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This is the last Roundup I’ve attended. Here’s another shot from the swim platform, where I’m flat on my belly. That’s Mike Byrnes, last year’s “old man of the sea” at the portside of the wheelhouse.
Downbound in the Federal lock, it’s Waterford, Governor Cleveland, and Tender #3.
On the northbound trip, the two smaller tugs fell in alongside Grand Erie. Grand Erie is a 1951 build that first worked for the USACE in the Mississippi system.
Tug Buffalo heads for its berth beyond Pennsy 399 and Lehigh Valley #79, where
David Sharps bugle greets each vessel as it passes.
Lisa Ann was a newcomer that year, I believe. She was built at Marine Inland Fabricators, where the “new” canal tugs like Port Jackson have also been built.
Another newbie in 2015 was Solar Sal, a solar powered newbuild that actually transported cargo later in the season. Like Ceres the year before, these are prototypes, and like Ceres, Solar Sal transported this cargo.
Ever so salty, it’s Ben Grudinskas, captain and builder of Atlantic Hunter.
Here Atlantic Hunter faces off against the mighty Tender #3. By the way, Tender #3 is 43′ x 10′ and came off the ways in 1926!! 1926 . . . . 94 years ago.
It’s currently powered by a 220 hp Detroit Diesel.
In closing, the land activities include line toss, open to all comers, but won by the pros. I failed at the 15′ mark.
And I’ve not attended the Roundup since 2015, but unless I’m employed and on duty, I hope to make the 2021.
The 2010 post had a photo from 2009, so let me start this one with one from 2010. This photo made the cover of a NYS Restoration publication devoted to boats, but I lent my copy to someone and it’s never returned. If you know the publication, please let me know.
OK, let’s see one more from 2010, taken from the same bridge, but closer to the bank and less zoomed. Lots of folks come to these Roundups, but the number of working boats that can get there is decreasing because of increasing air draft and the inflexible 112th Street bridge, which also wiped out the viability of Matton shipyard.
The Roundup always begins with a parade, and that used to be always (in my times there) led by Urger.
Cornell and spawn named Augie waited on the wall in Troy.
Buffalo is now in Buffalo, and in less good condition. Here‘s more info on her. She’s 53′ x 16’ and worked for the Barge Canal from 1916 until 1973. Originally steam, she was repowered after WW2. See her engine, a Cooper Bessemer, running here back in 2007.
Wendy B was the show stealer in 2010. She looked good and no one I spoke with knew where she’d come from. She’s a 1940-build by Russel Brothers of Owen Sound ON, originally a steam tug called Lynn B. More info is here but you have to scroll.
8th Sea is a staple of the Roundup, probably has been since the beginning. She was built in 1953 at ST 2050 by American Electric Welding. That makes her a sister to ST 2062, now in the sixth boro as Robbins Reef, seen here if you scroll. Here‘s a tug44 description of tug and captain.
Small can still be salty, especially with this innovative propulsion . . . . Little Toot.
As I said, one of the traditions of the Roundup is that Urger leads the way. Here, above the federal lock, the boats muster. And traditions are important.
The active commercial boats line up at the wall nearest the Hudson River, but when a job needs doing, they head out.
Since the Roundup happens just below lock E-2 of the Erie Canal, the thoroughfare for the Great Loop, it’s not uncommon to see some long distance boats pass by. All I know about Merluza is that it’s the Spanish word for hake.
What happened to 2011 you may ask? Irene happened and the Roundup was cancelled. We’re indebted to tug44 for documenting the damage of that hurricane in the Mohawk Valley.
All photos, unless otherwise attributed, WVD.
Remember the post on the CMA CGM 14414s? How about the Wall of New York?
Below you are looking at 25,000 teu on the Maersk PLUS the CMA CGM vessels, Maersk 10k and CMA CGM 15k,
making this the largest ULCV yet to call in the sixth boro, CMA CGM Brazil. Brazil came off the ways earlier this year. The rest of the series will carry names including CMA CGM Argentina, Mexico, Panama, and Chile. Does Brazil have the special scrubbers? When will LNG catch on as fuel?
Hayward must have been the spectator vessel, but I didn’t get my invitation.
Maybe someone can opine on why James D. provided the tow moving astern? My supposition is that this configuration places the wheels farthest ahead of the tow, providing the dynamic equivalent of a longer lever, but that’s only a supposition.
James D. and Kirby worked in tandem, as opposite ends of the ship.
If my math is correct, 15,000 teus, if lined up end to end, would make 56.8 miles of containers. Big ship.
All photos, WVD, who wonders what is in all those boxes and of all that, what could not be made or grown in this country.
If you didn’t see her arrive, maybe you can catch her when she exits.
0545 at the Narrows . . . in the hazy days of summer . . . nothing beats it.
I had not come here just to beat the heat.
Surprisingly, Turecamo Girls (I believe) delivered the docking pilot.
Then she dropped back, to where one of the 6000s took the stern and
another the bow.
Only a couple hours into the day, another ULCV appeared in the offing . . .
Hyundai Drive, which sounds almost like a car ad framed as an order if you reverse the words . . . .
In the clearer light, you can clearly see Drive‘s crew asisting the docking pilot, boarding from Capt. Brian A.
For scale, notice the deckhand on the bow waiting . . .
. . .
for the messenger line.
To digress a bit, in July 2018 Hyundai Jupiter was in the sixth boro, and the company was still called Hyundai. On March 31, 2020, it rebranded itself as HMM. Jupiter, 1059′ loa, had a capacity of 10,000 teu.
In March 2013, Hyundai Grace, a 2007 build, had a capacity of 4571 teu on her 964′ hull.
In April 2009, Hyundai Voyager was in town . . . built in 2008 with the same dimensions as Grace.
So in a decade, typical Hyundai (HMM) vessels calling here have increasing carrying capacity by nearly 300%. If you consider HMM calling elsewhere, the increase has been greater than 500%.
All photos, WVD.
There’s something unusual about the vessel coming in with the assistance of Miriam Moran. See what it is?
Maybe I should say this vessel is a veritable unicorn. Thai script is unusual.
I read the Thai writing system is based on Old Khmer.
She draws a little over 20′ if I read this right.
The PSL expands to Precious Shipping Line, based in Bangkok. They operate 40 vessels, including 31 handysize, which includes Nalinee Naree. I don’t recall seeing another PSL vessel in the sixth boro.
Now you wouldn’t expect a Thai vessel to be registered in Majuro or Valetta or Monrovia, although . . . .
It’s the cargo stanchions that make this bulk carrier unusual. See above and below the rectangular structures around the outboard side of the deck. I’m quite sure she didn’t head into Port Newark to load logs, so they must be permanently installed. To see what can go wrong with the stanchions in rough weather, click here. According to this article, Nalinee Naree would therefore be called a logger.
All photos, WVD, who wrote about loggers once before here, albeit from the other side of the continent.
Happy August.
I’d never have guessed that the best thing I’d find at the “big orange” home fixups big box store was in the parking lot.
I recognized immediately what it was, and I knew the AMC owned the brand for a few years. Wiilys Overland became Kaiser Willys, which lost money and in 1970 was sold to AMC, which branded it as “Jeep Corporation.”
Anyhow, as I said, it was my first trip to this orange brand store since February. I’d postponed some fixups because it didn’t seem a safe place to go. I chose to go right after downing my daily cup of coffee . . . figuring I’d beat the crowds.
I took the photos because it seemed to be a good follow-up to the “Star Ster Crazy 5″ posts. This is what I’m doing now, only to realize that other than an AMC Jeep Commando . . . remember AMC at this time had names like Javelin and Gremlin . . . I didn’t know what year it is. If I’d looked at the registration sticker on the windshield, I’d have known. I don’t always anticipate what info I’ll need. So help me . . . given that grille, is it a 1972?
Jeep became a Chrysler product in 1986. Jeep has survived, but Chrysler has allied itself with a German company nd then an Italian company since then. And thanks to my itinerant sister, some snaps she took at
Willys America in Cazadero CA.
Other than the two photos from my sister, all snaps by WVD, who really wishes he had just glanced at the registration, but then I wouldn’t have had such fun figuring it out.
Also, I maybe should have called this “something different” 55. . . . or just “tugster distracted.”
Before the internet and interactive maps of all sorts, I covered my walls with maps and studied atlases. I’ve moved along with some technological modifications. Recently when a friend reported a planned trip to Guinea Conakry, I was looking at various ships in the offing there, and saw this notation below for STI Onyx. Intriguing. That was about two weeks ago, and when I checked last night, they were still on board. Of course with news like this, one should not be surprised.
Decisive was in port briefly on January 2, but I was unable to get photos before she departed. As I understand it, she is retrieving old cable, rather than laying down new at this point. I was unaware of an area in the New York Bight referred to as “cable grounds.” TSS I believe refers to “traffic separation scheme,” not unlike a jersey barrier or a median strip on a highway.
I checked on Decisive a half day later and saw her “destination” marked differently, now, if expanded, to one nautical mile closest point of approach required,” ie, keep your distance.
AIS is an effective tool for a photographer to see if anything interesting might be moving in the area.
Did anyone manage to get shots of Decisive last week?
Here’s an interesting cutaway drawing of a cable layer and info on the SubCom fleet. The cables they lay, they ARE how the internet travels between continents.
And those armed guards, I don’t think they have anything to do with Internet security.
And to add to the chaotic nature of this post . . . ever see a dazzle painted tugboat? Check this one out . . . about a five minute clip here.
The Canadas and I were attentive, but it was really just another ULCV. This was was named for Columbus’ detractor. Ironically, Maersk Columbus will be arriving in the sixth boro today.
It struck me as remarkable that in spite of the number of containers visible–and of course many more are invisible–Vespucci rode fairly high in the water. My read on the forward draft markings show just over 25′ draft. Maybe you read it the same?
In this article from four years ago, Vespucci would be listed among the top 10 largest classes on container vessels in the world, by teu.
See the red “fenders” on the stern quarter? I first noticed them here a few years ago . . . turns out they are anti-pirate gear. There’s a link to the inventors in that post, and here’s a link to the manufacturer.
If you’re new to this blog, container ship capacity is rated in a unit called t. e. u. (twenty-foot equivalents). Most containers are either 20′ or 40′ long, standard dimensions for efficiency’s sake. Containers are used to ship just about anything, but let’s for this conversation’s sake say a container is full of shoe boxes, which themselves can be moved in a shopping cart. A standard shopping cart is rated at 4.4 cubic feet of volume. A standard container is 1172 cubic feet, given the dimensions above. My math then comes up with 267 shopping carts per container. That adds up to over 3.6 million shopping carts of stuff on Vespucci, rated at 13,830 teu. End-to-end with no space between the carts . . . that line of carts would stretch farther than NYC to Albuquerque along the roads!!
This 2010 vessel carries 20 containers across, and compare that to
CMA CGM Marlin (photo taken in September 2009) with 13 containers across. Here are some recent posts featuring CMA CGM boats.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who suggests you keep an eye on ONE Stork, currently in Bayonne.
By the way, I was traveling S/V America Vespucci when she was last here in 2017. Anyone get pics?
Here are previous installments.
The photos below are NOT mine but they’ve captivated me since I first saw them on FB. Credit and context can be found by clicking on the photo itself.
What I learned–and you could too be following the thread embedded in the photo– is that it was posted about two years ago by ahotrodin57 from Wisconsin who claims to be a metal fabricator who found it after it had been used as a ferry to an island off Wisconsin. I’m wondering if that would be a Lake Superior island …
Hats off to hotrodin57 for a novel combination. I’d love to know about the project status today.
Click here for another take on “boat ramrod.” Or here. Or even this . . . .
Anyone have others to share?
I’m skipping over many miles of my road; although I took photos, they would fit into a blog about watersheds and Poison Sea-to-Palatine history–which I haven’t created–more than here.
Here was the first installment . . . almost a decade ago, September 2009. Of course, the Rondout has figured in many blog posts listed here.
Solaris is the followup to the solar powered vessel called Solar Sal, which tugster featured here. Recently Solaris took a six-hour night trip returning from an event down south. Much more info on Solaris here. Learn more on these links about the creators Dave Gerr and David Borton. Go to Kingston and get a ride and you’ll hear only cavitation from the Torqeedo outboard.
Here’s where Solaris was built. Come and learn to build here too.
A few years ago, I was at the school and saw this 1964 catboat Tid-Bit getting a rehab.
This John Magnus was rowed all the way up from Pier 40 Village Community Boathouse in the sixth boro. Some years ago, I rowed alongside it on a trip up the Gowanus Canal.
Since making its way up to the Rondout from downriver, the floating hospital has been a “dream” boat: maybe art space, restaurant, maybe scrap, maybe hotel . . . I believe this is the last vessel operated by an NYC institution for 150 years. Technically, it was christened as the Lila Acheson Wallace Flaoting Hospital barge in 1973. If you click only one link in this post, let it be this one for a montage of many photos of her in a Manhattan context through those years of service.
ST-2201 Gowanus Bay was Waterford Tug Roundup tug-o-the-year in 2013. More on the boat here.
Sojourn is currently tied up along the creek.
Rip Van Winkle . . . in all my times up here, I’ve never taken the tour.
And to end this post for today, I’ve never noticed this concrete barge here before. This one appears to be newer and larger than the ones just above lock E9 here. I know nothing about its history.
More tomorrow. Happy Canada Day to all the friends north of the border who treated me so well last week.
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