Retro Sixth Boro 17

This feature of the blog serves to look back at this month exactly a decade ago, i.e., photos from my archives from exactly 120 months back.

John B. Caddell was still kept compliant, spruced up, and –I assume–profitable.

Nathan E. Stewart commemorated a tragic incident but it worked on the East Coast to redeem itself.  That certainly did not pan out.

K-Sea must have been at its peak back then:  in this one shot are Greenland Sea, Baltic Sea, and Houma.

Hornbeck Offshore worked out of a footprint now occupied by Vane.  Their boats like Patriot Service and

Spartan Service and others had a distinctive appearance.

Janice Ann Reinauer seemed much beloved, possibly because of the lush bow pudding missing in the photo below.

Of the boats so far in this post, Freddie K II is the only one that still works in the sixth boro these days.  Of the others, only Patriot Service and Greenland Sea still operate in the US, and at least three of the others here have been scrapped.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who wishes you a happy and safe August 2019.

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Retro Sixth Boro 16

Here for some context is a post with drawings bowsprite did exactly a decade ago … .

I took the photo below of the same setting.

Whole fleets that existed a decade ago are gone.  For example, K-Sea has been subsumed.  Some boats like Maryland are still in the boro,

others are still on the East Coast but in other fleets like this Falcon.

But still others like Coral Sea and

and Baltic Sea have gone to another continent.

Others might be scrapped . . . like Volunteer and

Bismarck Sea.

Others like Adriatic Sea have crossed over to the other side of North America….

Another fleet subsumed under Kirby–as is K-Sea–is Allied.  Here in July 2009, Sea Raven–now scrapped–and another Falcon have rafted up.   Here’s the link to read in this post:  how Sea Raven was built!!

Hornbeck had a fleet in the sixth boro, with their base in Brooklyn at the current Vane base.   I don’t know what Atlantic Service is currently doing, if anything.

Spartan Service has been sold to a Mexican company,

Sandmaster was still sand mining with this rig.  She was since sold to the Caribbean, and according to AIS, now flies the flag of Niger, which to me says she may be scrapped.

Cheyenne was still red back then, and has since changed colors twice, and exchanged salt water for fresh.  She’s also won the International Tugboat Race on the Detroit River for the past two years.

And this Kristin Poling, 1934 built,  still plied her trade, always a treat to see.

All photos from 10 years ago by Will Van Dorp, who is amazed by the amount of equipment change in the sixth boro in the past decade.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 11

My rules for this series:  all photos need to have come from the month in focus but exactly 10 years earlier.  It’s a good way to notice change.

Take Capt. Log.  I used to love seeing that boat, now long scrapped.  I have photos of her as a heap of scrap pieces and have never posted them.  I’m guessing the Chandra B crew are happy to have that new boat, but Capt. Log was such a unique sight.

Baltic Sea . . .   I’d love to see a current photo of her from Nigeria.  See more of her departed K-Sea fleet mates here.  Sunny Express is now Minerva Lydia, and still working, I think.

Taurus has moved to the Delaware River and has some splotches of purple a la Hays.

Volunteer has been scrapped.

The orange June K is now the blue Sarah Ann . . . .   I still miss that color….

Charles Oxman is no longer in service . . .  I last saw her here in 2016.

APL Egypt used to be a regular here, and of course John B. Caddell . . .had only a few years left at this point before getting cut up.  For a “what’s left . . .” of John B., click here and scroll.

I’m not saying everything is gone or has changed.  Walker and Salvor still work here and –to the untrained eye–look exactly as they did a decade ago, even though these days from any distance, I  can’t tell the distance between Atlantic Salvor and Atlantic Enterprise.  And those crewing on these two vessels, I can’t tell if anyone working then on each boat still does. For Walker, it’s very likely it’s an entirely new crew.

I hope you enjoyed this glance back.

All photos in February 2009 by Will Van Dorp.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 7

Here are the previous installments.  Today’s photos all were taken in August–October2008.

Let’s start with part of the line-up for the 2008 tugboat race. If I’m not mistaken, the only boat left standing, as is, in this photo is St. Andrews, fourth from the left.

Escort, a Jakobson boat, is currently laid up.

Sea Raven, an intriguing “composite” vessel, whose hull was composed of two hulls of 1941 hulls, has been scrapped.

She was called Lone Ranger when she was in the sixth boro in 2008, owned by the CEO of Progressive Insurance.  The former oil-platform towing vessel is still on the seas, now as Sea Ranger. 

Ah!  Cheyenne . . . she been on this blog countless times. 

Frances, as she’s called now,  . . . back then I feared she was not long for this world…

Baltic Sea . . .  I’d love to see her now as she works the Gulf of Guinea.

I’ll repeat this photo . . . as a parting tribute shot, and since St Andrews is the only survivor, let me

show her tangling it up with Edith Thornton, with Dorothy Elizabeth watching.

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Retro Sixth Boro 1

This morning I was looking for something, I thought happened in spring 2008.  Alas, I had the date wrong, but this research led me to these photos, some of which I may have posted before, all taken between April 10 and 17 2008, i.e., a decade ago exactly.  Back then I’d go into work an hour or so early, and because I had not yet plugged into AIS on my phone–I had a flipper–it was catch as catch could. Revisiting these photos stunned me with how much specific equipment has changed.

Baltic Sea and Coral Sea have gone over to West Africa.  Maybe a gallivant there is in order.  I last left West Africa forty years ago!!.

Maryland is still in the area;  I caught a glimpse of her in Jamaica Bay last week as Liz Vinik, but not close enough for a photo showing anything but a speck.  Check out Birk’s site’s info on Vinik Marine Services.

Nathan E. Stewart came to an ignoble end.

Both K-Sea and Allied have been purchased by Kirby.  Petrel has gone to Philadelphia, where she’s working as Northstar Integrity. Below, she was pushing Sugar Express, up to the plant in Yonkers.

Crude oil tanker Wilana (now Kamari) arriving at dawn on a very calm slack water Arthur Kill was the high point of that week, especially because it was the first tanker I’d watched coming into Linden.  I’ll not forget how silent the process was.

On the starboard bow was Catherine Turecamo, now working in freshwater near the Great Lakes as John Marshall.

On her stern was Laura K Moran, now moved to another Moran base.  And, notice the Bayonne Bridge now longer has the geometry as shown below.

Any time I feel that stuff never changes, guess I should look through my archives.

All photos taken in mid-April 2008 by Will Van Dorp, who wonders if anyone out there read Future Shock by Alvin Toffler.  It was published almost a half century ago but I think he was on to something.

 

Seven Seas 2

I’ve no idea why some days a single fleet seems to predominate among boats coming and going past my various offices along the KVK.  By the way, “offices” just means anyplace from which good fotos can be had; peaceful places all but low on creature comforts.  Yesterday snow-white and orange was all I saw.   All but the first two fotos, which come compliments of Jed and Allen Baker, respectively,  were snapped in less than an hour and a half yesterday, with no other moving boats in sight.

Below, from left to right:  Ross Sea, Greenland Sea, and Lincoln Sea–all featured here before.  I’ve seen Ross and Greenland in their previous lives as Normandy and Emma M Roehrig, but Lincoln Sea in “robin’s egg” blue predates my tugster life.  For a description of Lincoln’s Sea first appearance, read this 2004 article by the stellar Staten Island foto/scribe, Don Sutherland.  I’m speculating that Greenland Sea was once robin’s egg blue as well, given her former life (pre-Emma M)  as S/R Providence.  Can anyone confirm?

Here’s Taurus profile and

stern view as she worked her way into the notch yesterday.  By the way, tanker in the foto above is Jose Stream.

Here’s Lincoln Sea stern view.

Baltic Sea headed for the fuel dock as

Bering Sea and Houma (left to right) leveraged

a barge into a dock before heading back

west over behind Shooter’s Island

separately.  By the way, Bering Sea must have previously worn maroon paint as Stacy Moran.  In the distance is the waterfront of Elizabeth, NJ.

And while we’re dealing with Seas, Ashley Sea over by Stapleton.  Uh . . . this might be a different fleet.  By the Way, Ashley Sea was built at New Century Shipyards in Zhangjiagang, China (fish farm country up the Yangtze River from Shanghai) in 2007.

Last eight fotos by Will Van Dorp.

More color changes coming soon.

Related:  Do any West Coast readers have fotos of K-Sea’s Tiger?

Related to “Night Light” post of a few days back . . . a 200-foto profile of the Gowanus Canal from this morning’s NYTimes submitted by readers.

Also, check out this restored 1910 tug on a blog called Peregrine Sea.

Random Tugs 46

When over 5000 horses get pulling, generating 68 tons of bollard pull, smoke happens.  That … and the tanker starts to move.    And Gramma Lee T Moran (May 24, 2002)  feels satisfied.

Marjorie B McAllister (1974) escorts Stena Concert into her venue . . . er . . . berth through

a congested KVK.  Foreground here . . . East Coast ( 1982) approaching and Pocomoke (2008) distancing.

June K (2003) hauls out the crumpled and rusted scrap metal for new life,

John P. Brown Thomas Brown (1962) , East Coast, and Brandywine (2006) all facing west in Bayonne,

Baltic Sea (1973) (Was she originally painted blue as S/R Albany?) heads east,

and a fairly new Laurie Ann Reinauer (2009) comes in from sea.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated . . . I’m literally knocked out by the entries to the Patty Nolan bikini contest.  Just kidding.  Maybe the figurefigure will be dubbed ” P Lady Godiva Nolan” this year?

Seven Seas

As I hiked along the KVK today, it seemed for a while that half at least the boats were  K-Sea white with red and mustard trim.  Of course, I’m known for the gift of selective vision.  Not all the fotos below were taken today, but the enjoy the fotos.

First sea:  Greenland Sea.

Nathan E. Stewart (2) nearer and (I believe) Lincoln Sea (3) farther off at the dock.

Nathan E. passing aframax Eagle Beaumont escorted by Marjorie B. McAllister.

Volunteer (4) on the far side of panamax Sanko Venture.

at the dock in Bayonne last week, and

back on the far side of Sanko Venture today.

Check out the color-coded piping on the barge Columbia.  What word do I fail to make out on the hull:  looks like S  –  A  –  U . . . .

Slinging the barge around today was Baltic Sea (5) .

Sixth sea is Houma . .  although it’s not Houma Sea.

And the seventh sea

is Ross Sea, definitely  surfing a sloping KVK today.  Might it have been camera operator inclination?

So I’ve stopped counting.  Tasman Sea.

and in Philadelphia last week, moving The Recycler down the Delaware was Falcon.    Recycling what?

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Related:  Here’s a list of all the seas as well as which ones figured in what different people called the “seven seas.”

Final shot:  a color-adjusted (but not Warholized) foto of Davis Sea.

Rust Never Sleeps 2

Big event this week:  Wednesday, Oct 21 . . . Rust/River:   Jessica Dulong reads from My River Chronicles amid Pamela Talese’s painting, juxtaposed below with my fotos.  Here’s Pamela’s Matthew Tibbetts and

mine . . . in the 2008 Tugboat Race.

Her Marcus Hanna and my

Katherine Walker.  Hmmm . . . wonder if any other blogs have renderings of 175′ buoy tenders . .  or plan to?  Here maybe?

Pamela’s Baltic Sea low and dry  and

and mine high and wet.

The subtitle for Pamela’s show is “Corrosion and Renewal.”  Will the corroded Freddy K

be renewed . . .  or forbid the thought . . . will Freddy K ride out on

a barge like Crow is pulling here.  I know you can’t save them all, but

but . . . .

I can’t make Wednesday’s event, but Pamela will also be at the gallery all afternoon Friday, Oct 23, which is when I’ll drop by.

Cheers.

Meditations V

V . . . void is my head.  Well not entirely.  Vent . . . French for “wind” which was as abundant as rain today.  And I came up with Radio Veronica, the iconic 1960’s pirate radio station in the North Sea.  And V. and Vineland, novels written by one of my favorite writers, Thomas Pynchon, who has another book out soon called Inherent Vice . . . another V.   Pynchon, the reclusive writer, was born in Glen Cove,

New York.  The vessel here (1975) also carried the names Philadelphia and Capt. Danny once.

But on this foggy then stormy day, I’ll go with “vacation.”  Even if I tried hard today, a desire for vacation would slow me .  But . . . I took all these fotos today.  I’d never seen Great Lakes Thames River before.  Thames (1980) is ex-Lorrie S.

Margaret Moran pushes past Miriam Moran, who had just assisted Marinoula into a foggy berth.

Laura K, also part of the Marinoula assist, retrieves the docking pilot.

Turecamo Boys feigns pursuit of the small boom boat.

Michele Jeanne swings by, possibly to verify some dredging? and

appears–only appears–to make herself vulnerable in  the process, as Baltic Sea slings in a barge,

drops it, and then hurries off to other business.

Vacation . . . we all need it.  I have vacated some things/thoughts/goals/pursuits this summer, but others have possessed me.  Maybe I don’t want to vacate them and therefore will accept a degree of possession.  And these preoccupations will serve as my security  blanket, despite the cost.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, to–foggy–day.

Click on an image to enlarge it.