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Seth Tane took this photo on the Columbia in 2000. This was my sense of tugboats back then. I had little sense of their age, power, crews, skills needed for operation, etc. Take a guess on those features of this boat, and I’ll provide you some answers at the end of this post. Note that this tug and barge are at a log dock, a trade unknown in the sixth boro or the NE US.
Here’s a shot I took in 2002 while hanging out on what I called back then the “waterfront” and saw this vessel. Again, I had no idea of those same features as they pertained to this vessel, nor of the logic of this design. Test yourself, and then some info can be found at the end.
I took this photo in 2004. My 15 years in coastal NE had given me an interest in schooners but I’d never sought an opportunity to crew on one, until my move to NYS, first on and then off the live-aboard.
Note the warehouses still standing where Brooklyn Bridge Park is now located. Volunteer crewing on Pioneer and the other boats at South Street Seaport Museum kept me on the Upper Bay for long hours, and I saw lots of new things,
some things whose uniqueness I didn’t even fully appreciate. Anyone know what’s become of that tugboat Rachel Marie? I don’t.
Some things intrigued me,
and other things like this derelict sugar mill and sunken lightship were soon to disappear.
I started to see interesting tugboats in unexpected places.
Little did I expect then the changes that would happen. Know the boat above and below?
All photos, WVD. Answers below.
Craig Foss, 1944, 116′ x 30′. Here are more particulars, but as good as the boat appeared the top photo, she was purchased by unqualified parties, detained, and eventually scrapped. You need to read the story here; some crew were lucky to have survived.
The second photo shows Coral Queen, a motor tanker that carried petroleum from 1920 (!!!) until 2011. That is a long working life. Here are the particulars from Birk’s data base. From Auke Visser’s site, here are more particulars. And finally, from my Barge Canal series last year, here are images of her generations of fleet mates; her design relates to her work as a tanker in the “inter-connected waterways,” the Great Lakes and salt water connected by the Barge Canal.
The 1885 Pioneer still seasonally sails with professional and volunteer crews, and the 1893 Lettie G. Howard does the same on Lake Erie mostly.
I’ve no idea what became of Rachel Marie.
Meow Man traces are still around.
The sugar mill area now has an Amazon facility, and the old shipyard is the Red Hook Ikea parking lot, and the sunken ship reefed, the piers scrapped.
Grouper, frozen in ice, is still waiting to be scrapped, but as of March 2, 2023 is still entirely intact. The orange livery has disappeared from the sixth boro; that boat June K is now Donjon blue.
Ultimately, the more I found answers to questions I had, the more I was drawn in to learn more, a fact that keeps me looking and asking. I really never expected to be in the boros and fascinated by the sixth boro as long as I have been. Recently, I had a conversation with a friend from another NYC life and she reported never to have heard of the sixth boro. I guess that’s as shocking as hearing that someone’s not heard of the legendary Meow Man, the saltwater equivalent of Kilroy, or the US version of Maqroll, whose exploits need to be written down. As of the date of these photos, tugster the blog had not yet been launched.
I’m not sure when I’ll post anything next, but it could be tomorrow.
Quick . . . what do you know about this white lionine tugboat? Answer follows.
We’re still being quick here? What can you tell me about this model of Dianne E. in a display case on the lower level of a barge of Pier 66? I know nothing about the model, but I stopped by at Pier 66 Wednesday for the first time in way too long. Any interest in meeting gathering there one of these warm days?
And speaking of piers, I made my first stop at Pier 76 ever Wednesday as well. It seems I’ve not been out here in a really long time.
Harvey looked resplendent alongside the seating . . ..
The NYS Canal system opens officially today, and that means Sparky might be a looper headed up there traveling north and then west to get back to Florida. I’m just speculating.
Anne Moore is busy. Hey, NPS, I’d like to talk with you about this vessel.
Media Boat 5 is always out, always doing and seeing interesting sights.
RCC Africa is a RORO I’ve not seen before. Here are Autoliner routes.
Pacific Basin‘s Sharp Island left town light.
Rolf Williams was returning to base after delivering lube solutions.
And that brings us back to this tugboat . . . the former J. George Betz.
All photos, WVD, who suggests you too gallivant around the original boro, the sixth boro, some warm day soon.
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.
Foggy day, moody port. Without the icon off to the left, you might think it’s just an uninhabited island with a law enforcement boat approaching in our wake, but
once you see the logo on the cowl . . . along with the statue above . . .
suddenly the land edges lapped by the waters must be teeming with life. The sixth boro is the least inhabited one.
All photos by WVD, who’s amazed by the mild February weather.
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.
I take a lot of photos. A few are extraordinary, IMHO. The photo below ranks among that select set.
Above and below, it’s Jonathan C Moran. Sharon Sea heads for sea above.
Atlantic Salvor takes yet another scow filled with dredge spoils out to the dumping grounds.
Atlantic Dawn heads out.
Emily Ann tows Chesapeake 1000 down toward Norfolk.
St Andrews moves a petro barge.
Frances has a headline to a barge in the anchorage.
Two Vane boats wait in Gowanus Bay.
And James D. has a line onto ONE Stork.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Two massive but indistinct enterprises loom offshore while a ketch motors in. I understand that if I were near to one of those “loomers” . . . they’d be moving faster than I could swim, row, paddle, or walk . . . .
I couldn’t identify the ketch, with the ever-ready bike on deck.
What time is it?
Time to watch the colossal screen? I’m trying to imagine some applications . . . circle the boats at the float-in cinema? harbor church service? a candidate’s debate? a floating classroom?
Only today did I understand that Harvey‘s paint treatment was part of a World War 1 memorial called 14-18 Now.
Click here for 14-18 Now background, leading up to the November 11, 2018 centennial remembrance of the end of the war that was supposed to end all wars . . . . Even Richard Thompson, one of my favorite singer-songwriters, put out related music.
I NEED to now the story here, this 1930s wrecker on a pier in Red Hook . . . Will that be loaded onto a ship and sent away? I hope not. Related . . . I’ve got fodder for another truckster post soon.
Over in Sunset Park (or is this already Bay Ridge??), are these the legs for the Staten Island Wheel that will never stand?
All photos and questions by Will Van Dorp.
As close as this blog has gotten to polar waters can be seen here and here. And then there was that polar bear question that appeared here back in 2007 . . .
When I saw the vessel above northbound on the Upper Bay on Monday, I had no idea what it was.
It turns out to be one of about a dozen passenger ships operated by Hurtigruten, a cargo and ferry line since 1893 now offering cruises to the latitudes toward the Poles, North and South.
Another vessel named Fram–that one made of wood–was an early explorer of the polar seas.
Fram was in the sixth boro for about 24 hours before heading south. Her port of registry is Tromso, in northern Norway.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
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.
After 66 days at sea, Zhen Hua 20 dropped anchor in Gravesend Bay yesterday after a few hours after I departed. But thanks to Bjoern of New York Media Boat, this phase of the visit has been documented.
Given the ubiquity of containers, there’s a worldwide demand for the cranes; according to their website, 70% of this style crane worldwide is produced by ZPMC. As the container ships get larger, a need for cranes with greater boom reach is created. ZPMC Netherlands has a fleet currently of 22 ships to idle these seemingly impossible loads. Since 2012, ZPMC has successfully completed “1070 voyages to 180 ports in 80 countries.”
Note the Miller’s Launch crew boat off starboard bow.
Booms must be lowered before the delivery will fit under the Bayonne Bridge on the transit to Port Elizabeth . . . alter this week.
Many thanks to Bjoern for use of these photos. For more info on New York Media Boat–actually there are several vessels–check them out online or see and “like” them on FB.
Here was a Zhen Hua vessel in port back in 2007–the first I ever saw–from 2008 here, and from 2014 . . here, here, and here.
Marginally related: One would not need these cranes at one point in the Comoros; this practice I’ve read has ended.
tugster: a waterblog 
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