Second Lives 18

This hull was called Melvin E. Lemmerhirt for almost 40 years.  I took the photo below in 2007, as she passed in front of a then very different piece of Brooklyn land’s edge.

Here’s how the vessel looks now, known as Evelyn Cutler, maybe good for another 40 years?

Evelyn‘s fleet mate looked like this in 2007 and today Kimberly Poling

looks a lot better.

Also in 2007, I caught a Barker Boys looking like this . . .

and here’s a closer up a month later . . .

Well . . . very recently, just after northern Mardi Gras and St Patrick’s, here

is the same

vessel now known as Foxy 3.  I love the colors. I took the photo last week when it still looked like winter.

Since 2007 seems to be serving as baseline for this post . . . here was a tug known as Dory Barker then and

just plain Dory now.

All photos by Will Van Dorp . . . in the sixth boro.  Here’s an index to previous “second lives” posts.  Honestly, my favorite–for now at least–is Second Lives 10.  I’d love to find an answer to this . . . the truth is out there.

 

Boys ‘n Girls

So there’s Turecamo Boys,

Turecamo Girls here getting the attention of Greenland Sea,

McAllister Sisters,

Bouchard Girls,

another shot of Turecamo Boys,

and Barker Boys.

Other tugs elsewhere have “boys, girls, sisters” in their names, but I don’t know any with “brothers, daughters, sons.”

But to get back to the fotos above, I know that less than a half mile from one of them there’s a certain establishment called “Jersey Girls” and a quite different one that begins “Sisters of ..” Hmmm . . .do you suppose these are tugboat enthusiasts organizations?

Meanwhile, I’d love to hear of tugboats with names that include “brothers, fathers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters,” etc . . .

Photos, WVD.

Barges

Vancouver has its log booms, but New York has trains of barges,

six barges on the hawser here, headed for the Buttermilk, passing the Brooklyn-Battery Tunel ventilator off Governor’s Island and

 

towed by Francis E. Roehrig

 

Barker Boys tows another batch.

 

Here’s a closeup of Barker Boys, another day.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Names 2

In spite of a tendency to refer to vessels using pronouns for female humans, gender equality is alive and well in naming.

 

 

high and dry Miller Girls, not named for a so-called beverage . . .

 

wet and buoyant Miller Girls . . . with the name invisible?

 

 

A few minutes later, westbound comes Barker Boys . . .pulling a string of empty gravel barges. Suppose the Barker Boys and Miller Girls ever raft up?

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

According to this database maintained by the Tugboat Enthusiast Society, Miller Girls launched in Jersey City 32 years ago; Barker Boys launched in Louisiana 33 years ago. They’re age-compatible.