Dawn 2023

I made my way through all the weird car wrecks on the Belt Parkway this morning to get to my cliff just before sunrise.  A small bulk carrier headed to Gravesend Anchorage while a tanker was anchored farther out. About those wrecks . . .  three multiple-car collisions in same-direction lanes between Woodhaven and the VZ . . .  what is it about impairment and driving that people don’t yet know!!?

Motorboat Yankee headed out to the mothership. 

Miss Emma McCall was just off the USCG quarantine station. 

 

From a different perspective, this is bulk carrier/general cargo vessel Meloi anchored.

When the sun rose, it painted ABC-1 and pilot boat New Jersey in light. 

Philadelphia and 

Josephine waited to rejoin their barges. 

Sunlight began to hit the tops of the cranes on Castlegate, a bulker with Chilean salt. 

All photos, WVD.

Package Boats

You’ve seen all the brown, white, and now blue package trucks clogging the streets and roads, their drivers working ever longer hours as we take to online shopping.

These two Reynolds boats have nothing to do with that, but they do deliver foodstuffs, spares, and incidentals to ships at berths and in the anchorages.

The 1951 Twin Tube has been featured in many posts already, but when it comes to Christmas, I think of this boat, as well as 

ABC-1, the other Reynolds boat.  ABC-1 dates from 1941, a product of Bay Shipyard, launched as an L-boat, and subsequently T-473, Mariner, and now ABC-1.

She always seems to trudge along the waterways, but her track is steady and sure.

I wonder how many foreign seafarers have photos of the two Reynolds boats, since they and the bunkering boats might be the only sixth boro vessels they deal directly with, lifting the packages and bundles onto their ship.

 

All photos, WVD, who wishes you a happy day. 

Retro Sixth Boro 26 a

May 2010 . . . I took my first trip to see the thrills of the southern Arthur Kill, thanks to Bonnie.  Back then the hull of Astoria (1925-1967 on the East River Line) was still there. Since then, I believe it’s been removed  . . . said to be an eyesore.  !@#$?!!  Here’s more from that paddling trip.  Keansburg Steamboat Company operated it until it ended up here. If I read The Boats We Rode, Roberts & Gillespie, p.13) right, I’m wondering why it spent so many years before being broken up. And why isn’t it listed here?

ABC-1 was hauled out back that month. I know some of you are happy to see what she looks like below the waterline.

OSG Vision was new, and spent some time at the Bayonne shipyard. Here she’s nose-to-nose with Horizon Discovery.

I recall vividly this spectacular spring morning before work . . . Irish Sea went by pushing DBL 103, passing NYK Rigel at Howland Hook.  Mornings like that tempted me to skip work.

I’m not sure where this boat is today, but I did manage to get close-ups out of the water here, three and a half years later.

Heather M II here passed NYK Rigel.  I’ve never seen Heather M since, I believe, but she has classy lines and a great bow pudding.

Colleen was still in salt water back then.  I’m not sure she ever thawed out after a late December transit to Lake Michigan six years later.

Janice Ann, here pushing RTC 28, was still around here.  If you want to read about life aboard Janice Ann, I did a review of a book written by one of her captains here.

Niz C. Gisclair was an exotic in town, likely here working on a dredging job.  She has a Marquette logo on her stack.

Sorry about the backlighting here, but it’s Allied’s Falcon in the Kills. She has since appeared on this blog as Carolina Coast.

And finally .  .  . a sad shot of sister ship of Day-Peckinpaugh, launched as Interwaterways 101.  The vessel below was launched two months later as Interwaterways 105, and from 1936 until 1976 operated as Michigan. She’s languished in the AK for decades, possibly since 1976.  She’s an Eriemax, tailored to the dimensions of the Barge Canal locks, built in Duluth 99 years ago!

Here’s the same vessel on the Erie Canal, date and photographer unknown.

Yup . . . after 18 days of virtual Erie Canal touring, I needed to sneak another Erie Canal pic in here.

All photos except the last one by WVD.

 

Small Craft 23

ABC-1 is unique, a survivor.  Launched in Sturgeon Bay in November 1941, she was originally built for the US Army as a vessel to collect mine boxes.  Here she returns from a supply run in Port Elizabeth or Newark, as she’s done for as long as I’ve been paying attention.  Here, by the way, is the first in this series, one that didn’t even use this title.

 

I don’t know how long she’s worked in the sixth boro or if the hull and power have been modified since 1941.  Maybe someone can speak to this.

NYC DEP has a number of vessels, likely all of them larger than Sea Robin.

This is my first time to notice this boat.

All photos in recent cold days by Will Van Dorp.

 

Film Tugs 7

Here are previous posts in this series.

There is some self-disclosure here:  since last winter and thanks to my movie-buff son, I’ve gotten hooked on movies based on comics.  So, recently, to my surprise, while watching Gotham, I saw Marie J. Turecamo and one of the 6000s in a CGI-noir of an East River scene.  She’s unmistakeable.  Season 1, episode 11 has all these, along with some FDNY vessels, a NYCDEP tanker, and recognizable barges.

And with apologies to the actor, that is one of the Harley boats, St. Andrews (my guess) or Liberty.

And this . . . ABC-1, with a very odd mast.

I realize some of these are not tugs, but categories are made to be challenged.  In the next two photos, I’d heard that Lilac was used for a Daredevil scene, so I watched the series–not liking it at first–until I got to the scene.  By the time I got there, I was a fan.

Clearly filmed in the Navy yard, I have to say I’m impressed by the magic of cinema, and that’s why it’s the economic powerhouse it is.

All “screen-grabs” by Will Van Dorp.

Somewhat related:  Come celebrate the launch of film maker Thomas Halaczinsky‘s “Archipelago New York”: June 18th, 6PM at Rizzoli Bookstore at 1133 Broadway Manhattan.

Random Ships 48

Random, but mostly a celebration of orange.  Click here and you’ll see how obsessive i’ve been about these juice tankers.  More even than about wine tankers, which I’ve no knowledge of ever seeing.  Milk tankers, you ask?  Well, if you mean the ones that travel from farm to processing/bottling plant, I’m familiar with them but no pics.

Shanghai Trader came in the same day.

Orange Sun, operated by Atlanship SA, was involved in an incident near here back in 2008.

Stealth Berana, here with Scott Turecamo and New Hampshire lightering, seems to have undergone a name-change recently.

Back to the juice tanker, it seems that fewer than a dozen of these vessels carry one-fourth of the world supply!

Here’s another shot of Caroline Oldendorff with ABC-1 at stern starboard quarter and Nicholas Miller passing along port.  Go, Nicholas.

Aleuropa is another operator of juice tankers.  Carlos Fischer is one of their vessels.

Zim Tarragona is named for an ancient port.

A juice tanker called Southern Juice was renamed to the last three letters of its name  “ICE” for its trip to Bangladesh breakers beach.  See the story here on p. 19/20.

The salt bulker Aghia Skepi is named for a Greek Orthodox holy day.

Finally, Orange Sun  . . . you’d think it would have an orange hull, like the Staten Island ferry in the background, right?

 

All photos of the sixth boro activities by Will Van Dorp.

Small Craft 11

Here’s an index of previous posts with this title.

And a lot of photos of small craft.  Given recent temperatures, it’s notable that all these vessels would NOT be able these days to navigate waters much north of the sixth boro or on the Great Lakes, because of ice conditions.  Given the significant clues, can you identify the vessel and location below?  Answers follow.

Here’s Julia, a sturdy all weather boat out with McKinley Sea.

Here’s Julia a few weeks ago–when the whelp of Hudson River ice still went out into the Lower Bay–

retrieving personnel from NS Lotus.

Taking the stern of Kimberly Poling . . . a small USACE I don’t recognize.

See the small unidentified boat beyond Mako‘s stern.  I believe it’s the Vane crew boat, not

to be confused with Grace D.

ABC-1 was out with supplies a few weeks ago, no matter the single-digit temperatures.

These temperatures could kill, but small fish boats like Pannaway are out there.

And if I’m reading that right, Pannaway is registered in a New Hampshire, my home state as you can read on the “about tugster” page.

Harbor Charlie is out with the small NYPD boat.

Now, let’s mix things up a bit.  Seth Tane took this photo in the sixth boro back in the late 70s or early 80s.  Can anyone identify this boat, Karen L?  I ran a lot of photos from that era by Seth in a series here almost two years ago.  In this case, Karen L seems to have just returned four jolly tars back to their ship in the anchorage as another crewman watches from the rail.

Rich Taylor took this photo recently off St. Lucia, four different very balanced tars in a long narrow boat.

This photo comes via Fred Trooster in Rotterdam showing line handlers there. Here’s a post I did over three years ago of line handlers in the Kills.

And this somehow returns us to the mystery vessel at the top of the post:  Knight Rider following the FDR just north of the United Nations, the blue flag in the top photo being the clue.

Thanks to Rich, Seth, and Fred for the photos already attributed.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Small Craft 8

Here was 7 in the series.

ABC-1 is a harbor supply boat, restocking the larder and spare parts lockers while load shifting happens in port.  Click here to see her high and dry a few years back.

BB 163 . . . is a still used antique, up on the Canal that connects the Great Lakes with the sixth boro.  Some day, when it’s warmer, I hope to learn much more about these BBs, buoy boats.  I’ll do more on BB 163 later.   For now, I can’t look at this and NOT see the flag of Colombia or Ecuador.

Gabby has been featured here many times.

Miller Boys is a crew boat.

But really the focus here is the line boats operated by Ken’s Marine.

It might be 5 above zero or 5 below 100 F, these crews are shuttling lines from ship to shore, negotiating with crews on a vessel as well as crews on shore.

Note the ship line handler chief watching the line boat and signaling to his crew to pay out line.

Once the line boat gets to the shoreline, the shore crew takes over.  Given the ice I know is on those rocks, this is a job requiring concentration and sure-footedness as well as  strength.

Once lines are on, the line boat stands off until they get snugged.  Then there are lots more lines to get on.

“All fast” needs to be done quickly and thoroughly.  Not long after this vessel was snug, two container ships passed between Medi Osaka on this side and UACC Masafi on the other side, creating tremendous lateral pressure on all vessels, straining the lines.

But all fast is all fast.  Bravo, guys.

All Fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Robbins Reef

. . . sometimes aka Kate’s Light.   And I did a Katherine Walker post here without including the light in that post.   So here’s my attempt at amends.  All Robbins Reef today . . .

The tug Robbins Reef is an ex-army tug, sibling of 8th Sea, built in 1953 in Fells Point at American Electric Welding.  Can anyone add info on the former American Electric Welding shipyard?  National also appears to be a sibling, but I am starting to digress.

Back to the light by that name . . . in the distance.

See you at the Noble Maritime auction tonight, I hope.

Sixth Boro Reboot 2012 a

Think of the sixth boro as a destination/origin as well as a crossroads.  WMEC-905 Spencer anchored in that point of convergence as of midday.

In points not far from Spencer and the Statue, cargo destined for/originating in this port was moving only if it could transfer in the harbor, petroleum liquid, like here, congress happened between barges powered by Pati T Moran and Sassafras as Meagan Ann passes by with a scow.  For debris?

Kimberly Turecamo stands by with Long Island itself . . . well,  a fuel barge by that name. The spirit is greatly willing to move fuel to faltering consumers on the shore, but the distribution system is broken, for now.

Nicole Leigh Reinauer awaits the green light.

St Andrews with barge on this side and Kimberly Poling on the other . . . like thirsty twins on their mother, Glory Express.

Traversing the sixth boro . . .  Marion Moran pushes LaFarge barge Adelaide to points south.

Supply boat ABC-1 passes tanker Favola.

Diane B waits with a barge.  A problem is that debris like blowaway and sunken containers may lurk unseen at the transfer docks.

Doris Moran, with another LaFarge barge, makes a power turn from the North River into the East River.

A cluster of DonJon vessels–tugs Mary Alice, Thomas D. Witte, and Brian Nicholas–attend to crane barges Columbia NY and Raritan Bay on some “unwatering” project just west of the Battery Coast Guard station.

Transiting the sixth boro from south to North is Apollo Bulker.  More fotos of her later.  She may be headed to Albany.

Ken’s Booming & Boat Service tug Durham passes the “seeing boat” Circle Line Manhattan.

Over by the Brooklyn Navy Yard, schooner Lynx heads for the Sound, past an East River ferry.

And–this just in–as of 1900 hrs tonight, APL Sardonyx became the first container ship to enter Port Elizabeth,

escorted in by McAllister Sisters and Barbara McAllister.   Interestingly, see the foto here of her as one of the first into the port post-Irene!!  Here’s another shot almost exactly two years ago of  APL Sardonyx.

And a bit later, APL Coral came in, escorted by  Elizabeth and Ellen McAllister.

Outside the Narrows waits USS Wasp, recently here five months ago for Fleet Week.   A pulse has been re-established.

I am mindful that many residents of the area are hurting.  My prayers go out for relief for them soon.  Folks who suffered through post-Katrina are also sending along their prayers and encouragement, their solidarity with Sandy-afflicted.

We went through a “reboot” here 14 months ago, but this one is going to be much tougher.

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