No Jokin’ Hell Gate

Hell Gate conjures up strong associations, whether you go with the English derivation or the Dutch one.  I don’t go there enough to get photos. 

But today, Joker brought Weeks 551 through the Gate, and I was there to record it.  

It is truly an ever changing set of turbulences. 

 

 

 

On a run from New London to sixth boro, this job is almost done.

All photos, WVD.

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Barry Silverton first came to the sixth boro five and a half years ago.  Her twin Emery Zidell appeared here earlier this year, and i believe this is the first time to catch the ATB light and head on.

Roughly the same size, Haggerty Girls waits alongside as RTC 80 loads.

Mary Turecamo heads out  to meet a ship.  Mary Turecamo, Haggerty Girls, and Emery Zidell are all over 105′ and 4000 or more horsepower.

Margaret Moran here hangs close to a bulk carrier she’s escorting in.

Like Margaret above, Buchanan 12 is rated at 3000 hp and each has worked under the same name for the same company since coming from the shipyard. Buchanan 12 is a regular shuttling stone scows between the quarries up the Hudson and the sixth boro.

Franklin Reinauer has operated under that name since coming from the shipyard nearly 40 years ago.

I first saw Fort Point in Gloucester here over five years ago.

Joker seems to have become a regular in the sixth boro since this summer.  She used to be a regular here as Taurus.

Known as Brendan Turecamo for the past 30 years, this 1975 3900 hp tug is getting some TLC up on the floating drydock.

All photos here where we leave it today, WVD.

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Here’s a sampling of boats working I saw in the sixth boro the past week; the variety of boats, though, is greater than these would suggest.

Frances . . . was launched on Long Island in 1957.  Scroll through here and see photos of Frances I took in 2010 when she still had the Turecamo wood-grain paint.

Emily Ann was built in Louisiana in 1964.  She’s been a DonJon boat for eight years;  to see her in K-Sea colors, scroll here. I’ve no photos of her in previous liveries.

Potomac, 2007 in Louisiana, and Fort McHenry, 2016 and Maryland.  They were built as Vane equipment.

Paula Lee is not a tugboat, nor is

Trojan, the anchor tender, but this equipment is currently in the sixth boro, but owned by a company based in California.  I don’t know the history of any of these pieces of Dutra equipment.

Ellen McAllister, Wisconsin in 1967.  Ellen may very well be the most frequently-appearing boat on this blog.  Here she is passing the southern tip of Manhattan just entering the East River.

Meagan Ann, Washington state in 1975.  See Birk’s encyclopedia-like site for photos of Meagan Ann as a Foss boat.  I have more photos of her wrestling in this DonJon crane.

And Joker, 1979, Louisiana.  Eight years ago, I caught these photos of the boat when she was called Taurus, a Kirby boat, and looking rough. Here, from 2007, is Taurus in K-Sea colors.

All photos, WVD.

Friday I hit the road going pretty far west, and maybe even finding a vessel called Far West.

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Solo and over along the Connecticut shore last week, it’s Joker, with her distinctive lines and livery.

The other dawn, Ava M. was returning from a job.  It was sunny and clear, but with all the rain of the previous day, lots of moisture remained in the air.

Taken an hour or so later, Eastern Dawn passes those same hoses and that ship, Chem Neon.

The top photo here was of a single vessel;  the next two had two each.  Beyond Christian Reinauer are two tugs and a ship to the left, and one tug to the right.

Normandy is front and center, but I count two tugs, a tanker, and a tank barge in the background.

Ditto here:  the seldom-seen (by me)  Christine M. McAllister with lots of activity in the background.

See what all is happening here:  in the foreground l to r, Kirby Moran, Treasure Coast, Miriam Moran, Sarah Ann, and Marjorie B. McAllister.  In addition, there are two tankers and a cement barge.

All photos, WVD.

And since I’ve not seen Christine M underway in quite a while, enjoy another shot below.  I count at least four vessels beyond her.

Joker

Once a regular named Taurus worked in the sixth boro.  Then she went away, under tow.  From the shipyard, she went to Philly and eventually to the Hays fleet, and I’ve not seen her since . .  until yesterday.

The distinctive Hays paint job looks good on this tug now carrying a distinctive Hays name.

 

 

 

All photos, WVD. 

Retro 27 Gallivant

Nothing says the Delaware River up around Philadelphia and Camden more distinctly than a group of Hays tugs, here Big Daddy, High Roller, and Purple Hays.  That’s the stern of Grape Ape to the left. No company, I gather, has had more fun naming their boats than the Hays Tug and Launch folks.   I hope Ed Roth got photos of these boats.

And I’ve never had so much fun on the Delaware River area than I did the day my friend John Curdy took me on a tour there.

Timothy McAllister was docked nearby.  She’s almost a twin of the sixth boro’s Ellen McAllister.

Amberjack (1981) was still in gray. She’s now the latest Thomas Dann, but I’ve not seen her yet.

Jack Holland was pushing a scow. Today’s Jack‘s in Norfolk.

I’m not sure where the 1967 Jakobson-built Grace Moran is,

but Helen D is now Sarah D, and is regularly seen on the Hudson.

Active, a 1956 Blount product, has been sold south and is now Chandler B, operating out of Virginia.

Soon after I took this photo, Coral Sea was sold to a Nigerian company and, at last report, was operating off Nigeria as Uganwaafor 2. I suspect she’s currently inactive.

Texan here is mostly out of the notch of Ponciana. She’s currently near Beaumont TX on the Neches River.

And finally, it’s USS Arthur W. Radford (DD 968) getting prepped for reefing. About a year later that reefing happened about 30 miles offshore, which appears to be out of range for most fishermen.

All photos, June 2010, by WVD, who will be in and on the Delaware River later this week, way in in the wild part of the river in NYS, trying to commune with the wild.   Don’t be concerned if no new posts appear for a spell after Wednesday.

 

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Here are all the previous installments of this series.

Glenn Raymo caught this photo up the Hudson the other day, as Joker assisted a Weeks crane.  Hays tugs do come up here occasionally, but I’ve never seen them.

Back almost exactly six years ago, the same boat headed upriver as a dead ship.  And eight years ago, working for a different company and painted in a different livery, here she was . . .  2011, eastbound in the KVK.

Justin Zizes was coming down the Hudson recently and caught this spring-evoking photo of Nathan G, her gray livery and aggregate cargo set off by the hint of leaves on the tree-lined far shore.

Thanks to Justin also for this photo of Mister Jim in her homeport in Coeymans.

Jan van der Doe sent these photos along of a group of northern European tugs at work, taken in early April by Jan Oosterboer, not far from Rotterdam.

Mutratug 32 is a Carrousel Rave tug, which means she rotate her point of attachment to better brake the assisted vessel.  To see her in action, click here.

And finally, see the tugs in this photo I took on the East River the other day?  Two of them?

Thomas J. Brown is obvious and always a delight to see.  But then there’s Bosco on the barge.  I believe she was heading for a job on the Hutchinson River.

Thanks to Glenn, Justin, Jan, and Jan for photos here.