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Here was Ellen 1, and (scroll through) here’s how I first saw her in our fair harbor, the sixth boro. I’ve not tired of watching this boat work.
Click here for fotos from earlier lives. Speaking of earlier and then second lives, here and here are the two most recent “second lives” posts I’ve done, the #10 I’ve written two letters about but received NO response.
By the time the pilot appeared, I couldn’t get the shot, but the wait was worth it anyhow.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
. .. that gray vessel on the Jersey side just north of the Outerbridge, we know what it is, and
that’s Vulcan III at its stern, but what is it doing in the Arthur Kill portion of the sixth boro? Just curious if anyone out there knows . . . Here and here are more sites on IX 514.
And this from l’amiga . . . Frances pushing north and Captain D pushing south . . .
kind of a reminder me of a Dr. Doolittle character . . . pushmi-pullyu . .
I hope a reader can clarify above vessel and procedure.
The first two fotos come compliments of Tony Acabono, and the last two by l’amiga, both of whom I’m grateful to for passing them along.
And to paraphrase the former vizier of defense, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns . . . as in these two additional fotos from l’amiga.
I know this is Grey Shark, but will the trucks onboard come back? What if anything is in them? If they return, will they be empty?
Any answers to any questions would be quite satisfactory.
Here was 13 . . . from what seems ages ago.
And the next few? A freak snowfall in the sixth boro?
And might these be protest signs?
Not at all! Today is open house in lots of places in NYC, including the “salt pile” aka Atlantic Salt. And kids at local schools have prepared banners to adorn a ship.
This ship . . . already seen in this blog last week here. Here and here are fotos I took at the “salt pile” previously.
. . . out of the mouths [and from the brushes and paintpots] of babes . . . and young’uns come some impressive sentiments.
Fotos 4 through 7 were taken by Brian DeForest, Terminal Manager, who also took the first six fotos here. The others . . Will Van Dorp.
All these fotos–except the ones identified as flashbacks–I took while resting yesterday. The indomitable Helen Parker, intrepidly westbound among giants. I believe she was last on this blog a year ago here.
I believe this is Coastline Bay Star. If so, when did she get the reconfigured exhaust route?
Also squeezed between giants, James Turecamo, who has appeared on this blog possibly more than any other tugboat. James was launched in greater Waterford, NY late in 1969. Click here to see James tailing Caddell’s new drydock back in May. More on this flashback later in this post.
Hunt Girls, which I haven’t seen in a while.
AT IMTT Bayonne Dean Reinauer and RTC 106, which appeared on this blog last week, configured differently. Dean is so new that if you go back to that link with the foto of James tailing, you’ll see the upper house of a Dean which at that time had never yet floated!
Here are two flashbacks from Port of Albany last week . . .
as Dean spun around to head south.
Dorothy J eastbound yesterday morning
and as seen in mid-May 2013 . . . with her former name–Angela M–visible.
Arabian Sea‘s angular sides are mimicked by the building in the distance.
Quenames heads out of the Kills pushing
Bunker Portland.
And check out the stack on St Andrews. Maintenance or . . . something more?
All fotos except for the flashbacks . . . Will Van Dorp took yesterday.
And I thought I was a solitary tourist wanting to see the sights here? I always do bring outatowners here to my “offices” for the scenery.
And to think that he too thought a maritime center devoted to contemporary shipping is sorely needed along the busy channels of the sixth boro.
First, Noble Maritime IS open this Saturday and Sunday, Labor Day. More than half the fotos in this post are from the well-worth-seeing display called “Tides of 100 Years.” Snug Harbor also caught some attention in the New Yorker this week.
The KVK always intrigues and amuses. Like, this tanker . . . made me think Torm is mini? No way . . . it’s heavily-laden, it’s rusty,
it’s orange (or would you call that cantaloupe?).
Over beyond it at Bayonne’s dry dock, USNS Dahl is getting a make-over.
Farther west, Maersk Phoenix is transferring a petroleum product and soon to head into the Mediterranean.
John Noble is the godfather of this blog. And this exhibit helps you form a fuller idea of the artist.
And lest you think, it’s only his fabulous artwork, it’s more . . . like this manual below. John Noble had a Jeepster, one of my all-time to-be-coveted vehicles! See the flickr image to the left margin of this blog. Anyone remember his topless Jeepster around Staten Island?
And here’s a taste of his workshop . . ..
If you have a chance this weekend or soon, come to see this exhibit. Spend some time in the museum, and then find a place across the road to sit and watch his inspiration.
Tangentially related: My Jeepster story does NOT involve John Noble or even NY. I was born in coastal North Carolina, a marshy farming area where deep ditches tend to outline roads. My slightly older relatives–who will stay unnamed–used to waterski behind the Jeepster. Run the tow line from the car to the ditch, where the skiier crouches at the ready hoping to begin the ride before a snapping turtle, alligator, or water moccasin happens along. Once the tow gets going, keep your skis cranked forward in the ditch, not toward the car. Can be done. Has been. Wish I had fotos!
If anyone has Noble Jeepster stories, please leave a comment.
Maersk Wisconsin headed out, . . . my attention is on the figure between the tugboat and the ship.
You know the unseen players on two vessels in this maneuver must be 100% focused here.
The way is prepared and the pilot begins the final steps of egress as all eyes remain on him.
Once he steps back onto Catherine Turecamo, the tug breaks to starboard, and
the Maersk crew begin to retract the passageways as
vessel heads to the next port and the next pilots.
I took these fotos and assembled this draft on a cold morning back in March 2013. Pilots must have one of the more potentially life-threatening jobs in the harbor.
aka Eastern dawn from Eastern Dawn. Many thanks to Ashley Hutto for this July 3 foto. Does it get better than this?
I’m in January River for a while yet and will post again from here when possible but I don’t have access to easy wifi.
Porthole v. portlight difference? See if this helps. Know this location?
It’s Quester, the legendary “yellow submarine” in Coney Island Creek, which I traveled up with tide/current taxi a few summers back.
Below is the ruins of PC-1264, one of two World War 2-era subchasers disintegrating in a scrapyard in Staten Island. Learn more about it in our documentary Graves of Arthur Kill. Here are some stills I took while we were filming.
ATR-89 –built 1944– is also in the documentary.
This vessel dates from 1950 and has been restored to not only working but also
yacht-like status.
These fotos will serve as teasers until
I get that post together about the tour vessel concierge Nan gave me.
Here’s a post I did a year and a half ago about a tugboat still working on the Hudson that lost its forward portlights. The second foto above (yes, that’s me) was taken by Marie Lorenz. All others by Will Van Dorp.
Here was the first of this series, from over four years ago. And what’s this? whose wake prints?
Answer? It’s the flotilla assisting Hanjin San Francisco into Port Elizabeth. Four months ago I caught San Fran outbound . . . here . . . scroll through.
Let’s do an anatomy of wakes on a curve called Bergen Point. That’s Marion Moran on the stern quarter, a New Jersey State Police boat overtaking on the port side. Click here to see a now/then foto of Shooters, the island just beyond the container vessel.
Marion clings, presses while moving “sideways” through the water.
Laura K passes.
In the same general time frame, surveyboat Michele Jeanne
and lube tanker Emma Miller scribe the surface with their own signature, as
does Ellen McAllister and as
a commingling with
Catherine Turecamo.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
This piece of private property along Staten Island has intrigued many, inspired some.
Who knew that water and oxidizing metal or decaying wooden structure could have such beauty? 
It evokes feelings of mystery, mortality, and …
more. Some people photograph it, some paint it . . . . Gary Kane and I filmed the marine scrapyard in the summer of 2011, and we are grateful to DONJON Marine Company for permission to do so.
Some people call it an accidental maritime museum and think history; others feel only poetry or visual art. 
Some see machines, and others . . . magic.
Some vessels there are snipped up, harvested . . . if you will, whereas
others just dissolve.
In the foto above, it’s Gary Kane, the producer, camera operator, and editor of this project and others. Gary and I offer our 30-minute documentary film here for $11.99. Click here to watch a trailer.
We also welcome invitations to show the documentary. Email me with the invitation.
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