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Try this: a cruise from Buenos Aires to . . . Milwaukee!! These folks are currently doing it.
Below is my screen capture as they were leaving the sixth boro. Here‘s my blog post of them along the west side of Manhattan.
Post by the robots as WVD is away.
I only know this is the 5,050th post because the wordpress dashboard aka diagnostics shows me statistics.
Over 10 years ago, I posted for the 1000th time here. It astonished me then that I had made time for posting one thousand times, and you the audience made time to read/see photos for a thousand times as well. Then together we passed other milestones like 1280. On the 10-year mark, I announced I’d posted 3287 times here. The most recent post marking a milestone was the big 4000 here.
The 5000th post passed unremarked upon back in September, but here we are, eight days from the 15th anniversary of post 0001, with a big 5050, a number of posts that defies my ability to process.
Could I compress the content of 5,050 posts over a 15-year period of time into –say–a half dozen photos to represent this period of time? Or could you chose one photo of the +41,000 photos I’ve posted since November 2006 to be a emblematic of this blog? I can’t imagine how I’d choose, although maybe some of you might. More on compression later.
In my 4000th post I said, “the number doesn’t matter, because the story never ends anyhow. … there’s no one story; not even one person has just one story or even one fixed understanding of a single story, since we –like water– are protean, ever shifting. No matter . . . we pursue nonetheless.”
It’s time to revise that because numbers DO matter; my life, our lives . . . are made up of a finite number of days, a limited number of hours to be productive and alive in.
The past year has been tough, with minor but bedeviling challenges, yet I am blessed with continued health and time. Thanks for reading the blog, showing your ongoing interest in one view of many of New York harbor enterprise and activity involving both regular traffic and transient. Some of you even comment, and your constructive comments add detail and insights germane to New York working harbor, the stuff of this blog. You make this a virtual community. It’s especially satisfying when you send in photos. If I don’t use what you send immediately or at all, it’s because I haven’t figured out when or where to post them.
Finally, thanks to my dear friend bowsprite for creating the 5050 graphic, as she did previous ones. Check out her Etsy site here and order stuff so that she keeps busy with her variegated and quirky compositions that never cease to charm me.
Let me follow up on that compression idea from the first paragraph. I love the 5050 image above because, besides marking this waypoint, it compresses her perception into its chosen rendition: rivets, hull color, draft markings, stains, dings, and all. I say chosen renditions because, face it, the machines and people from the floating world of this blog are made up of countless features and details. There are too many of them to all be rendered. So illustration, photography, fiction or nonfiction prose, even music or any art requires choosing. Bowsprite selects what’s in and what’s out and puts them back together– the regular or the haphazard way– guided by the whims of a free moment. That’s compression aka creativity.
Seriously, bowsprite, I can’t thank you enough.
Related: If you look at the top of the page, you’ll see a new heading, Publications. There you’ll find a representative sampling of my publications in the past decade. Enjoy. I’m traveling again, so I might or might not post tomorrow.
Entirely unrelated: If you’re looking to fill a long half hour watching an Australian kayaking to work rather than driving as a means to better understand land forms, human activity, and water flow, click here for Four-Day Commute to Work by Beau Miles. I hope you enjoy it. For all of his documentaries, click here.
Here were previous milestones at post 1000, the four-year mark, and the one decade anniversary. A few weeks ago when I noticed on my dashboard that I was approaching my 4000th post a week or so after the actual beginning of the 13th year mark, I knew this post was necessary.
4000!! It can be a small number: my heart beats more times than that in an hour and I’m still in the healthy range. I took more breaths than that in the first half day of my life. I grew up in a town that had fewer than 4000 people. One dairy farmer I know has about that many cows now, and collects their output in tanks . . . a reefer tank for milk and two large lagoons for . . . well . . . their other production.
But it’s a huge number of blog posts, especially if I start adding up the time spent: if I average about two hours per post … counting the photography and the computing –and that’s a low estimate–that’s 8000 hours of work, which is 200 40-hour work weeks, which at 50-week years equals four years of work. If I paid myself a low $50,000 per year, that’s almost a quarter million dollar bonus. Nice!! As to photos, I’ve added at least 40,000 photos to the web, mostly on aspects of the work world on water.
In another way, the number doesn’t matter, because the story never ends anyhow. Part of what makes the real story elusive is the Heraclitus issue I’ve mentioned before. It also eludes because there’s no one story; not even one person has just one story or even one fixed understanding of a single story, since we –like the water–is protean, ever shifting. No matter . . . we pursue nonetheless.
About those photos, hindsight says I should have started “watermarking” them years ago. Recently I saw one of my photos in a major newspaper attributed to someone else. The same article had two others of my photos attributed to me, but this third photo was also mine, shot at a unique event where no other photographers were present. When I informed them that photo was mine, they refused to believe me. I was traveling at the time, away from my archive, so I decided to drop the matter, but the fact that it occurs to me now is evidence that I’m still irked.
What else could I have done with those 8000 hours? If I were a competitive sheep shearer, in that time I could have taken 240,000 fleeces!! If I worked them in fast food, I’d get $80,000. If I worked as a divorce lawyer, I’d have a Ferrari or two. If I were a politician, I’d be at the end of my term and starting a gig as an TV analyst.
Now if I could convince my boss to pay up . . . maybe he’ll throw a party instead and buy the first round for whomever shows up … Maybe she’ll give me some time off. Oh wait . . I’m the boss here.
Seriously, I’ve been fully compensated in meeting interesting people, seeing unexpected things, noticing minutae, and learning vital stuff and worthless trivia. If I had any regrets, it’s that this time commitment makes me a hermit. I’m not as anti-social as I might appear, only easily distracted . . . . Actually, I like people; I just prefer to not let an interesting scene go unrecorded sometimes. Although being a hermit allows me to get work done, the downside is that isolation is sometimes corrosive or parching.
Hermits lack physical community. Since I retired from a human contact career, I’ve much less of an immediate community. My online community is fabulous and I appreciate it, but it is its own thing. I need to work on improving my flesh/blood community.
A friend once sent me a photo he’s taken of me photographing. It was not a flattering photo because I appeared to be scowling. I wondered why I was irritated at that moment until I realized that is my “focused face.” I’ll spare you and not post that shot here. Photography is much more than moving your fingers on the lens adjustment and shutter. It’s an attitude born of seeing and trying to see more. Once an overzealous security person asked me to leave an area I had permission to be because he said I was looking around too much, I must be guilty of something and alleged that I was looking around to see if security or law enforcement was around. But I do look around while shooting to see if I’m too focused on one action and missing another.
Here’s an example from many years ago and not involving my camera: I was hiking in a wildlife area and approaching a set of bird watchers, all of whom were intently focused with long lenses on some rare birds in the marsh. They were lined up along a roadway ditch. While I was still 200 feet away, I saw a red fox exit the marsh grass, walk past all the photographers close enough to brush against their heels, and then disappear back into the marsh. Not one photographer saw the fox that touched them; they were all focused on the rare birds 300 feet away in the marsh.
Given some of the places I go to take photos, there are wolves to be wary of, two-legged wolves, if you catch my drift. I should not malign the four-legged ones though. Whatever to call these potential predators, I try to spot them long before they sense me. I take chances with wolves, no matter how many legs they have, and so far they’ve all had dignity.
Anyhow, my course remains steady. I’ll keep it up as long as I continue to enjoy it.
Thanks for reading, commenting, and sending along stories and photos.
The collage at the top comes thanks to bowsprite; she created it for me back in 2010 for my 1000th post, and I decided to use Skitch to modify her collage as a way of creating a tradition.
Consider this tugster’s November version of the summer solstice parade. Enjoy these eight fotos. They call themselves the water nymphs with music provided by typewriter, although a google search comes up with no further info. The music–see the bass player in one foto–was hypnotic also, but you’ll have to imagine the sounds, though this–sans voice–might be the reference.
Why eight fotos?
Well . . . November 26, 2006 I did my first post. Tomorrow I start my eighth year and I hope to continue as long as it’s fun for all. Thanks for reading, commenting, sending along suggestions, corrections and fotos . . . and so much more. This is my 2285th post and have been blessed with 1,204, 899 hits as of posting. Again . . . thanks all.
All these fotos by Will Van Dorp, who loved the dances.
Note that I had to retitle yesterday’s post, because I had posted a “seven seas 2” two years ago already. A conversation this week prompts yesterday’s and today’s post: the K-Sea fleet in the sixth boro has been changing since their acquisition by Kirby last year. But as Isaac Asimov and Heraclitus each in his own way said . . . shift happens. For example, twenty years ago there was no K-Sea. It emerged in 1993 out of Eklof, which had existed in the harbor since 1910. In 2008, K-Sea itself absorbed Roehrig.
Anyhow, I decided to see what K-Sea units I’ve taken fotos of in the past half year, and here they are. Big caveat . . . I’m not out there around the sixth boro every day or even most days AND I don’t foto everything I see. A webcam might do that, but although my interest is documenting, I value an attempt at aesthetic pleasure as well, and webcams can’t do that.
So here goes: Lincoln Sea departed here yesterday, but no foto. Jan 8 . . . Norwegian Sea
McKinley Sea . . . Dec. 4.
Davis Sea . . . also Dec. 4.
Barents Sea . . . Dec. 2.
Aegean Sea . . . Nov. 15.
Java Sea . . . Nov. 6.
Maryland . . . Oct. 23.
Viking . . . Oct 16.
North Sea . . . Sept. 20
Ross Sea . . . Sept. 4.
and Baltic Sea, this morning . . . docked along Badagry Creek, Lagos.
Again, I’m making no claims that these are the only K-Sea boats around . . . just that these are the ones I’ve taken fotos of in the past half year. A quick search on AIS today shows Inland Sea and Houma in Philly; Odin, North Sea, and Volunteer around the Gulf of Mexico, and all others . . . maybe . . at sea.
Beat the heat . .. by imagining change: well, eastriver suggested the sixth boro annex the Conch Republic. Hmmm. Since the sixth boro is an archipelago like the Keys, maybe we could confederate the American archipelagos (besides the two already mentioned, we’d join with the Thimble Islands, the Thousand Islands, the Channel Islands, the Salish Islands, and maybe establish diplomatic relations with all archipelagos smaller than . . . Long Island, giving us many of the Antilles, a smattering of Pacific nations, the Aeolian Islands and Greek Islands. I know I’ve left many out, but it’s already sounding like good company in my heat-addled brain.
Or defocus on the scorching temperatures by looking at fotos below?
First one is a “tugster-sighting” just north of the sixth boro snapped by Joel Milton. Tugster is on the foredeck of Patty Nolan (1931) sans figurefigure as she tows sailing vessel sans-servingsails Lickity-Split some weeks back, here passing the Englewood Cliffs boat basin, I believe.
Next foto from John Watson . . . Eddie R (1971) towing a mystery barge. Any guesses its mission?
Answer comes from Les Sonnenmark, longtime friend of the tugster blog: it’s a cable-laying barge operated by Calwell Marine. Info on the barge can be found in this pdf . . . starting on the unnumbered page 6ff. In fact, this barge may be related to the work of Dolphin III in the sixth boro last summer: click the link to “marine contractor” above the last foto in this post you find here.
Foto by tugster near the Chesapeake City Bridge as 2011-launched Mako ensures Penn No. 81 makes
its way Chesapeake-bound. More info on the pilotboat in the background soon.
Foto by Jed of Vickie M McAllister (2001) docked at McAllister’s Blount Island yard on the St John’s River .
Foto by G. Justin Zizes Jr. of Kathleen Turecamo (1968) and
and Matthew Tibbetts (1969) both high and dry at Caddell Shipyard in Staten Island.
Foto from Lou Rosenberg of Aegean Sea (1962) near Rockaway Inlet. Aegean Sea used to
be called, in order, Francis E. Roehrig, Jersey Coast, and John C. Barker.
This yard tug in Mayport seems to have a protection bar, but in spite of the
the numbers on the stern, I’ve found no info on this type. Fotos by tugster. Orange bow on the right side of foto belongs to C-Tractor 13.
A final shot of Patty Nolan and Lickety Split headed upriver.
Thanks to Joel, John, Les, Jed, Justin, and Lou.
Only tangentially related: For info on YTB-832, previously based in Mayport and now possibly in Greece by way of Italy, click here.
And an even less tenuous tangential connection to these fotos of vessels of La Guardia di Finanza, which sounds like what our government is supposed to do but actually refers to something quite different . . . . What it is can be found here.
More fotos will be forthcoming from the Conch Republic, a possible future residence.
The last milestone was the 1000, but this one, post 1280, goes up exactly four years (well, I’m three days late, actually) after my first ever post. Since then, I’ve spent countless hours of free time educating and entertaining myself, touring other folk through the sixth boro,
interacting with passersby in ports wherever they beckon–ports like the sixth boro,
Baltimore (and many other places …) and more I hope to come. Thanks to all for your tours and advice and feedback.
Meanwhile, I’m enjoying this blog more than ever, learning to see, fishing
(sometimes in extreme conditions) for
flights of fancy and
all manner of lore and historical info about the sixth boro and all the waters connected to it.
Like yesterday, I was reading about Alice L. Moran, her marvelous feats, and wondering if she’s still called Amsterdam and working in Bahraini waters. And I was reading about PY-16 USS Zircon (later a pilotboat named New York and previously a Pusey & Jones steam yacht Nakhoda), predecessor of pilotboat New York.
I’ve enjoyed these first 1280 and will be continuing. Meanwhile, here’s another interesting thing I stumbled upon yesterday on page 12 of the Spring 1966 Tow Line magazine. I hope no one is irked by my printing a screen shot here. Enjoy. Letter 1 with request on left and response on right.
Thanks for reading this blog and commenting for four years. The ride goes on.
Photo credits here to Les, Allen, Carolina, and bowsprite. Greets to the guys on SKS Tyne.
Meanwhile, a few words about the MWA Waterfront Conference tomorrow: ”
New York, NY: On Tuesday, November 30, senior officials and representatives from over 14 government agencies will join over 500 waterfront advocates, educators, and planning experts for the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance’s 2010 Waterfront Conference at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the George Gustav Heye Center.
Dozens of agency officials, politicians, and other experts will be on hand to offer their perspectives on the future of the NY-NJ Harbor, including: NYC Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, Bob Martin of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, Col. John R. Boulé II of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Capt. Linda Fagan of the US Coast Guard, Peter Davidson of the Empire State Development Corporation, David Bragdon of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability, Adrian Benepe of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, Amanda Burden of the NYC Planning Commission, Cas Holloway of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and Seth Pinsky of the NYC Economic Development Corporation.”
A general thanks for people sending me fotos. Blogging allows some stupendous collaborations.
Thanks to M. McMorrow for sending. Notice the cruise ship, the Intrepid, several sizes and types of tugs, as well as the Concorde! Unfortunately, the blimp–on its way to the tennis tournament–had just escaped from the foto.
Thanks to Stephen Sisler. Any guesses who’s atop the wheelhouse?
Do you recall that Cornell struggled in a pushing contest with The Bronx? (That’s “struggled” to restrain all forward movement.) The next two fotos come compliments of Jim Levantino, who saw that struggle from The Bronx having the pleasure of getting buried
deep within Cornell‘s … er … whiskers.
Here’s my foto of the very same moment, as recorded from high atop the house.
Thanks to Elizabeth … it’s a blogger fotografing within the confines of Troy’s Federal Lock.
And going back to late August, thanks to Eric Graybill, crewman on Bold (See 6th foto down.), who sent these fotos of Gazela making
her way, motorsailing
up Delaware Bay. Recognize anyone on deck Gazela? Gazela will be returning through the sixth boro in mid-October on its way to the oysterfest. Keep your eyes peeled; this blogger will await them at the Narrows or –near the “Gate” in the East River.
All fotos as credited. Only the fifth foto by Will Van Dorp.
What Bonnie does here for Flatbush, I’ll attempt within the sixth boro, starting here with the venerable Mary Whalen and
King Dorian (glad that’s not “durian“) before shifting to shorter wavelength in
Jo Selje and
Panagia Lady, here lightering onto (I think) JoAnne Reinauer III.
Continuing across the spectrum with Stolt Vanguard and sibling
Perseverence. Then
and Ever Refine and
the snarkiest Don Juan and
the Bermudian cargo shuttle Oleander and
Bro Albert.
For something my eyes register as indigo, violet, purple . . . I can’t guarantee you’ll agree . . . I had to go outatown, like back upstate to Newark and a foto from last summer of Grouper. Has she now begun her journey west?
All fotos . . . so far … Will Van Dorp.
But from shipjohn via Shipspotting . . . here’s that purple fleet down in Philly . . . like Purple Hays,
Big Daddy, and
Grape Ape. Many thanks shipjohn.
tugster: a waterblog 
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