Random Tugs 273

I’m always on the look out for new tugboats in the harbor, and Camie mostly fits that bill.  A bit of research, though, finds she’s been on the blog a few times already, however.

Here, l to r, it’s Polar Bright, Ava, New York, and Stephen B.

Robert Burton here is tending a rock scow in front of the very busy Bayonne background.

James Brown moves some scrap barges . . . likely in the direction of the East River.

Weddell Sea stands by with Penn No. 90, demonstrating all the components of “push gear.”

Maybe someone can clarify here, but it appears No. 90 has cargo heating gear.

 

Helen Laraway moves a scow toward a morning.

And Fort Schuyler heads straight for us–I’m zoomed in–away from a marine/industrial Brooklyn background.

For the last day of November 2019, all photos by Will Van Dorp.

And finally, click here for Paul Strubeck’s Vintage Diesel Design blog post on tugboat Luna in Boston.  It expands a post I did on Luna here almost four years ago.

 

Rounding Bergen Point 6

Here are the previous posts in the series.

The bow of the ship, the park, and Newark International tower could establish the location, as could

the stern of the ship and the signage on the bridge lower right.

How many tugboats do you spot?  What do you now about them and the ship from colors and livery?

How near are the tugboats one from the other?

Here’s a digression . . . two models of shipping in 2019.

Here’s exactly the same shot.  Here‘s the info on Arthur Maersk.

Alex here appears to be mirroring the forward motion of Arthur, while simultaneously pulling her to starboard and in the channel.  I’m sure the folks who do this might have other words and other descriptions of what is happening here.

Meanwhile, Ava (rhymes with Java) pushes on the stern, and

compared with photos 3 and 4 above, notice how far apart along the starboard side of Arthur the two tugboats are.  And the fishing boat, just to the left of the red buoy, is several hundred feet off.

Alex continues force along the same vector.

All photos and words by Will Van Dorp, whose admiration for this oft-repeated maneuver around Bergen Point hasn’t diminished.

 

Congestion 4

A harbor, different parts of it, can be a crowded place.  Here are some previous posts called “congestion.”

Kyoto Express left first, after my arrival, passing some icons during her exit.

Ever Legion departed next, leaving the US-flagged Overseas Key West at the dock.

 

Seroja Enam, ex-APL Poland, was arriving but being followed.

Meeting them was Stolt Sea, escorted by Margaret Moran.

 

 

Grande New York followed closely behind.

Note all the docked vessels out beyond the Bayonne Bridge.

Grande New York, a relatively new vessel, was launched the same year as the ill-fated Golden Ray, now being scrapped down south.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 270

Here’s another calendar’s worth . . . starting with Josephine.  I have many more of this bot coming up soon.

Capt. Brian heads out through the Narrows to meet a tow.

Cape Lookout returns for her anchored barge.

Nathan G delivers a brace of scows.

Ava M heads out for a job.

The “new” Kristin Poling returns to her barge as well.

Ellen and Bruce A follow a job.

St Andrews heads east and

Ernest Campbell, west.

Challenger, some weeks ago, brings a Weeks crane up for a lift.

Stephen B has some additions to her paint job since last I saw her.

CMT Pike heads back across the Upper Bay.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who can’t believe it’s already mid-November 2019!!

 

 

Random Tugs 268

Back in the sixth boro . . . it’s a head-on shot of Thomas J. Brown, with multiple icons of the harbor behind her.

Mister T pushes some loaded barges out east beneath the 59th Street Bridge in the photo below,

and tows twice as many empties westbound in the next photo.

Mary Turecamo shifts deck cargo barge New York from Red Hook over toward the other container ports of NYC/NJ, keeping a good number of trucks off the roads and bridges.

Meredith C. Reinauer moves RTC 150 out in the direction of the Sound.

Philadelphia pushes fuel barge Double Skin 503 into the Kills, over to where Ellen McAllister assists Genesis Liberty out of her IMTT berth.

Then Genesis Liberty moves GM 11105 around and outbound.

Robert Burton, usually pushing compacted garbage barges, the other day was doing

rock scow duty.

And rounding out this post, Ava M. McAllister, still in her first half year of working in the sixth boro, heads out to escort in a vessel just in from sea.

All photos recently by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Ships 72

This Stella Polaris . . . a very common vessel name for obvious navigation reasons, is less than 400′ and about 20 years old.  The curious building off the bow is the Boldt Castle Power House and Clock Tower . . .  or BCPHCT.

Algoma Conveyor, SLSWmax, was still under construction a year ago in Jiangsu, China.

Narie is another recent Chinese built cargo ship

in the Great Lakes, I’ve read, for the first season, although other Polsteam boats have worked there for some years.

The oldest Great Lakes port in the US is Oswego, and it sees lakers like the Japan-built cement ship NACC Argonaut fairly frequently.

With the right vessel, one can travel from the Great Lakes directly to NYC, of course, and when we did, we ran into Disney Magic, Italian built, Bahamian flagged, and Spain overhauled.

Making this likely the most diverse “random ships” post ever, here’s P61, an Irish patrol vessel named for Samuel Beckett. Unless I’m mistaken, this “writers” class comprises the largest vessels in the Irish Naval Service. Here’s a photo of Beckett leaving town yesterday taken by frequent commenter Phil Gilson.

Cembay is another Japan built cement carrier, 1997, shuttling between the US and Port Daniel QC. 

And finally . . .  YM World is, as of this posting, steaming toward Savannah, after shifting boxes here in Bayonne.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp within the past 30 days.

Mixed Craft 2

Here’s the previous post of this focus.  I had others ready to go at one point, but  . ..  ships sail, horses leave barns, and ideas slip away.  Yesterday I spent one hour on the Upper Bay and concluded that it’s a diverse place, starting with this water rising up and obscuring whatever lay beyond it.  Of course, I knew what it was, but I recall the first time I saw such a misting–in the Gulf off Kuwait–and my brain could not process what my eyes were sending it.

Regular and irregular cargoes juxtaposed, boxes and rocks.

Framing a shot puts together what is actually quite far apart.

I’ve done a number of posts on winter fishing, but fall fishing must be super right now, with some fisherman torn between landing that next fish and

 

staying out of the path of YM World and all those tugs assisting it into Global terminal.

 

I know foreshortening plays a role in giving a sense of crowding, but there IS undeniably some crowding going on here.  The ship DID sound a warning at one point.

And that mist in the top photo . . . it came from Firefighter II.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who still has lots of photos from the trip from Montreal.

 

 

Tractors 2

Over 11 years ago I did the first post called “tractors,” and back then I never imagined what the “2” in the series would consist of.  It’s summertime–click here for soundtrack–and let’s see those tractors!  By the way, most of the photos below I took in Canandaigua NY last week at the annual “steam pageant.”

This is mostly a photo post, but a little text.  How many “crew” do you think are operating the tractor below?  Answer at the end of this post.

Do you suppose someone had Mardi Gras in mind in parking these three?

Weights come in handy in pulling contests.

“Orchard” tractors must be inspired by Ferrari lines, or vice versa?  Here’s a short history of McCormick-Deering.

 

 

Here’s a history of Birdsall Engine.

Before GPS-guided tractors, controls had style.

 

 

Here’s some history of the Silver King and related Plymouth industry, now all gone.

 

 

This is a dedicated piece of equipment; it can plow and nothing else.  Rumely made this machine, which required a driver/engineer to operate and another person under the un-deployed sunshade to ensure the plowshares didn’t foul.  For a massive Rumely plow demonstration, click here.

When the steam traction engine moves at less than 5 mph, technology can be this basic . . .  re: steering for

this tractor.

 

And here’s the answer to the “crew” question posed before this top photo . . .  he’s the engineer, she’s the driver, and baby–wearing her mud boots–is apprenticing.

Oh . . . but this blog is tugster, not tractorster, so let’s return from the detour.  Here from a month ago are some more pics of the christening on the the sixth boro’s newest tractor tug,

an equally family event.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who has left the boro and has scheduled a number of posts in a queue until it runs out . . .  or I have some new photos and wifi to post them.  If no posts appear for a few days, it just means I’m enjoying a wifi-free dimension, might even get trapped there.   And since wifi is needed for the manual process of moving a wordpress blogpost to FB, look for me at tugster.wordpress.com, not on FB.

 

 

Ever L 3

I’ve seen lots of the L-class, but this was my first view of Ever Lotus.   I’m not sure what’s in the boxes, but she’s carrying a lot of boxes.

Ava escorted her out.

 

Bow watch was performed by this relaxed-appearing seaman, while

stern watch was controlled by this hitchhiking but discerning raven.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 5 Christening

Eleven years ago I missed a christening because of work.  Then last year I missed one again for the same reason.  But last night, neither work nor weather could have  kept me away.

Ava (rhymes with “java”) M. McAllister has already been working in the harbor about a month, but time needed to be carved out of her busy schedule to welcome her to the harbor with ceremony.

Since her namesake is an accomplished skater, the tug demonstrated just a modicum of her skills . . . .

including some tug-modified twizzles and axels.  Notice the guests of honor including the namesake waving on the bow?

The pipers came, they played, and then they led the way

to the convivialities.

Welcome, Ava.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who several years back did a review of McAllister’s 150th anniversary book here.

For more of my photos including namesake breaking the bottle, go the McAllister Towing FB page.