Random Tugs 123

It’s Margot, last included on this blog here.  Guess the location?

And a former fleet mate of Frances, it’s  Catherine Turecamo . ..  with Gage Paul Thornton way in the background.

Here’s a closer-up of Gage Paul with Robbins Light in the background.

New York Central No. 13 . . . changing at a glacial pace and probably regressing, not progressing.   My last photo of this boat might be here.

Here’s Robert leaving the sixth boro this morning with a tow that

includes dredge McCaskill, which I previously featured here high and dry  and here from the inside.

East Coast meets west coast this morning alongside Corossol.

The newer Dean headed eastbound on the KVK and

and finally . .  another configuration of Marjorie B. McAllister.

All photos taken this week by Will Van Dorp.

Oh . . . Margot‘s location in the first photo is Tottenville NY, with Outerbridge Crossing in the background.

Salt 10

Just before 0700, Medi Osaka rounded the bend, low in the water as a galleon from the Andean mines.  Only two hours before, under darkness, Medi Osaka‘s soon-to-be berth was still occupied by Global Success, which had just completed discharging its payload of road salt, at least the part of the load gong to Atlantic Salt.

Many media reports notwithstanding, there is road salt around.  Not all suppliers have been out.

This clam shell has been steadily emptying out holds.

Granted the salt has been leaving almost as quickly as it has arrived, but

count the trucks . . .  a dozen and a half waiting  here . .  and more.

For JS and others who know the place, yes, I’m atop the salt pile looking down on Leidy’s .  .  . not far from Sailor’s Snug Harbor.

The trucks are there loading salt from Global Success even before Medi Osaka docks.

There’s 36 feet of water here and then some.

Note the crew watch the vessel inch up to the docking barge.

The next post will show the linemen ferrying the lines to shore crews running them up to the bollards.

Meanwhile, temperatures were almost to 50 F by the time I left here.

Super Bull Crane 2

Many thanks to Bjoern Kils of nymediaboat.com for use of this foto.  Check out Bjoern’s website here.

And many thanks to Phil Little for the rest of these shots.  I’m certain Phil won’t object to sharing the text that accompanied these fotos, as it too captures the moment:

“I went to the viewing site today at 8:30 am, and saw the tow pass under the VN Bridge at about 9:00. I checked in with the Thruway person, and had no trouble with acceptance of my Tugster credentials (my honest face!)  The Lauren Foss stopped out in the middle of the bay to drop the wire, and two other tugs took it “on the hip”, arranged along its (boom facing aft) port side, the Weeks Elizabeth at the front and an iced-up unknown tug (Iver Foss?)at the after end position. Lauren Foss stood by like an anxious parent.  It was awesome to see these tugs then guide the Lifter in toward the Cruise Ship dock, and turn it with precision into the near-shore channel, proceeding northwest toward the Weeks yard. It glided along in front of in front of us, not 100 feet away, aboard the royal barge, the mighty King of Cranes!  They swung into the final turn toward Weeks, against the backdrop of the new Freedom Tower and the Statue of Liberty. In the yard, waiting, it looked for all the world like a huge flock of red and white-necked herons were about to welcome this strange new powerful creature who would lead them in plucking prizes out of the Hudson!  What a show!”

As of this writing, I believe the two Foss tugs are refueling, resupplying, and possibly re-crewing . . . in preparation to return to sea for the next job.

Bjoern and Phil . . . thanks much.

Super Bull Crane

It’s referred to now as Left Coast Lifter, I Lift NY, Ichabod Crane, and others.  But I call it arrived and on a glorious if frigid morning.

Touchdown!!

And Lauren Foss is the clear MVP.

Bravo to all the crews and people behind the crews!

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  More soon.

Here and here  she was at the southernmost arc of the voyage.

Random Tugs 120

This first foto is by a secret salt . . . showing Dory (1978) and Captain Zeke (1980) tandem towing  beach-lounging 125′ deck barge back onto the water.

And  . . . attributed by the watermark . . . fotos from last week before Janus chilled the town,  Atlantic Conveyor gets an assist from Charles D. McAllister (1967).

Shelby (1978) also worked in the January fog.  Thanks, Brian.

And the rest of the fotos are mine:  the seldom-seen Specialist (1956?), here close and

closer.

Two Coasts . . . Chesapeake (2011) and Emerald (1973).

Resolute (1975) about to pass Düsseldorf Express (1998),

And from Philly . . .  High Roller (1969) with The Recycler (1989 . . . from THE George Steinbrenner’s yard in Nashville, TN.  Here’s some history on The Recycler and its twin.

Many thanks to the secret salt and Brian DeForest for their fotos.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

Random Tugs 119

First . . . this foto by Bob Dahringer of Katherine (1979 in Louisiana).  As of this writing, Bob is back upriver playing with Hudson River ice cubes.

Next . . . this foto from Key West, thanks to my sister, who’s gotten a camera upgrade.  Yay!  A few years ago, I was snorkeling–sans camera–off a Key West beach and came up to notice two tugboats that looked a lot like these.  My first thought then was–wow!  K-Sea tugs in the Conch Republic.  My second thought was . . . I have no camera and therefore no one will ever believe me.  I’m now pretty sure I saw Titan (1974 in Long Beach, CA) and Ocean Atlas (1964 in San Diego, California).

Brian DeForest took this foto of Marjorie B. McAllister (1974 in Louisiana) last week of a very icy sixth boro.

And recently . . . in a springy waterboro of NYC, Brendan Turecamo (1975 in Louisiana) assisted a tanker on its way out to sea,

Doris Moran (1982 in Louisiana) assisted a chemical tanker into port, and

Miss Niz  (2003 from Alabama) moved some dredging equipment around.  Note the survey boat–Michele Jeanne–reading the bottom contours over on the Bayonne side.

Thanks much to Bob, Maraki, and Brian for use of their fotos.

Random Tugs 118

Finally, a relatively close-up foto of Katherine.

Bruce A. McAllister pushes through the snowflakes, as do

Blue Fin . . . still gray,

Brooklyn and Patapsco,

and finally Pegasus.

And finally . ..  escuse the poor quality, but these are cam-captures of Miss Lis at the Gatun Locks last Thursday, six days ago.  Although it’s not legible here, the container at the bow of the barge reads “FLUOR.”  Let’s keep a watch for this tow at the Narrows in the next few days . . .  from the Left Coast and headed here for the Tappan Zee project, I presume.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Salt 8a

Timbuktu?  Taudenni?    Has tugster gone back way west?

A buried ship?

Nah . . . See the Newark Bay Bridge in the background and if you look carefully just under the open clamshell in the center of the foto, you might spot WTC1 in Manhattan.

Here’s a closer up of United Challenger–now back at sea and bound for Norfolk, actually Newport News, I think, to load coal.    See the WTC1 between the crane cab and the bridge?

The workday is getting under way.

Clamshells drop the salt into the loader.

Huge trucks loaded with relatively small increments of the 61,000 ton cargo transport the road salt to

the top of the mountain.

Here you’re looking from the ship at–I’d guess–at least a million tons of road salt.

And these are one of two sets of hands that unload the ship by controlling

clamshell buckets this size.  Think of these places, ships, and crews when next you’re driving on icy roads.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  More soon.   Many thanks to Brian DeForest of Atlantic Salt for permission to get these fotos.

Tangentially related:  Check out this article in the NYTimes about my friend John Skelson.

Random Tugs 116

Crow languishes here in Port Newark.

A detail-impoverished foto of Manson Construction‘s hopper dredge Glenn Edwards along with tug Kendall J. Hebert.  Actually Samantha Miller is hiding in the haze near starboard stern of the dredge, anchored in Gravesend Bay.

Click here for a coloful foto of Kendall J. Hebert.

Some of the other boats I’ve seen recently are Susan E. Witte,

Katherine,  (Last summer I caught Katherine pulling a dredge scow in Morehead City, North Carolina)

Pati R. Moran, 

Ron G, which I first read as Rong.  Often she’s in Philadelphia.

Gabby L Miller,

Miriam Moran returning to base after retrieving the docking pilot,

And finally, a boat I’ve never seen before . . . Navigator.  Anyone know her story?  I took this foto Sunday morning.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Something Different 14

FedEx in the sky, container barge at the ASI yard on this side, Donjon Marine yard on the other side, and off the end of the channel, highways and railways.  By the way, Fred Smith has long been one of my heros.

EWR is one of three very busy airports in greater New York.

Note the control tower at the airport.  Check that link for a view of the whole complex from the air.

And the ship . . .  since 1 September, here’s a list of ports it has called in:   Balikpapan,   Yeosu,   Huanghua,  Aviles (maybe) , Red Dog Mine, and who knows where else.  And some of the crew . . . are dreaming of visiting Times Square and Rockefeller tonight.

And if this is Port Newark, then next it’s Norfolk.