Really Random Tugs 33 and More

I’m trying to catch up with the photos you all have been good enough to share on tugster.  The first five here come from some salts up on the Caloosahatchee Canal in Florida.  John Parrish was westbound here, but a week later it showed up in the sixth boro, and by publication of this post, it’s already back to Norfolk.   That’s some sea miles.  Here are some of my previous photos of John Parrish.

Also, westbound in that Canal, it’s Brittany Beyel.  She’s Beyel Brothers equipment, who have a dramatic photo on that link.

This one’s eastbound on the Canal with a crane.  I can’t quite make out the name, but the the steersman has great visibility.

Boomalong was getting hauled out.  Her fine lines made me think she has a storied past, and it turns out she does.  She began life in 1944 in Owen Sound, ON as HMCS Neville, HMCS being Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship.   She’s a Russel Brothers boat that has been around, currently quite far from

Sault Ste. Marie.

Thanks to Jed, who previously contributed many photos, here’s a photo and text:  “it’s Stephanie S (1986) returning to Port Canaveral after escorting the bulk carrier VENTURE out of the port.”

photo date 11 MARCH 2016

From Birk Thomas, it’s Barents Sea, now over in Port Newark, having moved for the first time in at least five years.  She looks rough, but I’m hoping there’s a make-over in the works for her.   If she moves again, I’d love to see some photos.

 

Here’s my photo of W. O. Decker, docked at Caddell Dry Dock, being worked on  . . . or waiting for Wavertree to make her promenade back to South Street.

From Jason LaDue, here’s a good view of the underbelly of Grouper, frequently referred to in this blog.  Such belly will be visible until the pool level of the Erie Canal is brought back up for the start of the season.  Jason’s also a frequent contributor.

Now here’s an oldie but goodie from the other JED.  It shows Labrador Sea and Taurus, significant because now that Taurus is being phased out, Labrador Sea–which had worked on the Mississippi and Gulf for the past few years, has moved back up here into Taurus‘ place, I’m told.   And they’re in K-Sea colors.

And I said “and more” in the title?  Here’s the more, a new dock book from Tony Acabono.  If it’s your business to know where berth 60 is in Port Elizabeth in relation to berth 61 in Port Newark, you might want to check it out.

Many thanks to the secrets salts and the not-so-secret ones for sending along these photos.

 

CMT Pike

Once upon a time in the sixth boro, there was a tug named Odin.  The photo below is from April 2010.

Yesterday, I first thought Odin had returned, although I know that is not possible.

Pike comes to CMT from the cleanup project up on the Champlain Canal.  Siblings of Pike back then were Hawk, Beaver, Otter, and Bass, some of which can be seen here.

For now, let me just say I love the color scheme.  For history on Pike, click here.

She’d be ideal for work on the Erie Canal, I’d think.

And if you never saw Odin, here are a few more photos from 2010, and

 

–is that a bell on the port rail?–

and one photo from September 2008, showing how high she could raise the house.  To see how low she went, click here.

Odin has since been completely (!!!) rebuilt and now looks like this, believe it or not.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Seven Seas 5

Here was 4.  Of course, many more than seven Seas exist and work east, south, and west of the United States.

Let’s start with Irish Sea, which was called something before that . . . .

taken September 2009, with Iona McAllister in Brooklyn Navy Yard

 

taken February 2016

Siberian Sea, before it was called that.

taken in 2007

 

taken in 2009

 

taken in 2013

 

taken in 2015

Barents Sea . . . .  anyone have news on her?  She too had names before it became Barents, although I suspect Barents Sea will be her last name ever.

taken in 2015

Mediterranean Sea, which  originally painted green.

taken in 2015

McKinley Sea, and I hope you get the point that all these boats had previous names.

taken in February 2016

Ross Sea, which actually shows its Thoma-Sea heritage. If you don’t know what I mean, look at the string of vessels built by Thoma-Sea just after Ross Sea was launched in February 2003. Thoma-Sea here actually makes eight seas.

taken in 2015

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Checking Back 2015 b

Picking up this retrospective post with the beginning of May 2015, it’s a nearly 40-year-old and tired Barents Sea, waiting then as now for what’ll likely be a “fish habitat” future.

The end of May saw Quantico Creek move Mary Whalen to its public space over in Atlantic Basin.  Was there a docking pilot calling it out from the drone?

Here’s first glimpse of an early June trip I’ve never reported on via this blog.  More on this vessel will appear soon–currently working in the Dominican Republic.  The red vessel in the distance is F. C. G. Smith, a Canadian Coast Guard survey boat.

Eastern Dawn pushes Port Chester toward the Kills.

July opens with the ghost of Lafayette arriving back in the harbor aboard L’Hermione. Click here for the set of posts I did about this person. 

I’m omitting a lot from my account here;

The end of July brought me back to the south bank of the KVK watching Joyce D. Brown go by.   July was a truly trying month . .  is all I’ll say for now.

In early August Wavertree awaited the next step into its rehab, and I

made a gallivanting stop in New Bedford, a place I’d not visited in too long.

 

All photos by will Van Dorp.

Waiting 2

Here was the first in the series.  That one ended on a “back-to-work” note.

This one . . . probably will not have a happy ending, unless of course you’re a fish looking for structure or a diver wanting to explore.  Here’s a view of the vessel pre-sixth boro days. And here’s the last time I saw her run.   Call Barents Sea high . . . and potentially wetter and wetter.

Have a look while you can.

When she gets reefed, I’d love photos.

Thanks to Birk, here’s her history.

Click here for a guide to fishing and diving on New Jersey reefs.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Tugs 138

Most if not all of these vessels have appeared here before, but bear with me because a surprise follows.

Gramma Lee T Moran,

Margaret  Moran, 

Brendan Turecamo, 

Ruby M with dredge Glenn Edwards in the distance,

Eric McAllister,

Emerald Coast going head-to-head–not really–with Red Hook,

Paul Andrew eastbound on the East River,

heading in the same direction about the same hour are Catherine Miller and

Susan Miller.  By the way, in the pic above here’s a close-up of that green sculpture almost dead center of the photo.

Ok, now we’re getting to the “different” part.  Note Maryland in December 2008 and

in early April 2015.

Ditto Baltic Sea in August 2009 and –gasp—

last year.  I concur with someone on FB who said it appears she’s been whitewashed with some trim made out of crude oil mixed with pulverized charcoal.  This is sad to see.

And these photos are from an ad that’s now over a year old.  I wonder if they changed hands . . .

Can anyone identify the other tug in the center of the photo below?

All photos except the last three by Will Van Dorp.

Change 3

Here was 2.

So let’s remember how Viking looked in 2011, and

how she looked this past week.

Ditto . . . here was Annabelle V. Roehrig is early 2008, which

looked like this in 2009.  Notice the pins in the modified bow.

And here she was this weekend, departing Bayonne with

assistance from Taurus, which itself

has changed from this in 2009 to

this today.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who along with the rest of us . . . never changes.  Ha!

Time Warp Wednesday

A search for a photo assignment sent me to the August 2009 section of the universe, and these photos served as a cold water shock . . . how much stuff has changed in under five years.  Crow of course is as “good” as gone, but do you know which tugs are attached to Freedom and RTC 28?

How about Vernon C on Freedom and

Janice Ann Reinauer?  In 2009 there was as much demolition happening on the Brooklyn side as is now crumbling on Manhattan side.

And from the same week . . . K-Sea was still in full force here.  Where is Greenland Sea today?

And this classic . . . Kristin Poling along with fleet mate . . .

John B. Caddell, which as recently as last week was still awaiting the torches and jaws of repurposing.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Oh . . . this could be the first of many time warps.

Small Tankships 2

I should rename this post “Time Warp.”  I started it in May 2008 and this morning–in response to some Facebook exchanges–resurrected it.  Maybe I will begin a series called “Time Warp,” though, and any photos no more than 20 years old–to pick an arbitrary boundary and to keep the series from becoming ancient time warp which could be its own thing– . . . any photos you wish to contribute no more than two decades old would be welcome.   Maybe I gave up on this post six years back because I had too many unanswered questions.

Anyhow, to plunge back in . . . Robert Silva and Harold Tartell provided foto of Manhasset from way back, when it sported a flying horse on its stack . . . .  I assumed this vessel was long ago scrapped.  I’m also assuming the location of this shot can be pegged by the two LNG tanks in the background.

 

Here’s another shot of the vessel (1958) (or 1952) in transition, I presume, sent along by Robert Silva.

Here’s a photo I took in 2008:  a different small tankship Mostank (1950) maneuvers close to a tanker.  I don’t know if Galahad is still in service, and

Here in Arthur Kill to resupply, I suppose,  Mostank . . . M O S being Marine Oil Service.  Mostank shows up as registered until at least a year ago.  Emma Miller now serves the sixth boro.

Here’s where the time warp impinges on this post.  Great Gull was around still six or seven or eight years ago.  Time flies.  The Gull has flown south.

Back then, John B. Caddell was still working.  Is she still intact?

Nathan E. Stewart was still in town and here moving Mary A. Whalen to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The unique Odin still worked here, and

Weddell Sea was still known as Scott C.

 

All photos here by will Van Dorp unless otherwise attributed.

 

 

Coffee Barges Extraordinaire

See it there, the modest red covered barge between Wavertree and Peking?  The steel covered barge is called Progress today.   Once it transported coffee from ship to shore.   I’m making a note to myself:  learn more about these.

And right across the East River to the right of the firehouse at Fulton Landing, that modified but still modest white barge used to be Erie Lackawanna 375.  It too transported coffee.  More on this later.   I took this foto 6/16/2009.

Here’s another modified coffee barge, this one just south of Camden, NJ, now the floating office of McAllister in that waterway.

It’s a counterpart to this McAllister office on the KVK.   So given all these repurposed coffee barges I knew about, why

did it take me a day short of seven years doing this blog to go to Bargemusic, the EL 375 barge in the foto above?   Shame on me, posing in the “shadow selfie” below, for waiting so long to check out this extraordinary barge.

I trekked out there yesterday in spite of the gusty sub-freezing weather to hear some music and have a look.

It was warm inside and the smell of old wood  . . . I felt immediately welcomed.  Note the brick fireplace to the left.  Some wood from American Legion lives on here.

Jung Lin was warming up on the Steinway, as

was Andy Simionescu.

I didn’t–and one shouldn’t–take fotos during the performance, but during intermission, I went out onto the pier to see the view from the “back” of the stage.

Here’s  the obit of founder Olga Bloom–with more info on her barge project– from the NYTimes almost exactly two years ago.  From this article, I learn this was her third barge, that it was built around 1900, and that Peter Stamford was instrumental in getting it permission to dock at Fulton Landing.   Here’s a spring 1978 article on what may have been Bargemusic’s first season.  Here’s a link that gets you an interview with the current president and calendar of upcoming events.  By the way, at 2:48 in that interview, a Bouchard tug passes eastbound on the East River.

Credits to those who offered marine trade skills and others can be found here.

Request:  the bargemusic site credits a Captain Hearnley as the one to tow the barge to this location.  Can anyone say anything about him?  Does anyone know the name of the tug or . . . have a foto of that tow?  When was the former EL 375 last  hauled?

Final shot for today, a foto from 8/27/2010 of Volunteer passing bargemusic.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  If you have never been to bargemusic, you’ll thank youself if you go there SOON.

For two more repurposed barges serving as cultural centers, click here and here.  Pennsy 399 will deliver sinterklaas to Kingston this coming week.