Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 17

Thanks to Justin Zizes for correcting an error about this.  The current claim to the “newest hull” goes to a NYC DEP vessel.

But it’s not Red Hook, which has been in the sixth boro almost exactly 14 years already, as evidenced here.

Nor is it the class of low slung sludge tankers, which have been here almost a decade.

Here was an article I did on these back then.  Nor was it HSV Osprey or Oyster Catcher. . . .

Here it is . . . meet HSV Piping Plover.  The HSV expands to harbor survey vessel, which in this case is a floating lab to test water quality.  

Thanks to Justin for reminding me of this vessel’s recent arrival.  Thanks to Gregory Hanchrow for the photo above.  Gregory writes: “The Harbor Survey Vessel (HSV) PIPING PLOVER just arrived ]mid-January to NYC after delivery on its own bottom by the shipyard who built it (Aluma Marine Corp), eight days portal to portal from Harvey, LA to NYC.  This boat was intended to be a replacement for the current HSV OSPREY, which has been in service since 1993 (Gladding Hearn). But, as fate would have it, we wound up needing to re-power and perform substantial structural work to the hull over the past three years ,resulting in a pretty much renewed boat.  Bottom line is we now have will continue to operate two HSVs so you’ll be seeing them buzzing around for a while!”

Thanks for the updates.

People on the Boro 33

Keyport Princess dropped anchor in front of the Statue the other morning.  Does anyone need more proof that fish are currently thriving in the boro?

Climate Change also came through the boro from the Sound, no doubt heading for warmed waters for the next half year, but while transiting, 

this boater takes in the beauty of the day in the seas’ water of the boro.

Red Hook and RV Blue Sea pass each other, making me wonder what the students might be learning about the GUP vessel it’s passing.

James William alternates between containerized trash and crushed rock.  Here a deckhand has pleasant weather for the job. 

Over in Whitehall, three workers on a beam

attend to maintenance on a “wall” of the ferry rack. 

Hayward periodically serves as a boro VIP excursion vessel.

The intended purpose of that boom is fishing out floating or sunken debris that might pose a hazard to navigation. 

Pioneer takes another set of folks around the sylvan edges of the Upper Bay to enjoy the warmth of the waning year.

And finally, I’m grateful that in the design process for the latest generation of ferries, decisions were made to ensure that Sandy Ground and her two sisters have ample space for folks to enjoy the views as they transit the Bay.

All photos, WVD, who himself loves this time of year.

East River Traffic 3

Here are previous iterations of this title.  Sometimes it’s energizing to return to places you’ve not visited in a while. We followed North River for a bit and then turned into

the Brooklyn Navy yard, a quite busy place.  Sugar Express was there along with Carolina Coast.  The barge shuttles less-refined sugar from Florida to Yonkers, where the sugar is further refined at a riverside facility.

 

Atlantic Salvor was in one of the graving docks.

Once under way again, we followed Genesis Eagle heading for the Sound.

North River was docked at DEP Ward’s Island Central (actually WPCP) by the time we passed by.

NYC Department of Correction Vernon C. Bain Maritime Facility was still where I last saw it, the only traffic being who goes in and out. 

Ditto this wreck, which deserves a name or a series of ex-names, where the only traffic is the ingress and egress of tidal current water.

All photos this week, WVD.

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. 

Other Peoples Photos 92

Since we’ve had some extreme weather, how about a different type of extreme . . .  with NYC DEP sludge tanker Red Hook approaching the unique Riverbank State Park, one of three state parks within Manhattan, the one with a wastewater treatment plant beneath it.  I’ve just read that it’s now renamed the Denny Farrell State Park.  Who knew . . . ?

Many thanks to Greg Hanchrow for these photos from a few winters back.

Daniel Meeter, frequent commenter on the blog and so much more, happened to overnight in Huron OH and caught these photos of Kristin Noelle shuffling some dredge equipment around.

 

I happened upon Huron OH here a few winters back . . .

Jonathan Steinman caught this photo of Atlantic Salvor returning to the sixth boro some time back;  Jonathan used to send an occasional photo from the east side of Manhattan, but now he’s gotten really busy on the opposite side of the island.   Of course, that’s the GW Bridge in the distance.

Need launch service for supplies or crew change on the upper Mississippi River?  This launch can be trailered to the nearest boat ramp and then rendezvous with the client.  This photo and the one below comes thanks to Trucker Tim.

Sharon Jon has spent its entire life–older than me by a decade–in the Duluth area;  her days may now be done however.

My sister of the Maraki crew got these photos of Bradshaw McKee last week as it backed out of Grand Haven MI. 

I’m surprised by this, since I thought that barge was now married to Prentiss Brown, but those two tugs have quite different superstructures, and this is unmistakably Bradshaw McKee.  The barge, St. Marys Conquest, began life in Manitowoc WI as a tanker in 1937.

Many thanks to Greg, Daniel, Trucker Tim, Jonathan, and Lucy for these photos.

Government Boats 55

Off New London USCGC Coho and a 45′ response boat take part in training off Race Rock Light and then later off

Little Gull Island Light, with the 87′ towing the 45′ boats.

A regular in the sixth boro is USCGC Beluga.

The 29′ patrol boats monitor lots of activities in the harbor;  here they board a small fishing boat.

Of the many USCG aids-to-navigation (AToN) boats, this is 49′ BUSL.

Small USACE survey boats seem constantly at work in the harbor.

NYC DEP has a monitoring boat, Sandpiper.  Another one of their boats is called Osprey.

Another DEP vessel, this one is called Oyster Catcher.

NYPD has its own navy;  here is one of their bigger boats, the 55′ Det. Luis Lopez.

Here’s another NYPD patrol boat, drawled dwarfed by a ULCV bow wave.  [I like that new word “drawled,” sort of like swamped but not quite maybe.]

One of the four carriers (yes, they carry, and for which the demand never stops) of the DEP fleet is Rockaway.

Any guesses on this speedy black vessel?

It’s a marine unit of the same folks you might be talking to if you’re speedy on roads inland.

All photos, recently, WVD.

 

 

 

Government Boats 54

Taxes pay for all these vessels, for the common good.

NYPD has a fleet.  Anyone know how many  boats make up the NYPD “floating plant”?

NYC has two ferry fleets, the orange one and this newer one, NYCF.  Anyone know when the first new-generation Staten Island ferry will arrive in the sixth boro?  Does NYCF really have 30 boats or is it 20?  I’ve read both numbers.  

Passing a westbound Cape Canaveral ,

this NY State Police launch passes one of another NYC fleet, a DEP tanker.

There’s also a federal fleet in the area.  This 49′ BUSL is about to disappear on the far side of a ULCV . . .

and then over the horizon.

The USCG has even smaller AToN tenders,

like this one on the inland side of NY.

Recently calling in Stapleton, it’s Sycamore (WLB-209), and off her port side is 47′ MLB Sandy Hook. 

 

All photos, WVD.

 

Random Tugs 319

It still says Eastern Star Dawn, but now it’s Toula!

She’s going to look great all buff and green.

Barry Silverton finally

has a lion on its stack!  All those birds?  It’s water teeming with the bunker, the bunker that recently drew a humpback into the Upper Bay.

Pelham, launched in 1960, is always a pleasant sight.  She has a list of previous names almost as long as my seasonal wish list this year.

Here she took a wake on the bow.

James William used the waters off the salt pile

as a turning basin.

And finally, after a long hiatus down south, CMT Pike has returned.  When i caught her, she was being pursued

by this container ship.

All photos, WVD.

Unrelated but of interest, below . . .

yes, Grain de Sail is a 72′ schooner coming into the sixth boro with a 50-ton cargo hold, some of it refrigerated, bringing in French wine.  She’ll set up a market in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for about a week.  Contact info and an e-shop can be found here, although you’ll have to use a machine translate if you’re not up to functionality in French.  

Grain de Sail is involved in triangular  trade, French wine to here and the Caribbean, and then Caribbean chocolate and other products to France . . . .  Something similar in sail freight  domestically has been done by Ceres and more recently by Apollonia.  The most recent international sailing cargo into the sixth boro that I know of was Black Seal, a three-masted schooner.

Hell Gate Traffic 1

Hell Gate has to be one of the most storied waterways in the sixth boro.  How could I have mostly ignored it so long?!!

The other day I caught Vinik No. 6 and Liz Vinik westbound  through that section of the East River.   In the background, that’s the Bronx.

An indicator of current is the fact that NYPD boat here is barely making headway.  Current in a tidal strait like the so-called East River is constantly and dramatically changing.  That’s Manhattan in the background.

Nicholas Vinik also passed through the other day, returning from a job.  That NYC DEP GUP headquarters in the background.  The Hell Gate RR Bridge seems in need of some paint.  Referencing this part of Hell Gate, captbbrucato describes it from a captain’s perspective here.

A recent development is the transit of NYC Ferry service through the Gate to the Bronx on the Soundview run.

Wye River heads eastbound to retrieve a barge, meeting

Cape Canaveral and DBL 101 on the way.

Along the shoreline here, that’s Astoria Queens to the left, and Manhattan along the entire distant background.  Most iconic is the spire of the Empire State Building.

State Trooper . . .  I’m assuming that’s a government boat.

That’s it for now.  I hope to return to Hell Gate soon.  All photos, WVD. 

Sixth Boro Sampler

It’s the end of another month, and maybe because everything’s been so bleak of late, let’s just admire and enjoy the complexity of the sixth boro.

Diverse people work here on diverse missions.

Places like NY Harbor School and M.A. S. T. as well as SUNY Maritime College and King’s Point MMA are here.

On foggy days a narrow navigation channel gives the illusion of being as expansive as the ocean.

Keeping it as ideal a place as possible is the mission of many people and much infrastructure, seen and unseen.

Professionals pass through the sixth boro without ever technically entering the space, both a boon and a bane to all involved,

and their safe passage is ensured by the named and the nameless.

Work and recreation can happen in the same space because of

professionalism.  If you have a lot of time, you can binge watch these videos by a pro who works the sixth boro and beyond.  Now, when I hear his voice on VHF, it’s familiar.  There are books as well.

The universal language of gesture is powerdful.

The sixth boro has at least as much specialized equipment as the other five boros combined;  another way to put it, the specialized equipment of the sixth boro enable the other boros to perform.

And if the land boros have spirit, don’t imagine the sixth boro  lacks anything.

Photos and sentiments, WVD.