You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘photos’ category.
Sometimes I’m conflicted about what to post, like today with too many competing stories, and we’ll start with news, and Cisne Branco, which translates as “white swan.” The photo below shows Cisne Branco, a Brazilian Navy training vessel, in the sixth boro in May 2012 for a sixth boro OpSail event. Earlier this week, the 1998 vessel got swept downstream the Rio Guayas in Guayaquil, Ecuador and came to rest against a pedestrian bridge. See it and hear about it here.
Here’s another shot of Cisne Branco in Gravesend Bay.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
In other news, the 1967 83′ steel schooner Mystic Whaler, a regular in the sixth boro, has been sold to a party on the West Coast. The Egintons have owned it since 1995.
A few weeks ago now, the 1943 laker Mississagi was towed to the scrapyard in Sault Ste Marie. I caught these two photos of her in summer 2016 in Lake Michigan below and
along the Saint Lawrence River below. Other photos can be seen here.
While looking up my May 2012 photos of Cisne Branco, I saw this photo of Taurus in the North River. She’s now Joker, featured here several times recently. In May 2012, the K-Sea fleet had just been sold to Kirby, and in the photo below, the red K-Sea visor was painted blue, the K-Sea logo was removed from the stack, but the Kirby logo had not yet replaced it. Also, in the background, it’s Harvey and Frying Pan at Pier 66.
This photo also from May 2012 shows Ellen McAllister coming alongside Dewarucci, an Indonesian training ship. Between the two, it’s Scotty Sky, the small bunker tanker now sold somewhere in the Cabibbean.
Since there’s a lot of media attention on the congestion in SOME US ports, have a look at what’s off Savannah. This was a screen grab from VesselFinder almost a week ago, and it’s not much different today. A personal frustration is the outermost vessel shown, CMA CGM Marco Polo. I missed getting a photo of her in the sixth boro on Saturday, October 9 because I was out of town; in the wee hours of Monday, she departed for Norfolk and then Savannah. She’s now been anchored, about 60 miles out from Savannah’s container terminals since the 15th. Earlier this year she was setting a new record in US/Canada ports, and now she’s stuck in a jam.
And finally, two photos from April 2018 showing Mon Lei getting towed to a marina just north of the GW Bridge, where it stayed for some time. Question: Where is Mon Lei today . . . asking for a friend.
This red/white junk was once quite the fixture in the sixth boro, and although I was never aboard, I’m told the interior was sumptuous! Click here for posts I’ve done on the boat. I talked with one of the owners once on the phone.
That’s some news from my desk in Queens. All photos, WVD.
I’d really like to know what became of Mon Lei.
Some names might be terrifying, like “This is Conqueror, approaching the Narrows.” By the way, this vessel was here some years back as Energy Conqueror. It seems sights and ambitions have broadened.
Equally chilling though oxymoronic might be this one: “Big Bang has anchored.”
A lot of vessels are named for birds, like ONE Stork and
Endelo Swan. With a name like Swan, I’d expect a white hull.
Grand Eagle is hardly aquiline; the bow might be more aquiline if they’d have consulted the folks at Ulstein.
Then there’s the occurrence of serial multiple names. Can you make out the raised letter name that’s been painted over here?
Above is on the stern and below is high on the starboard bow.
Previously it was NYK Aphrodite. Well . . . there once were temples to Greek goddess Aphrodite east of the Dardanelles, although I’m sure that has not an iota to do with the choice of new name.
Many thanks to eastriver for Big Bang. All other photos and any lame jokes . . . WVD.
I knew some of what was arriving there, just not everything. How it was configured I didn’t know, and this fata morgana version from a half dozen miles out didn’t help, especially since it looked a bit like a sea monster.
It had rained twice already this afternoon, and with a long rain the day before, even more moisture stretched the lines of the illusion.
HOS Mystique came into the boro yesterday for the first time ever, I believe. In that link, you’ll see specifics on the entire fleet of Hornbeck Offshore support vessels.
Some specifics on HOS Mystique include launch date 2008, offering 49 berths, sporting a 100t knuckle boom crane, and measuring 250′ loa x 54′ x 14′ . That crane can connect to a host of applications “dangling” in the water column. I’m not sure what application(s) she has recently worked with.
She came into the boro late yesterday afternoon and
headed over to Elizabethport. Currently she’s there, no doubt, to refuel, resupply, shift crew, discharge any physical samples, or do a host of other shoreside activities.
All photos, WVD, who was first introduced to Hornbeck in the sixth boro when they had a petroleum transportation fleet. That fleet is now operated by Genesis Energy. A few years back, I saw lots of HOS vessels was along Bayou Lafourche.
I’ve been meaning to ask about this lumber on the piers at Red Hook container terminal. Not quite a year ago an unusual looking vessel called Mozu Arrow deposited these bundles of lumber. Here‘s another shot showing all the bundles. All through the stories of lumber being outrageously expensive, this lumber stayed here. In some places, the coverings have ripped off leaving the wood exposed to the weather, wasting away. Can anyone tell me the story of this lumber and why it hasn’t moved in 11 months. As of this writing, the lumber carrier is traveling between South Korea and British Columbia, light maybe, having deposited lumber on piers in Busan perhaps? On second thought, would this vessel travel sans cargo across the Pacific? What cargo might it be carrying to Canada?
Brendan Turecamo is a regular on this blog; behold about nine feet of the boat you never see when she’s working.
Here’s a limitation of gantry cranes; if you have a container ship loaded higher than the cranes can accommodate, getting a last box in place means lifting to the height and then sliding it in aft to fore. Understand what’s happening here? The box was lifted farther “back” than the empty slot, and now the crane operator is sliding it in laterally, toward the right in this photo. Is this a common occurrence on these “tall ships,” to give a new meaning to the phrase?
Do you remember “you go girl” graffiti on a ferry just west of the Bayonne Bridge? Well, clearly it has shifted over toward the Bayonne, New Jersey, side and is showing a different and more corroded side. I wonder where she goes next.
From this angle, there appears to be quite a few Reinauer tugs in their yard. While we’re playing an Andy Rooney and asking questions about everything, has anyone learned more about the WindServe Marine toehold within the Reinauer real estate here? Isn’t it hard to believe that Andy Rooney has been gone for almost a decade now?
Getting back to the warehouse sheds in Red Hook, is it possible this very experienced tow truck is there to prosecute any violators who choose to trespass and/or dock? I saw a more intimidating sign and sight in Belfast ME some years ago in the second photo here.
To show location of these signs and the antique tow truck, note it in the wider view photo below.
Shall we leave it here? I suppose. All photos, WVD, with conveyance from the New York Media Boat.
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.
I’d thought to call this “summer yachts,” but in spite of sublime weather, it’s not summer any more. “Yachts a million” works too, with these two unusual vessels. And we’ll start with this one, Magnet. Now that I’ve learned a little more about this 148′ catamaran yacht, I regret not having walked around to the far side and gotten more photos. Like NYC Ferry vessels and USCG 29′ Defiant craft, this yacht is made by MetalCraft Metal Shark, and it’s certainly impressive: it has a range of over 12,000 miles, i.e., round trip across the Atlantic twice!
I hurried on down the Chelsea Piers, though, because I wanted to see Gene Chaser without obstructions to view. I have yet to figure out if the symbols below the vessel name are more than decorative. The 182′ vessel was launched last year as Blue Ocean, then soon afterwards, refitted as a “support vessel,” which makes her an unusual work boat. As of her launch, there were seven other vessels on the seas with this design.
Some folks inherit wealth; the owner of Gene Chaser earned it in a lab. Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, a chemical engineer with a biomedical focus by training, says he spent six years working in a lab for his Ph.D, six years! sequencing 9000 DNA fragments. That led to multiple companies, new tools to fight disease, and this “lab/chaser vessel.”
Rothberg asserts that it chases genes and genetic sequences that underlie diseases. The “chaser” concept came up in an entirely different situation this past week, when I dredged up that name of a short story by John Collier, one that many of you may have read in high school. I did, and really hadn’t appreciated that all these years later, it would seem so true, as in “be careful what you wish for.”
“Chaser” enters the name because it chases with main yacht, serving as a mobile garage–yes, that’s a four wheeler and some small motorcycles–as well as a lab. Click here for info about and photos of some of the scientific equipment on board.
Here’s the mothership, actually older and shorter than the support vessel.
That brings us back to the symbols. They don’t appear to be anything genetic or genomic, but I would really like toknow the answer to that myself. The fundamental units of our genetic code would involve the following letters, which I don’t see here: G, C, A, and T, for guanine, cytosine, adenine, and thymine. So I conclude it’s an art project, not a scientific statement.
All photos yesterday, WVD, who’s intrigued by these boats as well as the folks who own and work on them. I’m also reminded by this vessel —Ocean Xplorer–in the boro almost a year ago.
And while we’re on innovation, consider lignin . . . More on that fuel idea here.
Enjoy this set of photos, taken on a random path across the harbor with the NY Media Boat. More Gene Chaser soon.
Ruby M above is the oldster of the set, launched in 1967. She’s 95′ loa and turns out just under 2000 hp. Below, Colonel dates from 1978, turns out 3000 hp and is the longest in the set . . . at just about 107′.
Sea Lion was launched in 1980, is 65′ loa and powered by 1400 horses. Below, Margaret Moran (I believe) has been in the sixth boro long before I called it that; she arrived in 1979 bringing 3000 hp and a loa of just a foot under 100′.
Julie Ann has arrived in the harbor the most recently of this set, just a couple months ago. She was launched in 2006 and brings 4200 hp packed into 75′.
And finally, Ava M. McAllister is likely the first boat to carry that name. She was christened in 2018. She’s a 100′ boat with 6770 hp.
Thanks for Bjoern at NY Media Boat for a tour of the boro. All photos, WVD.
Gene Chaser appears to be a sister of Ad-Vantage, which appeared here a year and a half ago. Click on the link at the beginning of the first sentence and you’ll see some interior shots of this 55-meter yacht support vessel. At some point, yacht support vessel Ad-Vantage was available for charter for a mere 67,500 Euro per week.
The script below the name Gene Chaser puzzles me, especially since I see signs for multiplication and addition. Maybe someone can translate?
Shooting into the sun from a low-on-the-river angle provides this unsatisfactory image.
Shooting down from Brooklyn Heights, as Claude Scales did for this shot, gets this image. Is that a submarine near the stern of Gene Chaser? In case you were wondering about the name, it makes sense when you consider the vessel below is the annex to Dr. Jonathan Rothberg‘s Gene Machine, currently off Connecticut. Rothberg is an American chemical engineer, biologist, inventor and entrepreneur. His business involves developing a high-speed “next-gen” DNA sequencing process. I think these vessels make him a polymath on the seas, an early 21st century version of Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo.
On the west side of Manhattan North Cove the other day, I walked past this eye catcher . . .
The cockpit of this “center console” Alen Yacht 45 is quite narrow and not enclosed,
but don’t underestimate this
Turkish beauty.
And to go to the other end of the tech and financial spectrum, what’s the story with the heavily loaded red 16′ Old Town Penobscot Royalex canoe? The paddler is not yet IN the sixth boro, but heading this way.
It’s Neal Moore, heading 7000+ miles from Astoria OR, city of the fisher-poets, TO the sixth boro, with an ETA of . . . whenever he gets here, but likely in December or January, depending on the assistance of “river angels” and relying on his own fortitude. As of this posting, he’s paddling the Erie Canal somewhere east of Lyons and west of Oneida . . . . That trip is longer than and tougher than the Great Loop. Technically, the Erie Canal is closing soon, but it’ll be open for him. Wave if you see him.
t o
Check out his website for lots of photos and articles like those excerpted below.
Many thanks to Claude and to the webmaster at 22Rivers for their photos; all others, WVD.
The red upper wheelhouse is no more, although I’m not certain what new paint scheme will evolve, or when Evening Star will become Jordan Rose, as Evening Breeze became Susan Rose. Follow this transformation we will.
Ellen transformed from Navy gray to McAllister colors 20 years ago.
Atlantic Salvor has worn Donjon blue–almost the same as warehouse blue–for over 20 years.
In a different way, Marjorie B profile varies from a lower to higher wheelhouse depending on the job.
Jill Reinauer has worn Reinauer colors for over 20 years also, although she has seen some modifications of profile more recently.
Brendan is currently in dry dock, but when I took this photo, she was standing by with a large barge. I’ll post a photo of her high and dry soon.
This post began with a Bouchard tug in transition. It’s fitting to end with one that already looks quite different . . . Evening Light is now Mary Emma. currently on Narragansett Bay.
All photos, WVD.
The bridge photo at the end of part A was of Kristin Poling, right after she’d been taken out of service. In her long life from 1934 until 2011, she carried the nameplates of Poughkeepsie Socony, Mobil New York, and Captain Sam, before taking on her last name.
Here’s a shot from the bow, and
here from near the stern looking forward along the catwalk.
This is one of my all-time favorite photos. I wonder where this Coastie is today.
A decade ago, Maurania III worked in the harbor, here alongside the venerable Chemical Pioneer and
here muscling Suez Canal Bridge around Bergen Point.
APL Coral was scrapped in 2017, I believe. Anyone know what those bolts of green fabric are? By their location, I’d guess an anti-piracy measure. Nicole Leigh continues to work.
DEP’s Newtown Creek was in her last days; currently she’s a dive destination in Pompano Beach, FL known as Lady Luck.
Lygra (1979) went to Alang in 2018, after carrying that name as well as Centro America, Nornews Service, and Transfjord.
Does anyone know where Captain Zeke has gone to? I don’t. If I ever did, I’ve forgotten.
Catherine Turecamo assists SN Azzurra away from a dock. The tanker seems still to be working as Augusta; she’s also carried the names Blue Dolphin and Stena Commander. In 2014, Catherine T. went to fresh water and, the last I knew, became a Chicago area based John Marshall.
If you click on no links in this post except this one, you will be pleased; it’s the legendary 1937 commuter yacht Aphrodite. HERE is the link. Those all-caps are intentional.
Note the raked forward portion of Maersk Murotsu, getting an assist from Kimberly Turecamo. The tanker is currently known as Ardmore Seafarer, which I have seen but not photographed in the boro. It’s impossible to keep up . . . hang on to that thought until the end of the post.
And let’s close out with some busy photos, here Barbara McAllister moves a barge, East Coast follows light, and Gramma Lee T Moran assists a tanker. Barbara is now Patsy K.
And finally, the waters here are churned up by James Turecamo, Resolute, and Laura K Moran, as well as a few tankers off to the left.
All photos, WVD, who’s astonished how much changes if not daily or monthly but surely by decade.
And about that thought I asked you hang onto: I’m considering taking a break, a sabbatical, or as Chapter 17 of Moby Dick explains . . . a ramadan, a term used with respect. I say this as a solicitation of advice.
Recent Comments