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I really enjoy putting together this monthly feature, opening the archives from a decade back to see what I did and saw. I just happened to walk past South Street Seaport that morning and caught Lettie G. Howard returning from repairs in Maine. See more from the set here. She turned 130 in the Great Lakes this year.
The 1977 McAllister Sisters continues to carry that only name she’s ever had. Two changes, though, are she’s lost the upper wheelhouse and she’s moved to Baltimore.
It’s the time of year for clamming in the sixth boro. I’ve not seen Dutch Girl yet this year, although I believe I spotted Eastern Welder . . . the nearer boat.
The 1997 Ever Decent was scrapped in Alang in 2020; the 2012 Evening Star has become Jordan Rose and continues to operate through the sixth boro.
This Mount Saline in Port Newark has been replenished several times, and its granules may have kept you safely on the road.
The 1963 Crow, high in the water here, would never again move on its own power and was scrapped in 2015.
These two Thornton boats–Gage Paul and Bros— are gone as well, one scrapped and one growing into undersea habitat deep in a Caribbean trench and will likely never be seen again.
The 1951 Twin Tube here squeezes in between the pier and Balder as Balder discharges more Chilean salt. More on the surprising contents of Balder‘s belly here. She may now be laid up as Ventura in West Africa. Check out the harbor supply boat on her mission that day here. Twin Tube continues to operate in the boro.
I don’t know what has become of the 1954 Ticonderoga; she may still be behind Prall’s Island.
I don’t have any updates on this government boat, said to date from 1929.
The 1966 Patrick Sky has long left the boro. Summit Europe is now Myra and is anchored near Istanbul. Indeed, the sixth boro is connected to the rest of the watery parts of the planet.
If you want to breeze back through the entire month, click here. And I do hope you enjoy these glances in the rearview as much as I do.
Happy December.
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve not been to the Great North River Tugboat Race since 2014, but in normal times, September 5 would see the next race. But we’ve dispensed with the “normal times” concept for the time being.
In selecting the batch for this post, I wanted splash, froth, bubbles, and the effervescence the river can react with when tons of steel and thousands of horsepower push through the ever changing water. The next two photos are from that 2014 race.
It was overcast during the race, but an hour or so later, when pushing contests were happening and
the wakes flattened out and we sized up USAV MGen. Anthony Wayne, patches of blue appeared. I should leave you in suspense about how this push went. Let me put it this way; they left town not long after the push-off.
2013 was an equally overcast day, and again, not to identify every tugboat in that lineup, it appears that W. O. Decker has either jumped the gun or activated its jet drive and will soon rise up out of the Hudson on her hydrofoil assists. I’d guess the latter.
See what I told you . . . Decker has gone so far ahead that it’s already over the horizon.
Second lap maybe for Decker?
It’s starting to appear that in 2012, as in ’13 and ’14, it was overcast.
It was great to see Buchanan 12, usually burdened with a half dozen stone barges, disencumbered and frothing up the river. That’s the 1907 Pegasus back there too.
In 2011, I was able to get a photo of the racing craft along with sky spray by one of the fireboats present, likely 343. What’s remarkable comparing the photo above with the one below is the color of the water; hurricane Irene had dropped a lot of rain upstate and all the tributaries sent that into the Hudson with tribute in the form of silt.
Quantico Creek and Maurania III did an excellent job of stirring up the water.
But again, it was overcast and hazy over silty water.
However, in 2010, we had blue skies that really accentuated the DonJon boats like Cheyenne and
the harbor colossus, Atlantic Salvor.
In 2009, there were wispy clouds, allowing the “queen of the day” to be Ellen McAllister. But look who else showed up!!!!
Urger. Urger would EASILY have won the race, but she was doing what she does best . . . urging all the other boats and crews to be fleeter than she, holding herself back, allowed herself to be that day.
All photos and commentary, WVD. See you at the races in 2022.
August can be hazy, and it appears that some August days in 2010 were, as below when Colleen McAllister towed dredge spoils scow GL 501 out and Brendan Turecamo (?) moved Bouchard barge B.No. 260 westbound in the Kills. Colleen has now traveled from sun to ice out to the Great Lakes, where the 1967 4300 hp tug is currently laid up. Brendan is alive and well and working in the sixth boro.
Kimberly Poling, then in a slightly different livery than now, pushed Noelle Cutler in the same direction. Both still work the waters in and out of the sixth boro.
These days I just don’t spend much time near the sixth boro at dusk, but here Aegean Sea pushes a barge northbound in the Upper Bay. Aegean now works the Massachusetts coast, and I recall she’s made at least one trip back to the Hudson since 2013.
On a jaunt on the lower Delaware, I caught Madeline easing the bow of Delta Ocean into a dock. The 2008 4200 hp Gladding Hearn tug is still working in the Wilmington DE area. Delta Ocean, a 2010 crude carrier at 157444 dwt, almost qualifies as a VLCC. She’s currently in Singapore.
Madeline is assisted here by Lindsey, the 60′ 1989 Gladding Hearn z-drive boat rated at 2760 hp.
Duty towed a barge downstream near Wilmington.
Recently she has sold to South Puerto Rico Towing and Boat Services, where the 3000 hp tug is now called Nydia P. I’d love to see her in SPRT mustard and red colors.
I traveled from the sixth boro to Philadelphia as crew on 1901 three-masted barkentine Gazela. In upper Delaware Bay, we were overtaken by US EPA Bold and Brandywine pushing barge Double Skin 141. Gazela, like other mostly volunteer-maintained vessels, is quiet now due to covid, but check out their FB page at Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild. US EPA Bold, now flying the flag of Vanuatu and called Bold Explorer, is southwest of Victoria BC on the Salish Sea. She was built in 1989 as USNS Bold. Brandywine, a 2006 6000 hp product of Marinette WI, has today just departed Savanna GA.
Getting this photo of the barkentine, and myself if you enlarge it, was a feat of coincidence and almost-instant networking, the story I’ll not tell here.
On a trip inland, I caught Tender #1 pushing an ancient barge through lock E-28B. I believe Tender #1 is still in service.
From a beach in Coney Island one morning, I caught Edith Thornton towing a barge into Jamaica Bay on very short gatelines. Edith is a 104′ x 26 1951-built Reading RR tug that passed through many hands. currently it’s Chassidy, working out of Trinidad and Tobago.
Here’s another version I shot that morning. For even more, click here.
The mighty Brangus assisted dredge Florida. Back in those days, the channels of the sixth boro were being deepened to allow today’s ULCVs–like CMA CGM T.Jefferson— to serve the sixth boro. If I’m not mistaken, Brangus has been a GLDD tug since it was built in 1965. Currently she’s in the Elizabeth River in VA.
Here she tends the shear leg portion of a GLDD dredging job. See the cutterhead to the left of the helmeted crew?
On another hazy day, a light Heron heads for the Kills. The 1968-built 106′ x 30′ tug rated at 3200 hp was sold to Nigerian interests in 2012. I’d love to see her in her current livery and context.
Java Sea resurfaced in Seattle as part of the Boyer fleet and now called Kinani H, seen here on tugster just a month ago. The 110′ x 32′ tug was launched in 1981 as Patriot.
And finally . . . probably the only time I saw her, crewboat Alert. She appears to be a Reinauer vessel.
All photos, WVD, from August 2010. If you want to see an unusual tugster post from that month, click here.
For some unusual August 2010 posts, click here.
For the last batch of tugboats for 2017, check out these workhorses of the harbor, run and maintained by devoted crews and owners . . . to whom this post is dedicated. It’s a random sample for the sixth boro.
Rhea I. Bouchard,
Genesis Glory with
GM11105,
Eric R. Thornton passing the
monumental former supports of the bridge,
and Bouchard Boys.
To all those folks working this frosty day and to all my readers and commenters . . . happy, safe, peaceful, and prosperous 2018. All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Even with sunglasses on, you can see the provenance of this barge Matilde in summer light. Jeddah was my point of departure for a voyage I took just over 30 years ago . . . and greatly enjoyed.
Summertime brings folks out to all the geology along the north Brooklyn side of the East river.
And Sunday I finally made it to the Brooklyn Barge, and I’m sorry I waited so long. I went there via the East River Ferry, getting off at India Street and walking around via West and Milton. I highly recommend the fish tacos and the shrimp tacos.
Here’s where you pick up the food after the magic has been done.
Of course, the Media Boat fleet was out and busy, and
the juxtaposition possibilities are great on a summer weekend.
Imagine the possibilities for a Spencer Tunick installation, partly on the hillock and partly on the scrap metal . . . . Of course, I’m don’t know if all the stakeholder would agree, so I’ll just imagine those oxidized shapes on the scow and those fleshy forms on the hillock have been painted that way by Mr. Tunick.
What will bring me back to this part of the East River soon–other than the tacos–is this air traffic, dodging
PWCs and ferries.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose next post will be “whale watching summertime.”
If you’re looking for summer reading, check out this list.
Please read the El Faro Relief event notice at the end of this post. TODAY is the deadline to sign up.
It’s rained most of this week and last . . . and the forecast is the same for next week, but that just means sheltering (and wiping) the lens of the camera, as needed. I wonder if John Huibers knows something we need to pay attention to . . . but that’s another story.
For now, I noticed a lot of Reinauer boats the other day, like . . . the 1971 Matton-built Zachery Reinauer,
interrupted by the 1960 Blount-built Eric R. Thornton with the best logo in the sixth boro,
the 1984 Rayco Ship and Main Ironworks Franklin Reinauer,
the 1983 Cenac Shipyard-built Stephen B,
the 1967 Main Iron Works Jill Reinauer,
the 1966 Allied Shipyard Brian Nicholas,
1973 Jakobson Lucy Reinauer,
the 2010 G and S Marine Incorporated Crystal Cutler,
the 2011 Senesco Reinauer Twins.
and the 1978 Eastern Dawn, though I know not the builder. And it appears to the the 1947 Harbor II alongside, though I noticed that almost too late.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s been evading raindrops.
Anyone have more info on the previous Lucy Reinauer, the 1943 Odenbach Shipbuilding M/T? Birk has this photo, but I’d love to see some more and to know what became of her.
And here’s a note from the organizers of the El Faro fundraiser event: “On Sunday, May 15th from 12-2 at Club Macanudo we will be holding a fundraiser for the families affected by the loss of the El Faro. All proceeds will go to the Seamen’s Church Institute El Faro Relief Fund. Pricing is $75.00 per person with Beer and Wine being served. Email me at Goodwindmaritime@hotmail.com. Please see the attached flier (the link in the first sentence above).
Please send your checks as soon as possible. Make the checks out to Good Wind Maritime Services and mail to Good Wind Maritime Services 14451 25th Drive, Flushing, NY 11354″
Bravo to the organizers and participants of the 2015 NYC race. It starts with a muster…
L to r: Catherine Miller, Robert E. McAllister, Eric R. Thornton, Mister T, Buchanan 1, and Buchanan 12
which looks different as you shift perspective.
Add Red Hook and Sarah Ann, with a jet ski for scale.
Add Thomas Witte.
Take a close up on Mister T with John J. Harvey in the distance.
It’s great to see race newcomers like Sea Scout Ship 243 out of Rahway NJ, and
By this point, some boats like Robert E. McAllister start to get impatient.
Muster then turns into a procession, filing straight toward the starting line and
showing the colors
as some newcomers catch up.
James William used to be a Moran boat.
Next stage . . . it’s the tension on the starting line, feet digging into the starting blocks and muscles tensing, sort of.
There are 11 boats here, including Margot pushing a set of rock barges and not racing.
They’re off!
and water starts to cascade away from the bows…
froth by the ton.
But when the quick minutes of the race have elapsed, the first boat down the course is the impatient Robert E. McAllister.
And almost as in a triathlon, the dash down the course changes and the pushing starts.
All manner of paired struggle ensues.
And we need to leave. All photos here by Will Van Dorp, with thanks to Bjoern and crew for my ride.
I’m not going to count, but there must be dozens of posts here with photos from or some mention of Paul Strubeck. Here I’m pleased to dedicate a whole post to him in part because these photos make me see the sixth boro with new eyes. Enjoy. Cornell . . . by foggy night and compare to my photo from about the same day but at dawn here and scroll to the third photo. The location is the soon-to-open Brooklyn Barge Bar, where I’m eager to imbibe a sunset beer. Also in Paul’s “roll” of film are
Pinuccia and Specialist mostly obscured,
Captain D ,
Nanticoke passing the East River Seaplane base,
an unobscured photo of Specialist,
Sea Robin secured to Sugar Express at the sugar plant in Yonkers,
James William,
and Foxy 3 pushing a Thornton barge, which
brings us back to a great photo of Cornell, which Paul used his special lens for.
All photos here are used with permission from Paul Strubeck. Thanks much, Paul.
Unrelated: Here’s an East River seaplane photo I posted here many years ago. And a photo of Sugar Express towed south by a former fleet mate of Sea Robin.
If you think the sixth boro has a wide variety of tugboats, you’ll agree it’s also surrounded by a variety of land–boro–scapes.
l to r: Thomas J. Brown, 1962 and Joyce D. Brown, 2002
from obscure to iconic.
Eastern Dawn, 1978. Previously Delta Mule and Grand Eagle
Here’s the Brooklyn passenger terminal and
Evening Star, 2012
the anchorage in mid-Upper Bay,
Nanticoke, 2007
Brooklyn Navy Yard,
Bridgeport, 1982. Previously, Dragon Lady and others
Williamsburg,
Miss Gill, 1970. Previously Mister Mike, Samson, and other.
Bayonne,
Eric R. Thornton, 1960. Previously Roger Williams
east end of Wall Street,
Pelham, 1960. Previously Little Joe, Tucana, and other
entrance to the Kills showing the Bayonne Bridge and obvious modifications to the bases,
Eastern Dawn again
and finally the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
the Browns again
All photos this week by Will Van Dorp.
Going, going . . .
working . . .
standing by,
heading to the next job,
waiting,
traveling to the next job,
looking good in green . . .
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who . . . yeah . . . was running out of text today.
tugster: a waterblog 
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