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Of course, there are little known gunkholes in the backwaters of the sixth boro where fossils–living and inert–float. This one is off an inlet behind one island and concealed by another, a place easily missed, and if seen, it gives the impression of being off limits by land and too shallow by water, near the deadly bayou of Bloomfield. But with the right conveyance and attitude, it’s feasible if you’re willing to probe. And the fossils have names like . . .
Caitlin Rose. I don’t know much, but built in Savannah GA in 1956? Relentless. She’s before my time here, but I suppose she’s the one built in Port Arthur TX in 1950.
I can’t make out all of the words here.
Ticonderoga is obviously playing possum. Only a month ago she doe-see-doed into the Kills with the ex-Pleon, the blue tug behind her,
a Jakobson from 1953.
Dauntless .. . built in Jakobson & Peterson of Brooklyn in 1936, was once Martha Moran.
From right to left here, Mike Azzolino was built for the USCG at Ira S. Bushey & Sons and commissioned as WYTM-72 Yankton in 1944. Moving to the left, it’s Charles Oxman . . .
was built by Pusey & Jones in 1940 and originally called H. S. Falk., and looked like this below, which explains the unusual wheelhouse today. She seems to have come out of that same search for new direction as David, from a post here a year ago.
The photo above I took from this tribute page.
The small tug off Oxman‘s starboard, i don’t know.
The low slung tug that dominates the photo here is Erica, and beyond here is a Crow.
Someone help me out here?
And as far into this gunkhole as I dared to venture . . . this one is nameless.
Oh the stories that could be told here! I hope someone can and will. Balladeers like Gordon Lightfoot could memorialize these wrecks in a song like “Ghosts of Cape Horn,” which inspired a tugster post here years ago. And looking at the last photo in that old post, I see Wavertree, which leads me to this art- and detail-rich site I don’t recall having seen before.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Given the glorious sunshine, the transition from summer to fall begs another series. Let’s start with Maule,
2/3s of her escort, and
a fraction of her crew.
Following in Maule‘s wake, Helsinki Bridge arrives, here with half its escort.
McKinley Sea traverses the Upper Bay and passes
UBC Mobile.
In the harbor was Cordula Jacob and Seastar, as seen from two angles.
with some ferries and a Miller’s Launch crew boat.
Caitlin Ann and
Miss Lizzy work the AK and in the
KVK, for the last day, there are two glorious ships with bright futures . . .
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
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Here were the previous posts, the last one being in April. On June 11, I took the photo below, and since then had not been back until yesterday. Note how far along the Bayonne Bridge was on that date, as well
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Here’s a closer up of the rigging on June 11.
Now let’s jump forward to yesterday, August 15. Note where the crane barge
Claude G. Forbes started the morning, and
and check the progressing in rigging, compared with photo #2 above.
Yard tug Jay Bee V came out to
reposition the barge. Note the mizzen on the background.
Then the crane pivoted around and
the block was lowered and
straps added and
all systems checked and
then slowly tensioned. One end of the mast lifted from off the deck
BUT then it was lowered. I waited around for an hour more, but then had other places to be. I’ll have to pick up the Wavertree story another time.
Since I mentioned the Bayonne Bridge–its own process–here’s what the work looks like as of August 15 from over off the west end of Caddell Dry Dock .. . aka ex-Blissenbach Marina now known as Heritage Park, which in my opinion, should have foliage trimmed so as to be more user friendly for land-based photographers.
Thanks to everyone who braved the heat last night and came to the showing of Graves of Arthur Kill. Special thanks to those wizards who problem-solved our way through the technical challenges, except I had brought along an antepenultimate version . . . and sorry I didn’t have a chance to talk with everyone there. What you want–prepare for an explicit commercial message here– is this version, which Gary and I call “the director’s cut,” available for a mere $11.99.
While I’m doing “commercials,” here’s an opportunity for the right people to sail offshore on South Street Seaport Museum’s 1893 fishing schooner, up to Gloucester for the 2016 schooner races, or back, or some portion thereof. Click here for some of the many Lettie G. Howard posts I’ve done over the years.
All photos here by Will Van Dorp.
I considered calling this “random vessels,” since I haven’t used that title in a while, but here is a tighter focus for a few days: tugboats. Here I also randomize the backgrounds and seek out some vessels infrequently seen. Like the rare and exotic Shelby Rose and
Jay Michael and Vicki M and
Patricia with her racing stripes up against the gantry arms.
Wye River and James E. Brown here cross the south end of Newark Bay, where
Sandmaster has been tied up for (?) nearly a year now.
Sassafras did a circle in Erie Basin recently, and
Thomas, the Weeks tug, strode into town, picked up a barge and headed straight for Texas! The first time I saw Thomas was January 2009. Remember what memorable event splashed into the Hudson around the middle of that month?
Buchanan 12 here is light and seen from almost her prop wash. I hadn’t noticed the Boston registry before.
Quantico Creek stays local a lot, but Severn I don’t see much.
Here’s Tangier Island behind . . yes, Gerardi’s Farmers Market.
OK . . . that’s it for today. All photos by Will Van Dorp. More random tugs tomorrow.
This was the same morning as the photos in yesterday’s post.
Amy C McAllister was assisting Polaris out to sea, and passing Wavertree‘s wrought iron hull. Click here for a record on articles about this unique survivor.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
And since it’s Earth Day, here’s a post from five years ago called Earth on Water Day, especially appropriate since the vessel in the photos above is named for a star in the night sky.
0633 . . . the other morning, a quarter hour after sunrise.
30 seconds later, at a different angle.
It’s really about light.
0832 The good light is gone. Time to move on to something else. But wait . . are those the towers of the new Goethals Bridge along the right edge of the photo?
All photos here by Will Van Dorp.
And if you missed the new NY harbor dock book info yesterday, here it is again. The author writes, “I decided to adapt his work into book form. I left the Martin Golden byline so he would get credit for his work. I think the old names on the docks are best feature. Most of those terminals have gone the way of the dodo, but old timers can still be heard giving security calls at Standard Tank, Copper Docks and other places not there anymore.”
Unrelated: Did anyone catch Kirsten Grace leaving the sixth boro this weekend? Was she towing Newtown Creek to its new life? As of this posting, Kirsten Grace is approaching Wilmington NC.
November, port month on tugster, ends here, making this GHP&W 30. Here’s how the month began. One thing I learned putting together this post is that Port Richmond and Mariner’s Harbor appear not to share a border, at least according to the wikipedia map. Between the western edge of Port Richmond and the eastern edge of Mariner’s (the west side of the Bayonne Bridge) is a neighborhood called Elm Park. I’d never heard of it. Also, look at the northeast tip of Port Richmond . . . it’s in the water only and includes the Caddell yard. Furthermore, Port Richmond never seems like much of a port if you see it by road only. Click here for photos of the land portion of Port Richmond. Click on the map to make it interactive.
A google satellite view shows the northernmost margin of land is port-intensive. Click here for many vintage photos of Port Richmond, pre-Bayonne Bridge, back when Port Richmond was a major ferry/rail link.
Although the late fall midday sun backlit these shots, let’s cruise the waterside of Port Richmond, starting at its northeastern point, where the Wavertree (1885) project is ongoing.
Delaware River & Bay Authority’s Delaware is undergoing some major repowering work.
Frying Pan . . . light of the night vessel from up at Pier 66 is having some work done.
In the belly of Frying Pan, where the engine and machinery used to be, a night club sometimes comes to life. Click here for some renderings of the vessel by the elusive bowsprite.
Miss Liberty, built 1954, is nearly finished with this dry-docking. Notice here she is high and dry? Well, just 45 minutes later, she had been
splashed and was being towed to a wharf by Caddell’s own L. W. Caddell (1990).
Continuing to the west, it’s the yards of Reinauer and Moran. From l to r, here, it seems to be Meredith C. Reinauer (2003), Laurie Ann Reinauer (2009), Reinauer Twins (2011), and Dace Reinauer (1968 but JUST repowered). . . and Joan Turecamo with (?) Brendan Turecamo. The McAllister tug between the Reinauer ATBs . . . I’ll guess is Bruce A. Marjorie B. McAllister.
This photo, taken a half hour earlier and before Joan Turecamo (1980) tied up, shows Kimberly Turecamo (1980), the very new and beamy J. R. T. Moran (2015), and Brendan (1975).
On the west side of the Moran yard, it’s Cable Queen (1952). Click here for photos of this cable-layer at work through the years.
And for the last shot of Port Richmond–although this may be straying westward into Elm Park waters, it’s Metropolitan Marine Transportation’s newest Normandy.
All the photos today by Will Van Dorp.
So as I said at the beginning of this post, so ends the “gunk holes, harbors, ports, and wharves” series. However, precedent on this blog makes it really easy to do a Port Richmond 2, 3, 4 . . . . etc. post. also, if any of you feel like contributing a set of photos from a port of gunk hole, no matter how large or obscure, I welcome it. Besides, there’s always then possibility of doing an “upland” version of any port, focusing on land-based businesses serving the work vessels.
And as for December, let me reprint this idea for a December theme:
How about antique/classic workboats, functioning or wrecked. Of course, a definition for that category is impossible. For example, NewYorkBoater says this: ‘The definition of an antique boat according to Antique and Classic Boating Society is a boat built between 1919 and 1942. A classic was built between 1943 and 1975 and the term contemporary, are boats built from 1976 and on.’ Hmm . . . what do you call an old vessel built before 1919 . . . a restoration project? antediluvian?
If you take another transportation sector–automobiles, you get another definition: 25 years old or more. And for the great race, here were the rules for this year: “Vehicle entries must have been manufactured in 1972 or before.” Next year’s cut-off will likely be 1973.
So my flexible definition is . . . photo should have been taken in 1999 or before, by you or of you or a family member, and in the case of a wreck, probably identifiable. Exception . . . it could be a boat built before . . . say . . . 1965.”
Many thanks to all of you who sent along photos, contributed ideas, and commented in November.
The Cornell (1950) with Clearwater (1969) on Hughes 141 photos come with thanks to Glenn Raymo. The Hudson Valley is particularly beautiful this time of year, especially if you catch it in the right light, which of course is true everywhere.
The other tugboats and landscapes in this post are mine. In the KVK, Sarah Ann (2003) passes RTC 135 just as the morning sun clears a bank of low-lying clouds.
An upriver-bound Navigator (1981) clears the Kills with HT 100 around the same hour.
. . . passing lighthouses,
gantry cranes, storage facilities,
and impossible towers.
Many thanks to Glenn for use of his photos. I’m sure Paul Strubeck plays a role here also. And I took the photos of Sarah Ann and Navigator.
Here and here are some previous photos of Clearwater on its winter maintenance barge.
Here were previous posts in this series.
Sunday morning, though, I went out to see the full moon set, but
while I was relaxing there, this Dolphin intruded,
low.
And then went back and forth . . . above this tanker with stern line dangling and held in location by two tugboats. And the VHF channel 14 was calling for a slow bell in the KVK.
Another USCG asset came around, and
if all that didn’t call attention to something awry, then a small boat adding wipes to the booms
called even clearer signs of a problem. Also, on that outboard, is that camouflage paint or grease?
Meanwhile even more spill response boats and crews arrived.
When I got home and searched for info on any (oil spill) incident, I learned that the Dolphin itself had experienced some problems and spent the rest of the day and night on a nearby golf course. Ouch!
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Here’s the story as told by workingharborcommittee.
I have not been back to a closeup of the scrapyard in the Arthur Kill since last spring, but recent correspondence both in the comments area of the blog and private and directly to me prompt this revisitation. Click here to see the original post from August 2011. Let me just add that this vessel–Bayou Plaqumine–was originally called Junior Mine Planter (JMP) MAJOR ALBERT G. JENKINS, built 1921 in Bay City. MI. She didn’t become Bayou Plaquemine until after 1951. The photo below shows her location since the early 1970s.
Here’s the view looking northward from Plaquemine‘s bow, and
from a slightly different vantage point.
and in the opposite direction.
Here’s the text of an email I received last week and for which I am very grateful. “The Jenkins (aka Bayou Plaquemine) was captained by my grandfather, David B Nettles; the Jenkins was used to tow gunnery targets for the Navy and the shore batteries to take target practice with back in the 30’s in addition to her other duties while stationed in Pensacola, FL. My uncles and father all spent time aboard the Jenkins during their childhood and young adulthood. There was a second vessel stationed there as well, a twin sister of the Jenkins. I have photos of both. In fact I have one of the bronze bow emblems that was mounted to the Jenkins bow. I know she was docked at Fort Barrancas and at times Old Fort Pickens. I grew up with many stories about the vessel being shared. The family is all gone now but me and cousin or two. So the stories are all but gone now.”
Cold and damp winter weeks are a time to celebrate the past by telling its stories and sharing photos of its many faces. I hope this prompts more sharing.
I’ve paid attention to the recent activity on the blog in relation to “189 Ghost Ships,” including a question I received today about anyone having photos of the ghost fleet maintenance crew, including 85!! civilian employees. I’d love to see and post some of these photos if you are willing to scan them and share using my email address on the upper left hand side of the main tugster blog page.
By the way, sometimes conversation happen on the FB side of this blog; I’d rather they happen here so that archiving of comments is more certain than on FB.
All photos here by Will Van Dorp and taken in May 2010 and August 2011. If you want to see more of the scrapyard and a few of the stories, please order Graves of Arthur Kill. Click on the image of the DVD to get ordering info.
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