Cranes: Chesapeake 1000

Note about ongoing voting below.  Also, previous “cranes” posts can be found here.

I’ve long included photos of Chesapeake 1000 but never devoted a post to it.  These posts here and here from seven years ago are my favorites, largely because my camera and I just happened onto the lift while prowling at night, not a common time for me to be out.  Is it possible that was already seven years that that WTC antenna went up?!!

So yesterday morning, I left home early for a midmorning rendezvous, and this is what I saw.

Mary Alice handed the Chesapeake 1000 off to Thomas,

who took the crane under the VZ Bridge and

toward the cliffs of the Upper Bay, including the WTC with the antenna it assisted the lift for  . . . seven years ago.

 

As is always the case, there’s a lot going on in the sixth boro.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who reminds you that the polling for my 2020 calendar pages is ongoing.  You can see all the choices in these posts;  ultimately you and I will choose one photo for each monthly calendar page.  Polling ends on December 21, when I send the order in.  Again, to vote, just put the letter for each month in the comments or send it in an email to me.  Moreover, for the December page, I’m soliciting photos from you;  rules here.

“Here are guidelines:  a qualified photo for polling must involve a vessel and a non-verbal detail(s) identifying it as having been taken in a December.  I hope that’s ambiguous enough to keep it interesting.  Whoever sends in the chosen photo . . . to be determined no later than December 21, also gets a photo credit and a free calendar.  Another option is for me to choose a December photo from a previous year.  See what I’ve done in the previous 13 Decembers in the archives;  the location near the bottom of the leftside navigation bar allows you to select any month going back to November 2006.”

Thanks to all of you who have already voted.

 

Polling 4 of 4

Thanks so much for voting.  This post will end the “candidates”  soliciting feedback for my 2020 calendar.  The calendar is now a “go,” although voting will stay open until December 21, ie, if you are just hearing about this and have not yet voted–one winner for each month–you can still express your choice, carefully telling me which choice is for which month.

The options for October follow:

A

B

C

D

E

The November possibilities are

A

B

C

D

E

And that’s it.  The December photos have mostly yet to be taken, so the onus for that month is jointly on you all and me.  To repeat, here are the guidelines for a December photo:  a qualified photo for polling must involve a vessel and a non-verbal detail(s) identifying it as having been taken in a December.

Thanks for your help.  I’ll keep you updated on the calendar.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp.

Polling 3 of 4

A big thanks for reading and VOTING.  Once again, see the December 5 post for instructions. Today’s post has only two months, so your vote will be two letters.  Ask your friends to vote.  Voting hasn’t closed for previous installments, and I won’t close the voting until  December 21.

Here are the August choices.

A

B

C

September was a hard month to whittle down to three.  So I offer more choices here than for any other month.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

And that’s it for today’s voting;  remember that today’s vote will be only two letters, one for August and one for September.

To complete the calendar, there’s one more post of options coming tomorrow.  I’ve received proposed photos for the December page, but photos are still solicited.

All photos in this post by Will Van Dorp.

Polling 2 of 4

Thanks for responding to the poll.  Some trends emerge, which made me give the photos a second look.  If you missed the rules from yesterday’s post, click here.

I’m astonished by the top vote getter:  the January photo B, a shot I took on  . . .  and one I almost withdrew from the set at the last minute because I’d taken it outside my usual range.  It might interest you to know it shows the 1949 Wilfred Sykes, named for the president of Inland Steel for most of te 1940s, a few miles below the Soo locks.  Sykes is considered a streamlined [I call it art deco] bulk carrier, the first built after WW2 on the Great Lakes, according to the erudite folks at boatnerd. For more info, click here on the Duluth Shipping News site.

Here’s what I propose for the December calendar photo:  you send a photo to my email.  See left navigation bar for the email address.  Here are guidelines:  a qualified photo for polling must involve a vessel and a non-verbal detail(s) identifying it as having been taken in a December.  I hope that’s ambiguous enough to keep it interesting.  Whoever sends in the chosen photo . . . to be determined no later than December 21, also gets a photo credit and a free calendar.  Another option is for me to choose a December photo from a previous year.  See what I’ve done in the previous 13 Decembers in the archives;  the location near the bottom of the leftside navigation bar allows you to select any month going back to November 2006.

Here are the May choices.

A

B

C

June offers

A

B

C

D

July can be

A

B

C

D

Again . . . see yesterday’s post on the easiest format for feedback . . .

Polling 1 of 4

First, happy sinterklaas day.

Here’s my goal for the next few posts:  since it’s the time of year when some folks think of making 2020 calendars, I’m asking you for feedback on various photos for a possible calendar.  I realize unanimity is impossible.

I’ve quickly gone through my archives month by month and chosen a few “favorites” and as I said . . . gut reaction.  I repeat . . .  no ponderous thinking, just gut reaction.  For some months a “few” means three;  for other months, it comes down to more.   I’ll take your feedback into account qualitatively  . . ie, I’m not just tallying.  So you can help out with a straw vote, a show of clicks .  .  if you will.

Here are the January photos, labeled A through C, that caught my attention using the “gut reaction” test described above.

A

B

C

Here are my February selections A through C.

A

B

C

For March there are three picks, A through C.

A

B

C

And the last one for this post, here are my April nominations, A through D.

A

B

C

D

If you choose to give feedback, it would be sufficient to write simply C, B, C, D . . . for example; meaning the third photo here for January, the second for February, etc.  If you wish to state reasons for your choice, that would be most welcome.

Posts for the next three days will cover the rest of the year.  Thanks for helping out by weighing in.  Bribes are always welcome as well.

All photos and felonious suggestions by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Thanks to Marc Piché 3

I’ll start with a photo I took in Toronto in September.  I could read that it was called Coastal Titan, but I thought it was a floating dry dock confined to Toronto.  Then in October I saw a photo Marc had taken in July downstream of Montreal, showing

… the same Coastal Titan, pushed by what seemed an intriguingly-named but undersized Salvage Monarch.  And it’s not until today that I search the history of this unusual vessel.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it was once a US-flagged heavy lift vessel named John Henry.   Click here for more of the history of this 1978 heavy lift ship and sister–Paul Bunyan–built by Peterson Builders in Sturgeon Bay WI. Coastal Titan is the survivor story here.

I believe Paul Bunyan, then James McHenry,  was scrapped in 2015; for a photo, see page 8 here.

Marc  also caught Eda (ex-Cedarglen) on her way to be scrapped at Aliaga, with Ocean Echo II on stern and

VB Hispania (2011 and Mangalia, Romania) on the bow.

Click here for previous photos by Marc, to whom I’m grateful for these photos that led me to the intriguing story of Coastal Titan.

 

 

Three Lakers & Three Lights

Daylight hours are getting very short, reiterating summer 2019 is no more, but I’ve still got photos left from gallivants of warmer and brighter days this year, like this one of a

downbound Thunder Bay passing Rock Island Light, once legitimately tended by an erstwhile pirate William Johnston.

 

Later as we continued towards Lake Onrario, we followed Atlantic Huron, an ore boat we seem to have encountered frequently this season, here leaving Carleton Island to port and

Wolfe to starboard.

Soon after passing Tibbetts Point Light, we entered the NE corner of

Ontario.  By the way, the hostel beds previously available at Tibbetts Light will soon be no more.

And as Atlantic Huron disappeared in the distance, we passed John D. Leitch,

passing the light at Charity Shoal, a light over an impact crater.

I love that steering pole.

 

Then Leitch entered the funnel, leaving Wolfe Island to port and downbound waters become the Saint Lawrence.

All photos from a few warmer months back by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

 

Random Ships 74

Mostly just photos sometimes, like today . . .

Wide Bravo dates from 2014.

 

BW Raven is a year newer.

Gustav Maersk must have seemed huge when she was launched in 2008 as Mette Maersk.

x

Finally, Cosco Shipping Camellia, 2018, wh knows how she’ll be viewed in 2028?

That bow surely spritzes up the water.

 

 

All photos and [late] commentary by Will Van Dorp.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 21

I have represented these “retro” posts as a slice of the sixth boro exactly a decade ago, but it more like  . . . what in the boro caught my attention.  So welcome back to December 2009, as seen from today, December 2019, taking advantage of 20/20 hindsight.  And, to digress, I’ll bet the term 20/20 [2020?] hindsight will seen a bit strange in the next thirteen months.

Over at South Street Seaport, a group of vessels then is no longer there: Marion M, Peking, and Helen McAllister.  Of those, Peking, though not the oldest, has the longest and most convoluted saga.

Sea Raven is no more, but with those high pipes, she always caught my attention.

Cable Queen seemed to have a future back a decade ago, but naught seems to have come of it, since last time I looked, she was still docked in Port Richmond.  For context to this photo of the 1952 vessel, click here.

NY Central No. 13, scrapped in 2017 . . . also seemed to have a future back in 2009, although the owner was not in a rush to complete the job.

In 2009, the sixth boro was in the midst of a several-billion-dollar dredge project, as folks were talking about these ULCVs that would be arriving after the opening of the new Panama Canal locks. GLDD’s dredge New York was part of that effort.

I don’t know if Volunteer is still intact, but I’ve not seen her in years.   Here she lighters Prisco Ekatarina while Mark Miller stands by.  As of this writing, Prisco Ekatarina is in the Gulf of Finland.

Does anyone know if Horizon Challenger, built 1968 in Chester PA,  still floats?

Patriot Service currently works as Genesis Patriot.

I believe Escort is laid up.

And let’s close with these two.  Below it’s the now modest looking Ever Divine and Tasman Sea, and assembling photos for this post, for the first time I see the Taz’ devil sign on the stern of Tasman Sea . . .   Maybe I’d seen it before and just forgotten.   Ever Divine is currently crossing the Indian Ocean.

There it is . . .

All photos taken in December 2009 by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 273

I’m always on the look out for new tugboats in the harbor, and Camie mostly fits that bill.  A bit of research, though, finds she’s been on the blog a few times already, however.

Here, l to r, it’s Polar Bright, Ava, New York, and Stephen B.

Robert Burton here is tending a rock scow in front of the very busy Bayonne background.

James Brown moves some scrap barges . . . likely in the direction of the East River.

Weddell Sea stands by with Penn No. 90, demonstrating all the components of “push gear.”

Maybe someone can clarify here, but it appears No. 90 has cargo heating gear.

 

Helen Laraway moves a scow toward a morning.

And Fort Schuyler heads straight for us–I’m zoomed in–away from a marine/industrial Brooklyn background.

For the last day of November 2019, all photos by Will Van Dorp.

And finally, click here for Paul Strubeck’s Vintage Diesel Design blog post on tugboat Luna in Boston.  It expands a post I did on Luna here almost four years ago.