Random Tugs 191

I love the clear air of winter days, better to see details, like the horizontally mounted ladder and all the trucks in the background moving containers at the Global Terminal.  See how many trucks, i.e., tractors,  you count in this post.

And more trucks, as Erin McAllister stands by.

Again, see the trucks, as Scott Turecamo passes.  And you wonder why I don’t do even more truckster posts.

I happened to be down by South Street Seaport’s row of ships the other day and noticed W. O. Decker there alongside Wavertree.

And then lots more traffic passed on the East River, like Ruth and

Helen and 

James.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  I counted around 18–20.

 

Random Tugs 187

Thanks to Jonathan Steinman, who once a week has a moment to look out his window at work, here’s an angle on Kimberly Poling showing a weight bench just behind the wheelhouse.   In pleasant weather, that must make a great gym.

Chandra B meets Morton Bouchard Jr with the Goethals Bridge–old and new–as backdrop.

Ditto Ellen S. and Erin McAllister, with added details of the Linden refinery.

A closeup of Erin, as she plows eastward.

Ellen S.  and Evening Light meet near the salt pile.

And to close out today’s post, it’s the too long absent Vulcan III passing Gracie M.

How about a flashback to June 2009.  Cheyenne looks different today, but so does the shoreline of Manhattan, now that Pier 15 has institutionalized itself over on the far side of where Wavertree rests.

The first photo by Jonathan Steinman;  all others by Will Van Dorp.

Wavertree Returns 1

Almost exactly 16 months ago, Wavertree left Pier 16 for a lot of work at Caddell Dry Dock.    Here was my set of photos from that day, and here,  subsequent ones at several month intervals.  Yesterday she made way, back to Pier 16.

Here’s looking back west.  Compare the photo below with the third one here to see how much work has been accomplished on the Bayonne Bridge during the same 16 months.

Yesterday, Rae helped, as did

Dorothy J and Robert IV.

The combined age of Rae, Robert IV, and Dorothy J is 139 years, whereas the beautifully restored flagship they escorted in is 131 years old.

And as the tow approached the Statue, John J. Harvey joined in.

 

These photos all by Will Van Dorp, who is grateful to the South Street Seaport Museum and the photographers’ boat provided by US Merchant Marine Academy and crewed by a set of dedicated cadets.

For some interesting history on Wavertree and info on a fundraiser on board on September 29, 2016, click here.  For the story of how Wavertree came from Argentina to New York, read Peter & Norma Stanford’s A Dream of Tall Ships, which I reviewed here some time ago.

More photos of the return tomorrow.

Equinox 5b

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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Equinox 5

Today’s a good day to return to this series I had going for a few years and now return to.  More Chrononauts in the next few days…

But first, this vessel bringing in my favorite celebratory drink.

The fabulous September weather has allowed this project to rush to completion.  Remember, tomorrow

in early afternoon she goes on a towline back to South Street Seaport through a portion of the sixth boro of this city made great thanks to shipping work and capital.  You can watch from along the KVK, from the Battery, or from South Street Seaport Museum.

The name paint is on the list of about a thousand “last” things to do before departure.

Also, enjoying the spectacular equinox weather, the crewman who becomes almost invisible in the bow

of this 1100′ box ship,  

tethered to James D. Moran.

More on Peking as she gets prepared for her home-going.  Doesn’t this look like a shipyard for the ages?

 

All photos taken yesterday by Will Van Dorp.

Wavertree at Caddell Dry Dock 6

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.

 

Wavertree at Caddell Dry Dock 5

As a review, here and here were the posts I did on Wavertree going TO Caddell 11 months ago, and here is the series 1 through 4 focusing on Wavertree AT Caddell’s.

Below was she on March 10.  While I was away, she was refloated.

Below is March 19.  To my surprise, the masts had been unstepped.

And below was yesterday, April 17, the day when Executive Director of South Street Seaport Museum, Jonathan Boulware,  conducted a tour of the work in progress.  Any errors in this reportage are due to my having forgotten my pen and pad.

Since the masts–at up to 20 tons each, if I heard that right–were unstepped, their cleanup and refurbishment has begun.

A house has been built over the whaleback stern to protect the interior spaces.  There is some beautiful birdseye maple panelling in there.

 

 

The underside of the whaleback shows the details of work already completed.

 

This is the interior of the upper stern, looking to starboard.

Access to the cargo areas during the tour was forward.

I’m eager to see what work gets done to the bowsprit. Check out this post (and scroll) from many years ago when Frank Hanavan and I put fresh paint on that bowsprit.

This is a new deck . . . the tweendeck.  If you’ve ever eaten on Moshulu in Philadelphia, the restaurant is in this space.

Wavertree had a tweendeck back in 1895, when she called briefly in the sixth boro, which you can read about here (scroll).  In the photo below, you are looking through a hatch in the tweendeck down into the main cargo hold.

And here is the main payload space, the cathedral of cargo, looking toward the stern.  On a modern vessel, this would be divided into watertight compartments.

I can’t say this is the manufacturer, but this is the concept–as I understand it–for this ballast.

Mainmast will be restepped here.

Here Jonathan explains the spar work.

 

 

When the project is completed, all these spars will be aloft and potentially functional.

 

This cross section of a spar shows the lamination of the wood.  Some of these products are provided–I believe–by Unalam.

 

Here are some of the finer spars, along

with the directions for re-assembly.

Work going on in the rigging shed included stripping  off the old coatings and recovering the high quality old wire of the standing rigging.

Worming, parcelling, and serving protects the wire and produces such sweet smells of pine tar.

Many thanks to South Street Seaport Museum for offering this work progress tour.   Any errors here are unintentional and mine.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks anyone who hasn’t read A Dream of Tall Ships by the late great Peter Stanford would really enjoy the saga of Wavertree‘s arrival in the sixth boro as told in that book.

Checking Back 2015 c

Remember the logic in this series is . . . the first pic of the month and the last pic of the month . . .

Early September found me still along the Acushnet . . .  Malena–as of this writing–is in Sierra Leone, having bounced around the Caribbean since departing New Bedford.

By September’s end, Wavertree was slathered in a beautiful red primer.

Early October . . . that’s North Star off the Orient Point, and Plum Gut, with Plum Island in the background.

Late October . . . a conversation led to an invitation to tour iMTT Bayonne and see Marion Moran at the tug fuel station from the waterside.  I still need to post about that.

November . . . and Med Sea bound for the Sound and beyond.

Joyce D. Brown going back to the kills.

And late in the month, my only view of Patty Nolan, on the hard in Verplanck. Click here for some of many posts on the 1931 Patty.

Early December . . .it’s mild and I decided to experiment with some color separation on Margaret Moran. Click here for a post from seven-plus years ago with Margaret Moran  . . .

And since December has not yet ended, I will post this in its incomplete state, with the promise of a “last December 2015”  post yet to come.

This is my last post for 2015.  Happy New Year.  May it be peaceful and safe.

Wavertree at Caddell Dry Dock 4

Here are previous posts in this series.  All photos below come compliments of Mike Weiss and were taken on September 24, i.e., about a month after Wavertree rose out of the water on Caddell Dry Dock No. 6.

Rather than a very satisfying sifting through the index above, you can read a short history of Wavertree here.

Many thanks, Mike.

 

Time to renew your South Street Seaport Museum membership?

Wavertree at Caddell Dry Dock 1

Here are posts about Wavertree’s trip to the dry dock and before.  And below are two photos I hadn’t used in those posts.

May 21, 2015

May 21, 2015

In the past 10 weeks, prep for the actual dry docking has resulted in loss of at least a foot and a half of draft.  Mussels once submerged have lost their habitat.

July 30, 2015

July 30, 2015

Let’s descend into through the forward cargo hatch to see where a cavernous hold is getting even more cavernous.

from the ‘tween decks looking up and …

… down …

and all the way down

Note the ladder beyond the foremast, as seen from standing to starboard of the keelson.

Looking to the stern from the ‘tween decks.  As Mike Weiss said, “a cathedral of cargo.”

For scale, note the worker wearing a white hard hat on the keelson beyond the mast

Looking astern from atop a makeshift block of ballast on the port side of vessel.  That’s the main cargo hatch prominent in the center of the photo.   My response to Mike’s quote is “an ark of angled wrought iron.”

This is how the skeleton of a 130-year-old vessel looks.

Looking toward the rudder post from the ‘tween decks.

Returned to the main deck looking forward at the cargo hatches.

Removal of extraneous and/or non-original weight has included belgian block and large concrete block ballast.  This water tank may be original

And here are the credits.

Many thanks to Mike Weiss and  South Street Seaport Museum for the tour; click on that link for membership info.  August promises to be more prep work for dry docking.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Click here for CSM article about the 1983 initial and partial restoration of Wavertree.