Tugster Retro 2013 B

The first half of January 2013–a decade ago–was one long gallivant, taking in New Orleans to St Louis to Pittsburgh and then back home.  In the spirit of these retro posts, let me start here, shooting right off the Algiers ferry. Barbara E. Bouchard is now Dann M’s Turquoise Coast, which I’ve not seen.

No stroll in the night life of Nola is complete without a stop at Igor’s Checkpoint Charlie, combo bar, music venue, and laundromat!!

Following the river by car, we next stopped in Baton Rouge, and among the dozens of boats, enjoy this one–Ned Ferry–with a sixth boro connection:  It was built in 1959 Pittsburgh for Pennsylvania Railroad, which in 1968 merged with the New York Central to form Penn Central.  In 1974 it was sold to Crescent, which repowered and rebuilt it . . .  Find more in Paul Strubeck’s Diesel Railroad Tugs Vol 1.

The river is quite busy;  here Creole Sun works on a fleeting job.

Richard‘s pushing a set of tank barges. You might imagine I’m toying with a Mississippi River cruise this year.

American Pillar is a good example of a line haul boat:  195′ x 54′ and working with 10500 hp.

Fort Defiance Park in Cairo IL is a good place to see the Ohio and the Mississippi River refuse to mix for a while.  Note the difference in water color.

I never mentioned that my car was broken into in East St Louis in summer 2021;  Malcolm W Martin Park right across the way is the place.  I left a review on tripadvisor in September 2021 here if you scroll through.

Leaving St Louis in 2013 we made a stop in Kampville to catch the ferry across the Illinois River.

 

Then it was a lot of dry until we got to the Monongahela River at Belle Vernon PA, and the port of registry on these boats tell you where the nearest port (to the north) is.

We’ll leave it there.  If you want to peruse the archives for January 2013, click here . . .  they are in reverse chronological order.  There were obviously many many photos.

All photos, WVD.

Between Bayonne’s Tanks

Click on the image below for an interactive map of this portion of the sixth boro.  Right now at about the 9 o’clock position you see two small white specks.  They

are the huge spherical tanks seen off Barbara McAllister‘s stern.

Consider the size of the wraparound stairs and you’ll understand why locally they’re called “gorilla’s balls.”.

So here’s what the tugboat fueling station looks like from the north bank of the KVK, and

here looking west.

Here’s looking NE across the tank farm, and

from the landslide looking eastward across Robbins Reef Light to Brooklyn.

Off the bow of Oleander–the incoming small container ship, would be the Staten Island ferry racks,

and here’s looking south across tanker Navig8 Spirit toward the salt pile. But here’s the surprise, inside the fence and between the tanks,

there’s a very old cemetery, which pre-dates the use of this land for oil.

It’s Constable Hook Cemetery, founded by Pieter van Buskirk.

Who knew?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  Many thanks to Jack Kennedy for arranging for this tour.

 

Tugboat or Towboat 1

I had a chance to see Orange Blossom depart the sixth boro this morning, but since our current January light is so monochromatic, I thought to take on the tugboat/towboat question.  Having said that, I’ve always considered Buchanan 12 (last one here) and Glen Cove (seventh foto here) as river tugboats or pushboats.   Odin, depicted at the end of this post and possibly still in the Kirby yard in Houston, also has some towboat characteristics.

Olga  G. Stone, big pushknees and little if any sheer . . . .

without a winch or H-bit . . . definitely a towboat.

Barbara E. Bouchard and in the lift Edwin N. Bisso . . .  as definitely tugboats

Admiral Jackson . . . tugboat.

J. W. Herron . . . towboat, and I’d love to see her high and dry hull lines.

Ned Ferry . . . tug.   Here’s Ned Ferry with Sanko Venture, recently somewhat curiously rendered by bowsprite.

This unidentified Florida Marine vessel with tow is a towboat . . . .  Note how the length of the tow

seems quite lengthened when you get a profile.  Also notice the dance as the ferry Louis B. Porterie sashays between the two tows.

John Williams . . .  towboat.

Ditto Alley Cat,  Stone Power, 

and Jerry Aragon.

This one I don’t see enough of to identify.

For nostalgia’s sake . . . a foto of Odin in the KVK . . . circa 2007.

All fotos above by Will Van Dorp.  For some great towboat fotos check Boat Photo Museum and Ohio River Blog, recently added to my blogroll.  Also, an excellent site is Dick’s Towboat Gallery.  For more on the difference between tugs and towboats from TES, click here.

Nola Traffic 4

Quick and succinct:  the way to enter Nola from the east and north is Rte 90.  About 30 miles east of Nola I passed this mystery vessel Poseidon, which looked like a house-forward bulk carrier with a quonset hut over the hold now blown away by a storm.  Anyone know the history?

As sun rose somewhere in a cloudy drizzly day, the first vessel to pass–upbound–was BBC Brazil.

Then a steady stream of traffic moved on the great river . . .  some of them included Amalienborg,

B. John Yeager (?) with at least 13 barges, which round Algiers Point in the most

curious way, which involved backing down, sliding over to the Nola side, and what must have been lots of nail-biting.

Big Sam and a small tow.

From the Algiers side, I checked out Barbara E. Bouchard‘s new pins.

Also on the drydocks at Bollinger’s was Mully and Admiral Jackson.

Alice‘s sister Caroline Oldendorff passed . . . upriver.

And Alley Cat headed downstream herding more barges than would seem possible.

Nola is so much more than all that, and Checkpoint Charlie is a start of that other so-long list, but do check in at Charlie’s when next you’re here.

More soon.  All foto by Will Van Dorp.

 

Solstice Post 1

First . . . around the boro, the light is beauteous enough to suspend a sense of time and obligation and stress and disappointment.  This side of the boro, though on duty, works the milder solstice.

Lynx (1967, ex-Catherine Foss, Kainani) probably working with a dredging project, I’ve never seen here before.

Discovery Coast glows.

Nicole Leigh waits orders, as crew might ponder

a different season, as seen here.

In this heat and light, Kimberly looks positively artdeco:  her aqua would blend in on South Beach and way beyond.

Brandywine wrestles the season as she dances her partner DoubleSkin 141.

Quenames broods as she gazes into the stream.

Miriam Moran cruises past Sailors’ Snug Harbor, as purposefully as always.

Jane A. Bouchard races deep into right field, showing what waters can be divided by more than 6000 hp on the wheels, while her older sister

Barbara E. Bouchard dozes briefly in the shadows before moving upriver, where

the venerable Patty Nolan dons her midsummer’s bikini, freshens up her dancing paint . . . the mayor’s drum is soon to call to disorder the 2012 parade . . .  the sixth boro’s shoreline version of Mardi Gras.

OK . . . one final glance for now at Lynx off to the dredge site.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who is solely responsible for any erroneous interpretations of event, signs, and artless ceiling doodles.

Happy summer!!

Unrelated:  If you happen to “see things” when you pass the KVK salt pile on Saturday night, you’re not hallucinating.  Lumen will happen.

For an auspicious virtual gallivant as they sally forth through the Rideau Canal from Lake Ontario to Ottawa and beyond, follow Sally W . . .

Bouchard

Yup . . . close up of a stack;  nope . . . this isn’t only about stacks although I do think Evening Tide has a classy one.

In the foreground here, barge Evening Breeze rides alongside Morton S Bouchard II.  Serious question:  what does Evening Breeze sometimes referred to a “vacuum vessel” transport, what services does it perform?

Barbara E. Bouchard, long, low, and sleek.  For scale, notice the crewman alongside the house just forward of the winch.

Jane A. Bouchard with Amy C. McAllister background left and New Jersey Responder, background right.  New Jersey Responder is MSRC equipment based in Perth Amboy.

Bouchard Girls . . . haven’t noticed it around in a bit.

Ralph E. Bouchard.

Frederick E.

And once again, different day, Evening Breeze this time escorted by Evening Mist.

Before you check the answers here, can you guess which Bouchard tug has lowest and highest horsepower rating of those depicted?  The highest rating of the fleet goes to Danielle M. , depicted here last winter.

All fotos . . . Will Van Dorp.

For a reminder on the hazards of the trade, see this blogpost about the 2003 explosion.

From Richmond

County that is, or Terrace. Westbound, Barbara E. Bouchard enters Newark Bay, taken March 30, 2008.

and a few minutes later Annabelle V. (I think) Roehrig leaves it. In the near background are bankside buildings of the west side of Bayonne, NJ. Tall recognizable buildings from right to left are the Goldman Sachs Tower in Jersey City and, of course, the Empire State Building. In the foreground stand remnants of docks at Shooter‘s Island.

I work over on the other side in Elizabeth, between the big church and the courthouse

.

I see plenty of this yard from the other side during the week.

Photos, WVD.