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Sarah D is here because before wearing the attractive NYS Marine Highway colors, she wore Moran colors for about 20 years, as seen here.
What I thought remarkable about that afternoon is that all the photos here were taken in the space of half an hour the other day. An outatowner watching traffic on the sixth boro would have concluded that all tugboats in the boro have an M on the stack. What was happening in fact was that three ships were moving and this was a surge to assist these ships.
If you follow this blog, you’ve seen them all before, but you may not have seen a Moran wave before quite like this.
As you can tell, I maintained mostly the same vantage point while taking all these shots.
All photos, WVD.
From right to left then, that would be Allie B, Sarah D, and Weeks 533.
The two tugs assisted the crane barge that lifted a large electrical component onto a many-wheeled trailer inside the Red Hook container port. I’ll post my photos of the truck on my next truckster! post.
Well over a decade ago, I traveled up to Quincy MA to see Allie B move a long time piece of the landscape out of Quincy and over to the Black Sea port of Mangalia, Romania. What piece of landscape, you ask? It was the Fore River Goliath Crane, now painted yellow and set in a yard operated by Damen, although it seems it may now be inactive again.
Landing the crane at Red Hook yesterday, lifting the cargo, and departing all happened quite fast, less than 90 minutes from arrival to departure.
Happy solstice. Next stop summer.
All photos, WVD. Hat tip Cyclone Shark.
Marjorie moves her train cars.
Nathan G goes for fuel.
Crystal Cutler pushes her barge.
Paula Atwell travels light for a change.
CMT Pike does her harbor rounds.
Mister Jim here looks brighter than usual in the morning sun; in cloudy weather, that gray livery
obscures details.
Robert IV assists at the stone anchorage.
Cape Henry leaves her barge to take care of some business.
Captain Willie Landers makes a pass through the boro.
And a rare sighting, Sea Crescent transits the boro on her return from Port Hawkesbury NS to Fort Eustis VA. It’s likely that Sea Crescent originated this voyage from a port on the Saint Lawrence or even the Great Lakes.
All photos, any errors, WVD, whose 380 in this series was posted here.
Another TBR is in the books. Where else can you see very upclose and personal some much-loved boats. I can and might do a post on each of these boats, but for now, just a survey.
Shoofly . . . complete name is Shoofly Pie. If you want actual detail, click here and scroll; you’ll see some profile of each of these boats (and others). All I’ll say about Shoofly is that she’s a WW2 naval vessel evolved into a rat rod (We need a new term for this category.) vessel. It has also likely sailed the greatest number of places, freshwater and salt. I’ve photographed this boat before, but somehow, it’s never made it onto this blog. Some explanation follows.
I frame this as a comparison of push knees on Edna A and J. Arnold Witte.
How about this as a frame– l to r, Nathan G, Margot, Benjamin Elliot, and Edna A. — involving two-thirds of the NYS Marine Highway boats participating in the event. Then another set of NYS Marine was not present . . . working . . . .
CMT Otter . . . represented Coeymans. I learned some modification history of this boat last weekend. It was once Delta Ram and looked like this.
This vessel is the fourth in the series of Atlantic Hunter boats. I had photos of Atlantic Hunter IV (under a different name last year) but those photos like those of Shoofly . . . disappeared.
My Pal Sal is not the latest government boat purchased by NYS Canals, although you might suspect otherwise. To stray down a tangent though; Sal has a song named for her; we really need a popular ditty about canal tugboats . . . any or all of them. Lobby your favorite songwriter or channel your own inner songwriter muse.
W. O. Decker looked spectacular! Last time I saw her some details were not the same.
Joncaire is several years into her new livery; she used to be the red of NYPA Niagara River boom maintenance fleet, as seen here (scroll).
Here’s the view from the 4th Street Bridge, and
here from the 2nd Street Bridge.
All photos yesterday, WVD, who got out there before many people were crowding the bulkhead.
I missed a lot of folks who were there because I stayed in the welcome center most of the time, listening to the talks.
Let me interrupt my “out of the bayou” aka “regular programming” posts to a) announce my return to the sixth boro and b) update you on some exciting cargo that arrived in the sixth boro earlier this week. For the first 4 photos, I’m grateful to Benjamin Moll, since I had not yet returned here when he took those.
But first, do you remember 20 Barges, the post about a delivery of that many barges on a barge in June 2016? This is similar. Tradewinds’ Caitlin came into the sixth boro with barge Prometheus, seen below. Prometheus is a large 300′ x 100′ barge that came to the sixth boro at least once before and reported on here, back in spring 2019.
Two tugs also tagged along as cargo.
Eastern Dawn provided the assist.
I took the rest of these photos. By the way, as of today’s posting, Caitlin and Prometheus are still in town, over by the Weeks yard.
The new vessels will operate for the Haughland Group. More on Haughland tomorrow before I return to my Gulf of Mexico reporting.
Sarah D was assisting over at Weeks yesterday.
Many thanks to Ben for sharing his photos. Some previous posts with Ben’s photos can be seen here.
Any errors can be pinned on WVD, who provided the last four photos.
The Hudson treats the traveler with magical sights like these. The castle atop the lush riverbank is still there, but that tug–Viking–is no more. I’m not sure the disposition of DBL 134.
One morning soon after sunrise that summer 2017 I followed Delaware a ways up the Hudson before overtaking her.
Ernest Campbell had started working in the sixth boro by 2018, but its livery has changed since then.
On the last day of June, I took a ride on the Rondout and saw (l to r) Johannsen Girls, Fells Point, and Severn. Severn now works in the Pacific Northwest although still for Vane.
Tarpon was working in the boro, but since that time has been sold to interests on the West Coast, although I’m not sure she’s made it there.
In June 2019, I caught Stephen Reinauer heading out the Narrows to rejoin its barge;
North of the border, SLS aka Sheri Lynn S was tied up at a Picton ON dock.
June 2020 one morning, I spotted Kirby Moran meeting ONE Minato, and
Janet D returning to her Elizabethport base.
In June 2021, it’s Charles D passing Adventurer while standing by for an incoming ship.
And finally, Sarah D was eastbound here in the Kills.
All photos, WVD, who may have made some errors here with dates, having had his brain baked in the Louisiana heat.
Last spring, Edna A passed my location with a “nameless” tugboat.
The day before the official opening of the Canal season, Edna A climbed the Flight westbound with a light barge 82 heading for Albion NY.
Three days after passing Newark for Albion, Edna A and the 82 were back, heading east.
If you’ve ever wondered about the rationale for the design of a boat like Edna A, the next two photos should be adequate explanation.
Note the shrinkwrapped cargo in the 82.
What is it? From what I read, it’s a 100-ton condenser manufactured in Batavia NY to be used on a nuclear submarine. Ultimately, it’ll be delivered to and unwrapped in New London CT. It’ll be coming down the Hudson soon . . . or maybe already has. A cargo of 100 tons . . . that needs to travel by water.
All photos, Bob Stopper, a friend and frequent contributor to this blog.
June 2012 was pivotal for me. A photo sent along by a friend alerted me to Canal commerce–Canadian corn– entering the US at Oswego, a place I knew something of from my youth.
If that was a spark, then the breeze that fanned it was an invitation to do my trial article for Professional Mariner magazine, which led me to Kingston NY, the mouth of the Rondout, and a project involving use of a half century old tug Cornell to do TOAR signoffs. My most recent article in the magazine came out today and can be seen here.
On that assignment, I was privileged to have a mentor, Brian Gauvin, do the photography.
Other big events for June 2012 included the movement of shuttle Enterprise from JFK airport ,
ultimately to the Intrepid Museum to be
hoisted onto the flight deck as part of the display, now covered.
My daughter went off to Brasil (again) and the Amazon, leading me to go there myself a year later, fearing she’d never return because she loved it so much there.
I’d given her a camera before she went, and was rewarded with some quite interesting photos, like these small motor boats that looked almost like slippers …
with straight shafts coming straight out of air-cooled engines.
During my trip up to the Rondout, I stopped in Newburgh, where replicas of La Niña and Pinta, crafted using traditional techniques on the Una River in Bahia, Brasil, attracted crowds, one of many stops along the great loop route.
Other festivities on the Hudson that summer . . .
included the sails and music associated with the Clearwater Festival, and of course the small boats moving in some of the venues.
Patty Nolan and Augie were the small tugs, and of course the sailboats including Mystic Whaler, Woody Guthrie,
and of course the sloop Clearwater. The Clearwater organization will not be doing a music festival in June 2022. Mystic Whaler is now working in Oxnard CA at the Channel Islands Museum.
Summer time and the living is easy well, at least it feels that way some days . . . .
All photos, except the first one, WVD. That first photo was taken by Allan H. Seymour.
They say the devil is in the details, but so are the delights. I often take photos without knowing what delightful details I will uncover. Like the photo below . . . what caught my attention was that it was the first ketch I’d seen in the boro in 2022.
When I looked closer, I saw it flew a French flag. Unfortunately, I can’t make out the vessel name below; maybe you can.
Lion’s Paw looks to be a non-winter boat as well.
Aluminum hull and red flag caught me here, and no, I don’t mean the tugboat, which is obviously Frances.
Is this “flag” called a “red duster”?
I saw the name on AIS, but have forgotten it; it started with an A and had an X, I recall. I do know that it’s a Boreal 47 though.
And on this gusty day last week, she appeared to share the wind with a local sail school boat, I believe.
I’d taken the next photos earlier and couldn’t quite figure out why the tug–clearly Pelham–-and the party boat were so close together. My first thought was that Pelham was towing a party boat that had possibly broken down. However, there was no tow line.
Later I thought these folks clustered on the bow of the party boat hardly looked like they were going fishing!
Have you figured it out?
Look closely at Pelham.
Nope! That does not say Pelham. I imagine I’m a good reader, given how much of it I do, but because I recognized the profile as that of Pelham, I never bothered to read the name boards, which clearly say . . . Katrina. It took me two and a half weeks to notice that. OK, I know that spring gives everyone giddiness, but let’s settle down here. My conclusion now is that Sound Bound Star was the camera crew boat and Pelham/Katrina, the talent. Anyone know the project, the movie?
All photos, WVD, who’s likely to get even more giddy along with the rising temperatures.
Dace lighters STI Excel.
Neptune comes into town again.
Buchanan 12 makes a rare appearance light, but everyone needs to refuel periodically.
Janet D follows Seeley into the Kills.
How a bout a four’fer . . . counter: Marjorie, Kristin Poling, Nicholas, and Jordan Rose.
Sea Lion heads eastbound.
B. Franklin travels west, and
Discovery Coast, east. . . both light.
Nathan G moves a deep scow into the Kills with Cape Wrath lurking in the background.
Traffic never stops, and it’ll outlast me, the photographer, WVD.
tugster: a waterblog 
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