Gunkholes, Harbors, Ports and Wharves 1

The title is such a mouthful that I’ll soon reduce it to GHP&W. Although this blog began with photos and observations of mostly working vessels in the great harbor associated with New York City, the watery part of which I call the sixth boro, the blog followed a course suggested by these vessels to other GHP&Ws. And given then the global nature of water traffic, it seems logical to devote at least a month to other GHP&Ws.

I’ll kick off with this post about a port I’ll likely never visit, the former Aral Sea fishing port of Moynaq in Uzbekistan.  The photos come from Getty Images by Bjorn Holland and Kelly Cheng. Surprisingly maybe, I live in a neighborhood of NYC where Uzbek is the dominant language, which was part of my motivation to read a Tom Bissell book called Chasing the Sea:  Lost among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia.  I highly recommend it.
Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

So here are some detail areas of a huge aerial photo print I saw the other day.  Can anyone point to detail that confirms a date?  My guess is somewhere in the 50s or 60s.   The first photo below shows the southeast point of Bayonne NJ.  The peninsula bisecting the top and bottom is MOTBY.  Governors Island is upper right and the Statue is upper left with the southern tip of Manhattan along the top.

Below is a closer up of the lower right corner of the photo above, showing that tugboat, some barges, and two sets of  trucks  at the cement dock.

Note the Statue and Ellis Island.  To the left of it is now Liberty State Park.  The Caven Point Pier crosses the center of the photo and the current Global Terminal is still waiting for fill.

Below is the just capped landfill that is topped by the Bayonne Golf Club.   Lower left is quite the gunkhole with disintegrating watercraft I’d love to see a closeup of.

Remember that all the B/W “photos” above are parts of the same aerial shot.

Let’s have a fun month with lots of GHP&Ws.  And not to be too prescriptive, I’d love photos from a variety of GHP&Ws in Asia and Africa, mostly lacking in my previous 2900+ posts.  Of course, here and here are a few posts I’ve done on African ports; here,  Asian; and here and here, South American.

While I’m asking for collaboration, I have a chance to replicate a trip on a major African river that I originally did in 1973-74;  what I seek is leads to a publication that might be interested in the story and photos. The trip is pricey, and if I can sell a tale with photos, I can offset some of the expense. Anyone have ideas or connections?

Bayonne Tower 2

I’m not entirely sure where the land story here starts and stops, but three and a half years ago, I posted this when the tower went up because it intruded into a lot of photos I took.  I took these next two photos in January 2012, right after erection but six months before it went on line.

from the Upper Bay

from Lower Newark Bay

And here are two I took last month.

from right across the KVK

from the Con Hook range

Here’s the news:  the turbine is fritzed and needs repair or replacement after just three years in spite of an expected life span of 20 years!  Here’s a full range of speculation. Of the hundreds of thousands of wind turbines operating in the world, why does this one fritz out?

All photos by Will Van Dorp, with thanks to WS for passing this story along.

 

 

 

 

 

Rounding Bergen Point 1

That bit of land on the upper right of the foto is Bergen Point.  The shadow I hope you recognize as my favorite bridge, and the Sunday morning light plays with the water, bridge, and the pinkish

bulbous bow.

Here, at 10:14 the tug is 1967-built Charles D. McAllister, featured in countless posts in my archive.  Note the boxes on deck of fastening hardware

to keep the stacked containers securely lashed together.

Note Charles D. again, as it assists the 902′ loa x 105′ Zim San Francisco in rounding Bergen Point.   In the distance on this side of Shooter’s Island, a yellow-fronted Vane unit stands off.

Behold the nostril!

Complementing Charles D.’s effort, it’s Maurania III starboard stern quarter.

Zim San Francisco rounds safely despite the general gustiness.  Once a safe rounding is confirmed,

10:21 a.m.  Charles D. spins around, racing back to the west end of the KVK to assist the next vessel westbound under the Bayonne Bridge, while Brendan Turecamo heads over to the Arthur Kill for an assist there.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Footnote:  last Sunday I took fotos of APL Indonesia as it exited the east end of the KVK for sea.  Last night . . . i.e., seven days later, I took this “screen grab” of the same vessel standing off the Panamian port of Colon waiting to enter Manzanillo port!!

Vision and More

This is my version of Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a ...”.  Call this “Checking out Docks on a Hazy Morning,” the joy of which is finding the unexpected.  Like OSG Vision, here among the  giants.  The tug just astern Vision’s blue stacks is K-Sea Volunteer, air draft 114′ if my info is correct, making

Vision, docked here in Bayonne, NJ, the highest tug seat I’ve seen in the sixth boro!

Vision looks like a starship, and is as huge as one:  12000 hp!! and 153′ x 51′ x 26.’  Anyone know the air draft?

Find closer-up and clearer fotos of Vision from the fabulous Narragansett Bay Shipping site here, taken about a month ago.

James Turecamo and Zachery Reinauer passed by to

meet and greet (well, that’s interpretation, I know) also.  Ships in the distance are:  Horizon Discovery (ex-American Liberty, Sea-Land Liberty, Sea-Land Discovery, CSX Discovery… built by Sun Shipbuilding in Chester, PA in 1968) and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Fedora.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Related:  OSG Vision‘s daily fuel consumption:  35 tons!