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Wilf and Alouette have been a GL fixture for some time, and this passing allowed
a glimpse of her hold, all those aluminum ingots ready to be shaped somewhere.
I have never seen Wilf
without her barge Alouette Spirit. As of this writing, they’re in the Motor City area.
We lost light before lock 7, and morning had us outside Toronto. That’s Frontenac waiting to enter the port. Tomorrow’s post might be a set all about the CSL boat’s entrance.
It’s a great day when through some smoky air comes
W. Lyon Mackenzie making the world a sweeter place.
Last photo for today shows Alicudi bringing in the cement. How old do you think the cement ship is?
All photos, any errors, WVD.
NACC Alicudi . . . is a mere 11 years old!!
Here was “government boats 44” from almost six years ago. Before you click on the link in the previous sentence, do you recognize the vessel fighting the fire below?
It’s none other than the oldest active fireboat in the world, unless someone can prove that it’s not.
And if you’re not familiar with the boat yet, it’s Edward M. Cotter, built as W. S. Grattan in Elizabethport NJ in 1900 !!!, and –as seen above–still active doing what it was built for as part of the Buffalo Fire Department. For info on its current namesake, click here. More photos here.
Other photos I’ve taken of Cotter over the years can be seen here. Other fireboats posts… here.
Thanks much to Brian R. Wroblewski for use of these photos. More photos of Cotter and BFD on scene can be seen on FB at Buffalo Fire & Rescue On Scene for April 15, 2023. Previous photos from Brian on this blog can be seen here.
Big announcement on tugster tomorrow.
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.
The first three come thanks to Steve Munoz . . . HMS Bounty heading up the North River in May 1998.
Taken November 2001, it’s Adventure of the Seas heading upriver with an diverse escort. Given the date, this would have been her maiden voyage into the sixth boro of NYC. John D. McKean and what appears to be another fireboat beyond her, a USCG 140′ cutter, and lots of commercial tugboats see her in. Adventure of the Seas is currently in Sint Maarten, along with at least four fleetmates.
From October 1986, David McAllister is on the starboard bow of Borenquin heading into Port Elizabeth.
From John Jedrlinic, it’s Laney Chouest in Tampa. The blue/white vessel at Laney‘s bow is the Aiviq, the AHTS built for ice. You may recall its challenges back in 2012.
and C-Tractor 8 . . . taken in October 2016.
And from last week, Craig Lewis sent along these photos of McAllister Brothers awaiting its fate in Fall River.
Since launch in 1958, how many tons of grub and coffee have crews ingested in this galley of the Brothers . . !?
And finally, last but not least, Skip Mildrum noticed some interesting cargo in Port Elizabeth recently . . .
Might they be new Kawasaki subway cars, four of an order of 535 R211 cars coming to a subway stop near you one of these days? They might not be, given his estimate of car length; R211s are only 60′ loa.
Skip’s estimate of the trailers was at least 120′. Also, the R211s are built in Nebraska . . .
Many thanks to Steve, John, Craig, and Skip for these photos.
Heraclitus has to be the classical philosopher most referred to on this blog. I thought of this person again as I returned into the city after my longest ever so far time away; this is a familiar place of six boros, and yet it does not seem familiar. It is new, renewed by multiple sunrises and by my recollection as I gallivanted afar, seeing new places. We enter beneath the GW, which I’ve never seen lit up this way.
On the water side of a wild and dynamic clutch of architecture, Pegasus stands guard,
As we make an initial run to the Upper Bay, we pass a renewed Harvey, a resolute Frying Pan, and an ever working Chandra B.
Hunting Creek follows Chandra B up to the cruise terminal.
USCGC Shrike waits near FDNY’s Hudson River station and the sprouting Pier 55.
Ernest Campbell brings more fuel to the cruise terminal.
Sarah Ann (I believe) delivers waste, passing the Battery, where Clipper City awaits another day of passengers.
As we circled back to dock, an unfamiliar tug was southbound.
Robert T and that livery are not ones I recognized, until
I realized this was the old Debora Miller. Who knew!!??
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
More Great Race tomorrow.
Let’s finish up Whatzit 38, which started here with a plain white canvas. Below is a photo I took during the tugboat race in September 2015 of John J. Harvey, an FDNY fireboat in commission between 1931 and 1995.
And here’s one I took in April 2010, making an up-to 18,000 gpm water display to welcome the 343 into the sixth boro. Pumping water, which makes these designs in the sky, is the whole point of a fireboat. So . . .
check out her summer 2018 look.
This is a thorough
thorough dazzle paint job, white spray all over the boat, including the decks.
From this angle below, she really looks like a WW1 Norman Wilkinson production.
I can’t wait to see her in glass calm water . . . to enjoy the reflections.
I believe this is the current John J. Harvey website.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Remember tug Hackensack about ten years ago? I’ve read some negative opining about the paint job on FB . . . here’s the concept.
Let’s start with a baseline, exactly seven years ago. I got this photo of Harvey putting on a water display just south of Yonkers on June 12, 2011.
These next photos came from Lisa Kolibabek a few days ago, following up on the post of a week ago where I said “watch this space.”.
Never has a vessel been painted thus!
Note the master plan lower left.
The art is in progress . . .
so I hope you’re intrigued enough to continue watching this space. Once the superstructure is painted, watch the space between the KVK and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Many thanks to Lisa for snapping these photos as she works on W. O. Decker, which you can see at work 39 years ago here.
I seem to recall bowsprite had a similar idea back in 2010.
George sent me these photos months ago, and I apologize for leaving them in storage for so long. But since I have a lull in traveling, these photos need to come out now, starting with Deschenes, about which I’ll have more to say at the end of this post. This photo was taken in the interestingly named town of De Tour Village, MI, a place definitely on my list for a summer trip.
As I reconstruct George’s journey, which started and ended the same day in Sault Ste Marie MI, he drove close to 500 miles to get these photos. I’ve rearranged the order. This fish tug on the Garden Peninsula appears to be called Morning Star, although likely in earlier days it had a different name. I skipped this peninsula on my trip last summer.
Farther east and south, he shot Siscowet (1946) over the fence. As of some time ago, the Burger Boat vessel was still not scrapped.
Lake Explorer, built 1963 as a USCG 82′ cutter, is now retired from the Minnesota Sea Grant program. No doubt, the vessel below has shifted some of its work to Lake Guardian, which I caught here entering Milwaukee harbor.
Krystal started life as 45′ ST 2168, later USACE Thunder Bay, launched by Roamer Boat in 1953. Some Roamer STs previously posted on this blog can be located here.
LARCs . . . here’s one.
This tug yacht . . . George had no clues about. Anyone?
Linda Jean, built in Green Bay in 1950, spent a quarter century as a fish tug before transformation into a pilot boat, a role she continues–I believe–to serve. I’ve long been intrigued by fish tugs. In the distance, that’s Drummond Islander IV, 148′ x 43′ with 32-car capacity, since 2000 providing year-round service to . . . Drummond Island. Click here for the great shots of her “walking” over the ice on a -15 degrees F morning. How can drones even work in that?
If there were plans to scuttle this Chicago River icebreaker fireboat as a dive site over a decade ago, well, only skydivers could descend on her in her location as of some months back. It’s Fireboat Engine No. 37 aka Joseph Medill, launched in 1949 and retired in 1936 1986.
My reason for starting out with George’s photo of Deschenes is that she is for sale. Here’s a photo of the boat in 2003.
Here she is out of the water at Passage Boat Works in De Tour, MI, and
and here’s the paperwork. If interested, here’s more: asking price is $22,000.00 and contact is Les Thornton at les.d.thornton@gmail.com
Thanks to George and Les for use of these photos.
And happy thanksgiving, today and every day.
Unrelated: Enjoy this slide show of the work leading up to the opening on the VZ Bridge 53 years ago today, and below, that’s Sarah D outbound under the VZ near midsummer earlier this year at 0530 . . .
I’ll identify this one in a bit, but try guessing? Here’s the helm and
the engine room. It was re powered in 1952–3 and has proven its value in both fire and ice.
While you ponder that–if you so choose–check out these related vessels. I’m not sure the one below has a name.
Curtis Randolph‘s namesake was a Detroit firefighter. Click here for a site dedicated to Detroit fireboats.
Hogan is NEITHER a government boat nor a fireboat, but it berths near Randolph and does perform emergency duties in the Detroit River.
Ditto Mackinac Marine Rescue, although it can fight fire as well.
And this returns us to the two photos at the top of this post: it’s the Elizabethport NJ built E. M. Cotter, built in 1900 in the area right across from Howland Hook.
She’s lovingly kept immaculate by her very proud crew with some funds raised independently.
Click here for an article from a few days ago on needs of this, the world’s oldest working fireboat. At that link, there are also photos of Cotter‘s operations over the years.
As that article also says, it’s the fine Swedish steel that explains her longevity.
If you’re from Elizabeth NJ or anywhere in northern NJ,
it’s well that you know about this fine vessel and the shipyard where she was first launched, where the first class of USN submarines were also built. Also, John Purves, the museum-based tug in Sturgeon Bay, was also built in Elizabethport.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
What’s that vessel in light battleship gray primer?
She’s been cleaned right down to the bilge . . .
Recognize this riveted hull?
There’s a William Francis Gibbs design surrounded by that 900-ton travel lift.
Here’s the new look bow,
profile,
and stern.
In new paint and old colors, it’s Fire Fighter.
Here’s a note from Mike Hibbard, Museum VP and Historian, “This work was made possible by grants from the National Parks Service National Maritime Heritage program, as well as the NY State Office of Historic Preservation, and our supporters and benefactors who provided matching donations to allow us to access the grant funds. We’re still taking donations for shipyard work thorough our donation page on our website, and presently have a benefactor willing to provide a 100% match on any donations up to $50K received for additional yard work.
When Fighter emerges from the shipyard, she’ll no longer be sporting the red coat of paint applied to the FDNY fleet in the 1960’s. We’re taking her back to her 1938 appearance – which means she’ll have a black hull, white topside house, black decks and a buff stack. All the monitors, bitts and nameboards will also be returned to their original polished brass appearance.”
Here is the post mentioned I’m updating. I’m eager to see this resurrected vessel back in Greenport. According to Museum President, Charlie Ritchie, ETA back in Greenport is before Memorial Day.
Enjoy some more process photos . . . hydroblasting the hull . . .
rivet head welding below the waterline, and
more of those great lines in light battleship gray.
Come see her in Greenport soon.
tugster: a waterblog 
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