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Seth Tane took this photo on the Columbia in 2000. This was my sense of tugboats back then. I had little sense of their age, power, crews, skills needed for operation, etc. Take a guess on those features of this boat, and I’ll provide you some answers at the end of this post. Note that this tug and barge are at a log dock, a trade unknown in the sixth boro or the NE US.
Here’s a shot I took in 2002 while hanging out on what I called back then the “waterfront” and saw this vessel. Again, I had no idea of those same features as they pertained to this vessel, nor of the logic of this design. Test yourself, and then some info can be found at the end.
I took this photo in 2004. My 15 years in coastal NE had given me an interest in schooners but I’d never sought an opportunity to crew on one, until my move to NYS, first on and then off the live-aboard.
Note the warehouses still standing where Brooklyn Bridge Park is now located. Volunteer crewing on Pioneer and the other boats at South Street Seaport Museum kept me on the Upper Bay for long hours, and I saw lots of new things,
some things whose uniqueness I didn’t even fully appreciate. Anyone know what’s become of that tugboat Rachel Marie? I don’t.
Some things intrigued me,
and other things like this derelict sugar mill and sunken lightship were soon to disappear.
I started to see interesting tugboats in unexpected places.
Little did I expect then the changes that would happen. Know the boat above and below?
All photos, WVD. Answers below.
Craig Foss, 1944, 116′ x 30′. Here are more particulars, but as good as the boat appeared the top photo, she was purchased by unqualified parties, detained, and eventually scrapped. You need to read the story here; some crew were lucky to have survived.
The second photo shows Coral Queen, a motor tanker that carried petroleum from 1920 (!!!) until 2011. That is a long working life. Here are the particulars from Birk’s data base. From Auke Visser’s site, here are more particulars. And finally, from my Barge Canal series last year, here are images of her generations of fleet mates; her design relates to her work as a tanker in the “inter-connected waterways,” the Great Lakes and salt water connected by the Barge Canal.
The 1885 Pioneer still seasonally sails with professional and volunteer crews, and the 1893 Lettie G. Howard does the same on Lake Erie mostly.
I’ve no idea what became of Rachel Marie.
Meow Man traces are still around.
The sugar mill area now has an Amazon facility, and the old shipyard is the Red Hook Ikea parking lot, and the sunken ship reefed, the piers scrapped.
Grouper, frozen in ice, is still waiting to be scrapped, but as of March 2, 2023 is still entirely intact. The orange livery has disappeared from the sixth boro; that boat June K is now Donjon blue.
Ultimately, the more I found answers to questions I had, the more I was drawn in to learn more, a fact that keeps me looking and asking. I really never expected to be in the boros and fascinated by the sixth boro as long as I have been. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend from another NYC life and she reported never to have heard of the sixth boro. I guess that’s as shocking as hearing that someone’s not heard of the legendary Meow Man, the saltwater equivalent of Kilroy, or the US version of Maqroll, whose exploits need to be written down. As of the date of these photos, tugster the blog had not yet been launched.
I’m not sure when I’ll post anything next, but it could be tomorrow.
Can you identify this text? “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.” I’ll provide the answer at the end of this post.
Thanks much to George Schneider for sending along this “cheer,” Wedell Foss, Port Angeles WA and taken last night.
As for me, I’m staying inside mostly today and not going out looking for Christmas Eve festivity photos, but I planned ahead and have these to share. Know this be-decked-the-decks boat?
South Street Seaport Museum always decorates the boats.
And this captain, maybe he supports his whirlwind worldwide Christmas Eve navigations by peregrinating the sixth boro days and nights all the rest of the year? Did you realize the North Pole elf king had a USCG license?
So merry Christmas eve from tugster tower. Thanks for reading the blog, commenting, sending along photos, sending me cards, sharing tips, and especially leaving me off the list when the subpoenas go out.
Now that quote . . . I remember friends used to have posters on their walls with that text way back when. Here’s more:
“… As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit….
Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.” It’s Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata. That link gets you the whole short text.
Since it was 7 degrees F this morning in the sixth boro, here are some southern Christmas tips, southern as in Chile, that is. I think of warm Chile in northern winter because around the five boros and beyond, it’s where our road salt comes from.
Many thanks to George for sending along the photo, and the ferry captain for transporting cheer around the sixth boro. Gary Steele, thanks for reminding me about Desiderata, product of Terre Haute IN.
If you have your own tugsteresque seasonal photos you wish to share, please send them.
In July 2010, the 1968 Black Hawk was one of two sister tugs operated by Sound Freight Lines. Since then, the sister Seminole has been sold foreign, and Black Hawk has been sold to Sause Brothers Ocean Towing. Sause refurbished her and for an account of Black Hawk towing a barge from San Francisco to Vancouver, click here. Details on Black Hawk are 112′ x 34′ and 3700 hp.
Chief, 1999, is/was one of Crowley’s Harbor class tugs. She’s 97′ x 36′ and 4800 hp.
James T. Quigg is no doubt now wearing Centerline Logistics colors. She dates from 1971 and measures in at 98′ x 30′ and 3000 hp. Since launch, she’s worked the US East Coast, once called Fournier Boys, and Hawaii, as well as the West Coast.
Alaska Titan came off the ways in 2008. She’s one of a half dozen “titans” operated by Western Towboat.
Currently following the waterway through the islands of the Alaska panhandle, she measures in at 112′ x 35′ and 5000 hp.
Westrac, 1987, is another Western Towboat vessel, measuring in at 63′ x 28′ and 2500 hp.
This Triton, launched 1965, now goes by Wycliffe. She’s 115′ x 31′ and 2500 hp. She’s currently in Ensenada MX.
Dixie, 1951, has a history in towing log rafts on the Columbia River hundreds of miles above Portland OR. She’s 46′ x 15′ and 575 hp.
Pacific Star, launched 2008, now goes by Signet Courageous. She’s 92′ x 40′ and 6610 hp. She’s currently in the Gulf of Mexico off Corpus Christi.
On Lake Washington, Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain were out sailing. The two vessels are now outside the Puget Sound in Gray’s Harbor, and Hawaiian Chieftain, as I understand it, has been “laid up.” The two replica vessels have a waterline length of 72’and 62′, respectively.
Island Packer puzzles me a bit. It seems not be cost effective to operate the 1943 converted landing craft between here and the Aleutians, where Chernofsky is located. I suppose it was in Seattle that day for service. I don’t know.
Katie Ann, launched in Baltimore in 1969, almost 300′ loa and powered by 8000 hp, is one of six processing/packing/freezing vessels operated by American Seafoods. She operates with a crew of 75. As of this writing, according to AIS, she’s in exactly the same location I photographed her in July 2010, but only because she’s between seasons.
Viking has the lines of a converted oiler, like these. She could be the 120′ crabber/trawler built for crabbing/fishing by Marco in 1975.
All photos, WVD, in July 2010.
Garth Foss, launched in 1993, is huge: 138′ x 46′ with 8000 hp and 80 tonnes of bollard pull. Robert Allan says of Garth and sister Lindsey, ““They were really the first true purpose-designed tanker escort tugs in the world.”
Pacific Pride, launched in 1976 and measuring 84′ x 28′ and 2500 hp, is now Panama-registered D Dog. She’s currently anchored off Callao Peru.
Next to her is Sirius, launched in 1974, 126′ x 38′ and 5750 hp, and currently laid up in Hawaii.
Guardian was launched in 1970, measuring 136′ x 37′ and 5750 hp, and is laid up. Gladiator dates from 1975, measures in at 129′ x 37′ and 7200 hp. She’s now Vanuatu-registered Resolve Gladiator, currently in the Irish Sea.
Over in Bremerton, I saw YTB 828 aka Catahecassa 101′ x 31′. She was launched in 1974 in Marinette WI. One source says that In 2013, she was sold to Basic Towing and renamed Gina. Basic does own YTB 827 Chetek now known as Nickelena. Of course, all of this could be out of date.
Western Ranger was launched in 1968 as Oio, a Hawaiian Pineapple, then Dole tugboat. In 1992 she came to Western Tugboat. She’s 101′ x 31′ and rated at 3420 hp. As of now, she’s on a run from Nome to Dutch Harbor.
Flyer was built in 1981. She’s all of 37′ x 16′ and 400 hp. Hornet was built in 1966 and the tape says 42′ x 14′ and 360 hp.
Pathfinder was launched in 1970, 136′ x 37′ and 5750 hp. Now she goes by Island Explorer and is off BC on a run from Seattle to Anchorage.
Valor was launched in 2007 and chartered to Crowley. She’s 93′ x 40′ and 6772 hp. Currently she’s in San Francisco Bay.
Andrew Foss was launched in 1982 as Andrew Foss, measuring in at 107′ x 38′ and 4290 hp.
The trip to the Seattle area in July 2010 produced lots of photos I posted here. Maybe I should get updates on more of the boats I saw there. I was invited to be there in August 2020 for a wedding, but like so many things . . . that’s not happening.
All photos, WVD.
You saw Lauren Foss in yesterday’s post here. Here’s a followup, from sixth boro interiors I don’t get to much. Richie Ryden writes: “Look who showed up on the Hackensack River in Kearny NJ: Lauren Foss with the barge American Trader in tow with the new deck for the Wittpenn Bridge. The bridge deck was built in Vancouver, Washington shipped through the Panama Canal to NJ.”
If I read the AIS info correctly when I first saw Lauren off Sandy Hook, that voyage took about a month and a week.
And thanks to Joseph Chomicz, here’s more of that area, photo taken just upstream of the others. Joseph writes: “Lauren Foss was destined for the Hackensack River. She brought in the lift span of the new Route 7 lift bridge they are building. Also Donjon is [nearby] in the process of moving coal out of the power plant on the Hackensack River as well. [I could count] four Donjon tugs in the photo below: Meagan Anne, Thomas D, Emily Ann, and Sarah Ann.”
From a decade ago, here’s a post I did about the Hackensack River, including a photo of a barge delivering that coal to the plant. The deliveries used to be made by ExpressMarine equipment.
Thanks to Richie and Joe for these photos.
For you not familiar with the area, the green line below represents rough approximation of the track Lauren Foss followed in and
the red circle, the location of the Wittpenn Bridge.
For more of the story–on four more bridge section deliveries–click here.
As I went to one of my locations Thursday, I saw this tow headed up the Upper Bay toward Bayonne, and lamented being too late. I knew it was one of the new DSNY garbage cranes recently being deployed to new marine transfer stations in Manhattan & SW Brooklyn…
Panning slightly to the right, a group on Miller’s Launch boats were attending Afrodite . . .
Panning more than 90 degrees over past the VZ Bridge, I noticed a crane and some tugs over in the direction of Coney Island . . .
Shortly thereafter, I realized the sanitation cranes were returning . . . outbound, moved by Catherine C. Miller.
The next day, from the same vantage point, I noticed two large tugs in Gravesend Bay, one less familiar than the Moran tug.
The unusual stacks identified it immediately . . . Lauren Foss, which I had not seen since 2014, three and a half years ago here…. By the way, notice the ferris wheel and roller coaster on the skyline of Coney Island?
If you’re new to reading this blog, the high point of summer in the sixth boro shoreside for me is the first day, because it brings the mermaids ashore, a whole series of posts about which you can find here . . .
But back to Lauren Foss, a large oceangoing tug used for large barges. RORO barge American Trader , 400′ x 105′ qualifies as a large barge, although some of the Crowley container barges are larger as seen here and here.
Click here for the specs on the 8200 hp Lauren Foss.
CCA . . . here’s info on this busy but mostly invisible corporation that dates back to the Reagan era.
Here’s the scoop on McLaren Engineering.
The sixth boro is truly the part of NYC that never sleeps.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
The last leg for now goes from Newport to Warren RI, but given the favorable wind before the torrent, let’s watch those contemporaries who play in this N-Bay city with such a long colonial and post-colonial history.
I’m quite unschooled about these speedsters, like the one showing her red belly. A 12-meter, I suppose?
Northbound past Beavertail Light?
Madeleine heads out to play.
This racer is sponsored by the Danish wind energy company, quite appropriately, as I would hardly expect an ExxonMobil sponsored wind boat, although petroleum energy companies have started investing heavily in renewables . . . so someday soon there might be an Exxon sail racer. Here’s BP’s portfolio.
Aurora has been featured here almost two year ago.
Marilee (1926) is a classic, as is Pam (1921), once a whiskey runner.
Just as the wind boats use moving air currents to speed, this red tail benefitted from it to hover over a snake, which he eventually dropped, caught, and hauled off behind the tree line . . .
This is not a great photo, but Wallace Foss (1897!!) can be yours for a mere $165,000. Those winds eventually brought lots of rain, which we
saw as we did the last short step . . . Newport to Warren.
I’d love to have seen NOAA’s Gunter and Bigelow closer up . . .
Gracie M. Reinauer (2016) waited for more favorable offshore weather before heading to the sixth boro.
And finally, after over a 1000 miles on our itinerary, we return to home base, where Niagara Prince welcomes us back. So does anyone have photos to share of Niagara Prince in the Champlain Canal, the western Erie, Chicago Sanitary Canal, or any other inland waterway where scale make her look immense?
All photos by Will Van Dorp. For a similar focus on sailing vessels associated with a specific water mass, click here for photos from the Great ! Chesapeake Schooner race.
And if you’ve not caught the connection of this journey to Albert Gallatin (a US founding father), click here.
For GHP&W 10, let’s gallivant over to the West Coast and look at some photos there by Glen, who moved to the Columbia watershed after a long career working on sixth boro waterways.
Let’s start out with Shaver’s Washington. Notice anything unusual about this photo? Answer at the end of the post.
And some more starting with Kirby’s Sirius,
Shaver’s Umatilla and Foss’ Howard Olsen,
Shaver’s Deschutes,
Portland,
Vancouver,
P. J. Brix, and
and Bernert’s Diane B.
And in that first photo, Washington travels on the river any way forward she pleases.
Many thanks to Glen for these photos.
aka Blue Marlin‘s Vigorous cargo, with all photos and most text by Seth Tane, whose painting site has long been linked to this blog AND who took the photos of the sixth boro during the 1970s and ’80s that he and I collaborated on last year in the 10-post series I called “sixth boro fifth dimension.” By the way, the dry dock will be the largest in the US, built by ZPMC. Do you recall hearing of them here and in other posts like here and here?
On the stern is Shaver’s Sommer S. That’s the city of Portland upper left.
Ahead is the BNSF drawspan. They’re going to crane lift a few bits and pieces at the Vigor Swan Island shipyard (Click here for photos I took there last year.) and then transit back under the bridges to a deep hole off terminal 4 to float off the dock where they have the required 50′ draft.
Here’s the side view. Recall that it was Blue Marlin that returned a damaged USS Cole from Yemeni waters.
Many thanks to Seth Tane for these photos. Click here for another look at his painting.
Here was 17.
All the photos in this post come from south of latitude 26 N. You might recall the Foss tugs Lauren and Iver delivering the crane to the sixth boro at the end of last month? Then Lauren Foss traveled to Philly to pick up back haul? Well about two days ago, Lauren delivered that payload–Forrestal–to the scrapyard in Brownsville, TX. The ship in the distance to the left is SS Mount Washington, also a recent arrival here, and subject of a several recent pictures on tugster. The photo below shows the stern of Lauren Foss with assist tug Signet Ranger on port bow of the old carrier. The next three photos all come from Justin Earl, on paper . .. chief mate of Lauren.
Another shot of Signet Ranger and at stern, Signet Magic. For specs of Signet tugs, click here.
On starboard bow here is Signet Courageous.
The next photos, again south of latitude 26 come from my gallivanting sister. Guess the port? Butterfly has been spotted in the sixth boro here and here.
I’ve no identification of the two vessels in the foreground.
Anyone help?
Oh . .. the port is Clifton Point in the Bahamas.
The blue and white tug to the left is Tiki, but again I have no further info.
And finally . . . Sea Trader. Click here for a closer up photo.
Many thanks to Justin and Maraki for use of these photos.
tugster: a waterblog 
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