on the high seas.   Since 1990, returning aboard from summer sea terms has been a rite of passage for thousands of SUNY grads.  I hope I have my dates right;  if not, I’m sure you’ll correct me.

Passing the ferry terminals at the tip of Manhattan must have looked quite different back 30 years ago; the sight from 100 years ago would have differed dramatically. . . 

as would any FDNY or NYPD escort vessels.

Back then, in the foreground, there would be commercial activity and warehouses, not

parkland with

an ever-growing cover of urban forest

almost obscuring the training ship as it passes beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Welcome back. 

All photos, WVD, with thanks to Steve Munoz to try out this view.

Another training ship came through here just a week or so ago.   Here are a few more from other maritime academies.

 

 

Retro Sixth Boro NYC Tugboat Races 5

Call this “thanks to Steve Munoz 20:  the 9th Annual North River Tugboat Race September 2, 2001.”   As Steve writes,  “The tug race on 9/2/2001 was  nine days before 9/11/2001. I was on board the tug Janet M McAllister for the race. My son was on board a Seabulk oil tanker docked in Bayonne and he could see the Twin Towers from his cabin porthole. As the tug headed up the Upper Bay I was going to take a picture of the Twin Towers and decided not to since I had so many already. Little did I, or anyone else, know that they would not exist nine days later. I wish I had taken a picture.

[Participating] include tugs McAllister Bros, Janet M McAllister, Empire State, J George Betz, Mary L McAllister, Irish Sea, Dory Barker, Powhatan, Dace Reinauer, Beaufort Sea, Resolute, Growler, Z-TWO, Janice Ann Reinauer, Katherine, Amy C McAllister, James Turecamo, Kathleen Turecamo, Emil P Johannsen;  also, includes fireboats John D McKean, John J Harvey.

I’ll not identify all the boats here.  As you know, some of these boats, like Dace Reinauer, look quite different now. Also, many boats here, like Janet D. McAllister and Powhatan,  are no longer in the sixth boro,

Z-Two is now Erin McAllister, and in Providence RI.

Emil P. Johannsen is laid up, I believe,

in Verplanck NY.

 

Beaufort Sea has been scrapped.

There were tugboats to port and

tugboats PLUS a fireboat to starboard.  Two things here:  I love the water thrusters deployed from Z-Two.  And Powhatan is now a commissioned Turkish naval vessel known as TCG Inebolu;  as such it was involved a month ago in the tow of a Bangladeshi corvette, BNS Bijoy, which had been damaged in the explosion in Beirut harbor.

 

 

 

Again, many thanks to Steve Munoz for taking us back to September 2, 2001 with these photos.

A different series of tugboat races happened decades earlier, as attested here.  An indicator of how different the world then was is the fact that back then, a rowing contest was included, and crews of ships in port took part.  Those days of break-bulk cargo had ships in port for much longer periods of time,  and “port” included places along the Hudson.

 

Unusual Tow 2

I’ve seen unusual tows before 2019, but it was only then that I started counting.  I’ll add links to previous unusual tows at the end of this post.  So where’s the tow?

It’s (l to r) Mary Alice, Laura Maersk, and Emily Ann, all behind Atlantic Enterprise.

The story is simple if unfortunate . . .

You’ve no doubt experienced the same with your car, or boat . . .  Something happens, and you need a tow.  This one started a few days ago, as you can read in the link in the previous sentence.  Here‘s more detail.

Fire Fighter II met the tow as it approached the Narrows.

Mary Alice had starboard,

Emily Ann had port.

The trio delivered the container ship to Stapleton.  Moran tugs took the ship from there to the container docks.

Today’s weather was fabulous and seas flat, not so a few days ago.

All photos, WVD.

Some previous unusual tows might be these of Wavertree, Peking, Lehigh Valley 79, Dorothy McAllister and mystery ship, the future OHP, Thorco Hilde, SS Columbia, and I could go on . . .  Maybe I need to add some appropriate tags.

 

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Small Craft 24 a

I’m at a quo vadis point myself.  I appreciate the feedback you’ve given on the virtual tour. I could do more, e.g., guide to the Welland Canal, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and four of the five Great Lakes.  As to the Erie Canal, which was/were your favorite leg?  What info specifically did you find most interesting or startling?  As for myself, learning about the loyalists  . . . that’s topic I could dig into more, not on the blog but in my personal reading.  Three Rivers Inn nightclub is one of my favorite details.

Let’s have a look at small boats and their seasons. Below, that might be Emily Miller, black and white alongside the monolithic hull of USNS Watkins.  She’s acrew boat that operates all year ’round.

Savitsky is one sweet fish boat.  Fishing is a year round activity in the boro.

Emergency vessels are here year rund. NYPD has a number of these fast 70′ tactical response boats.  One I caught soon after arrival in the sixth boro exceeding 40 knots can be seen here.

Side by side, here’s a serious USCG 45′ nearer and a NJ State Police RIB farther.

And the 29′ Defiant looks like it’s made for

maneuver-

ability!

Marine 1 FDNY has the big boats, medium,  and small boats, although I’m not sure the length and other specs of this one.

And finally, the North Hudson Firestorm 36 is a rare sight on the KVK.  I first saw her here on her delivery from Canada.

All these photos I took in March or earlier.  As we move farther into spring, covid-19 notwithstanding, different types of small boats will be moving around the sixth boro.

 

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.