You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘sailing vessels’ category.
Now in the Erie Canal, Tender #3 was above E3,
BB 109 encountered an unidentified SPS,
Dragon dredge worked over in Crescent Lake,
an unidentified tender worked with two barges, one was QB #14,
Tuulen Tupa intrigued and I’ll tell you my understanding of that name at the end of this post,
At Fonda on the wall stood an SPS and
tug Lockport.
Will Van Dorp took these photos, and this is the end of this post.
And Tuulen Tupa is an excellent name for a sail boat, since in Finnish–at least–it means “wind hut.”
And this was Waterford to Fonda, NY.
Here are previous installments in the series. Summer sail can take the form of foil-raised GP racing as will happen in the sixth boro this weekend; it can also happen on longer courses and require stamina and endurance as happens in some races ending in Mackinac.
All the photos in this post come from Jeff Gritsavage, as he was delivering a yacht from Florida to Lake Michigan. Some of you will recognize that this shot was taken in an Erie Canal lock. A few of you will name the lock. Answer at the end of this post.
I’ll help you out here; this was taken on the Oswego Canal, a spur that was developed to connect the Erie Canal and Syracuse to Lake Ontario. Name the town?
Another town on the Oswego Canal. Name it?
This is the same town, and the boats are exiting the same lock as seen above. In fact, about 500′ beyond the opening mitre gates is the location I took this photo of Urger and a State Police cruiser almost exactly 5 years ago.
This is Oswego. White Hawk has arrived on its first Great Lake. The masts await and will be stepped because air draft issues
no longer apply.
Welland Canal is less than 30 miles long, but it’s
the way around Niagara Falls in 8 easy steps.
Coexistence with larger vessels is the rule on the Welland Canal.
Above and below is one of the hardest working tug/barge units on the lakes . . . Wilf Seymour and Alouette Spirit.
And on any lucky passage through the Welland, you’ll see vessels like Fednav‘s Federal Dee,
Polsteam‘s Mamry, and
Canada Steamship Lines‘ CSL Tadoussac.
Before I give the answers to the questions above, here’s another town/Erie Canal location to identify. Click on the photo to find its attribution AND the article that explains what’s happening with White Hawk.
So . . . the answers are lock E-23, Phoenix NY, Fulton NY, and finally above . . . .
that’s Rome. Click here for a previous tugster post on the Rome to Oswego run.
Many thanks to Capt. Jeff for sharing these photos here.
And I’ll be looking for White Hawk on the Lakes this summer.
Apologies for sitting on these photos fo so long, but today’s the day to put them up. The previous 72 can be found here.
From Mage, long-time reader and commenter . . .. the sailing vessel below is proclaimed as the “world’s oldest active sailing ship.” I’d go along with that, since I can’t name one older and although I suspect someone might quibble with some of those adjectives. Can anyone identify it based on this statement and photo? Mage posts as frequently as I do, work that you can find here.
I haven’t posted this in a half year because I couldn’t identify the tugs. Maybe someone can help with that. Once you get other pieces of info, you will know the location.
From Sean, another long-time reader and commenter . . . these workboats. From the photo and from names, can you identify the location? Previous photos by Sean here.
Click here for fuller specs on R/V Palmetto. Click here for a closer-up photo of USACE Evans.
I’ve seen Candice L as far south as North Carolina, but this photo comes from longtime reader and commenter, Phil.
Phil also sends along a photo of this vessel Irvington, which appears to be a small double-ended ferry. Anyone know where it works/has worked? Here are previous photos sent along by Phil.
And finally, here’s a subster photo from Tommy on the Clyde, the Scottish Clyde, not the upstate NY one. Anyone identify the sub? Previous photos by Tommy here. Previous submarines on this blog . . . here.
Starting from the top, the sailing vessel is the 1863 Star of India. According to Tommy, the sub may be this one.
Many thanks for these photos to Mage Bailey, Sean McQuilken, Phil Porteus, and Tommy Bryceland.
Tinkering with the digital file, I’ve made SSV Corwith Cramer clearer here than she was to the naked eye as she came through the foggy Narrows yesterday morning.
Maintaining this blog over many years and springtimes has taught me how much fog is a spring phenomenon. Here on a clearer day, Corwith Cramer (1987) raced into the Narrows ahead of a near-summer rainstorm.
USNS Pomeroy is always gray, but she’s even grayer in the fogs of spring.
Had the fog not been here, you’d see the cliffs of Manhattan out beyond this car float,
and to my naked, non-corrected, non-digital eyes, Joyce was much less clear than she is here.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s grateful for assistance with photo manipulation tools.
Spring means warming temperatures–slowly in the watery realm–and more non-work boats. Fishermen are usually first, but then I watch for the first long-distance sailors or yachters coming to the land reclaimed from snow and ice. In a bit, the harbor will be giddy with seasonal users.
I watch the magenta targets on AIS, and here’s the first long-distance sailboat that I’ve noticed so far this year.
If you can identify the flag, you’ll know her registry. Answer follows.
This local boat was also out. You rarely see folks sailing in winter, but it does occur.
Evening Star uses the East River all year round, unlike the sloop over on the Manhattan side.
The mystery first-foreign-rivalhas an English name, that my head has transformed into Snow Bird.
Here’s that flag again and some lettering on the boom.
And the flag is Czech Republic . . ..
Click here for info on the vessel. Welcome to NYC, Miroslav. Snehurka is Czech or Slovenian (?), I gather, for . . . . believe it or not, Snow White. Does that mean there might be seven diminutive crew below?
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Let’s leave this as a mystery location for now.
It’s on a list I have for the next year . . .
Here’s the landing craft . . .
Ashore all magnitude of stark beauty awaits. Follow the cairns to stay on the trail.
If you want to guess, some of these photos
were taken from the trail to Steinbeck Canyon.
All photos from anonymous gallivanters for now. Conjecture is welcome with the huge clue I gave you.
Happy spring.
Here was the first use of the title.
I took the first four photos here on May 25, 2018 in Washburn WI. Don’t know where Washburn is? It’s near the SW end of Lake Superior, just south of Bayfield, and I was searching for fish tugs, i.e., focused. I recall noticing the masts and that pinky stern over beyond the boat in the foreground.
The mast rake and size was familiar, as were the ratlines. And the stern lines . . . truly unique.
I even walked over there and thought the details of the bow . . . what I call the head rig . . . was something I’d seen before.
I recall the words “Thomas Colvin” bubbled to the surface of my brain. But I saw this before 0800 at the start of a long day that would involved a car trip to Sault Sainte Marie, i.e., lots of miles to gallivant safely while seeing the most interesting sights. That trip ended and led into another in my picaresque journey through this part of my life.
And then yesterday, the social media entity I call “bookface” popped this photo to the surface as having been posted 11 years ago, exactly. Indeed that was me, slouching way back into a pinky stern, keeping my feet clear of any adjustments the tiller man needed.
And a friend wrote to ask, “and where is that boat these days?”
I was busy at that moment, so only later in the afternoon did I get back to the question. Since google helps answer a lot of such questions, I consulted it and came up with Rosemary Ruth Sailing Charters out of Washburn WI. At first, I regretted having been through Washburn twice in May. How could I not have seen it, I wondered. That led me to go to my photo library . . . thinking I’d seen it and it hadn’t registered.
But there she is, in plain sight, close enough that I could have touched it. For photos of this delightful small schooner, click here. For photos of her high and dry from 12 years ago showing the weld signature that I should have checked in Washburn, click here. For photos of me on the tiller, click here. Then owner Richard Hudson (click on his tag at the top of the post) put her on the land while he got Issuma, a sturdier schooner. and sailed tens of thousands of miles touching four continents and crossing the Northwest Passage. For some of those photos, click here. See Richard’s own blog, as his journey continues, here. For some video, click here.
Thanks to bookface and thanks to Tom Briggs for asking her whereabouts.
Here was Summer Sail 1; and since that dates from almost two years ago.
Clipper City looks great juxtaposed against the skyline, but
ketch Catriona . . . she has Herreshoff pedigree.
No matter . . . larger schooner or smaller and more intimate ketch,
one is pampered moving by sail in the sixth boro. And that includes the option of sailing aboard the oldest harbor schooner of all . . . Pioneer.
Above and below, it’s Pioneer, and below the other schooner is one you won’t see in the sixth boro for a few years . . . Lettie G. Howard. Of course, if you head over to Lake Erie–where I’ll be n a few weeks–you may catch a glimpse, even catch a ride.
And finishing it off, it’s America 2.0.
All photos taken by Will Van Dorp in the past 365 days.
Recall that “fifth dimension” is my code for the time travel series; call it history if you wish.
In 1968–50 fast years ago!!– Mon Lei, which transited the harbor last weekend, was more of a presence. All photos here come from Steve Munoz, who writes: “I saw your post and remembered seeing a Chinese junk at the South Seaport in June 1968, and I looked at my pics, which were originally slides. I was on the tug Dalzelleagle (1958 and now McAllister Brothers) with my uncle Bob Munoz, captain and pilot with McAllister. We had some time between jobs so we walked over to the Mon Lei and the people on the boat let us go aboard and inside to take a look. If I remember correctly, the boat was built in Hong Kong around 1895. The interior was beautifully hand-carved mahogany, but very musty smell. You will also see the USCG sail vessel Eagle at seaport pier. I did not know that Mon Lei was still around.”
Another reader of Monday’s post wrote: ” I boat-sat her for one week in maybe the winter of 87-88. Was bitter cold and she was wintering at the late great Pier 15 [pictured above and below]. Normally she lived at the E 23rd St. marina, but some construction was going on there. Alan York was traveling on business, so I looked after her. The interior was nothing short of a fantasy world of Asian carving and ornamentation. One friend described it as a “floating fornicatorium.” Also a nice comfy oil burner for heat. I remember he was scouring the world for new bamboo of a certain kind for her sail battens. Quite the gentleman.”
If you didn’t look at this link previously, see it now for some interior shots.
I’m curious about the two vessels alongside the pier in the lower right.
Continuing here with photos from Steve, below is the future that never was . . . NS Savannah passing Ellis Island (onion domes) bound for sea. It was June 1968, almost exactly a half century ago for all these photos.
Back when some tugboats had eagles atop their wheelhouses . . . this was Steve’s Uncle Bob at the helm. A few years ago, I recall seeing one of McAllister’s boats with a plastic dinosaur atop the wheelhouse for a while. I’ll have to look for the photo.
On a different note, here’s a photo by Elizabeth Wood taken in 2005 of Lettie G. Howard along the Brooklynside of the Upper Bay. Lettie G., built in 1893 (125 years ago, making her as old or even older than Mon Lei, depending on which story you believe. for all you readers downcast of me, Lettie G. departed the Hudson River around 0700 today, heading for Lake Erie via Gloucester and Nova Scotia. She is on AIS. Nelson, Joey, Mac, Jack, Marc, Brenda, Jake, Barry . . . you know who you are. I hope to see Lettie G. on Lake Erie this summer; I hope you do too.
Thanks to Steve and Elizabeth for use of these photos.
Call it a sea change. The air warms up although the water is still very cold.
Sea Lion does what it has all winter, but what’s different is the reappearance of non-workboats. Sea Lion has some history on this blog.
Evening Light moves north in anticipation of summer.
Pleasure boats move into an environment that has been consistently about work throughout the winter.
Mischief passes New Champion and Stephen Dann, which brought in highway ramp sections. Would these sections be for the Bayonne, the Tappan Zee, or another?
Small party boats
head out to catch what spring fish migrate in. Should there be a Really Never Snuff Express?
Bigger party boats appear as well.
Fast open boats and
slower enclosed cruisers, of all sorts
pass Atlantic Salvor as it returns from another dredge spoils run.
Norwegian Escape has smaller boats
accompany it on its way into the Narrows and the harbor. If my numbers are correct, Escape has capacity for 5999 souls, including crew, which is more than the population of Taos, Marfa, and well more than the town where I grew up.
I’ve not seen many of these smaller boats since early last fall, and on a warm Sunday, they start to reappear. Drive safe; work safe.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose other posts about small craft can be read here.
Recent Comments