Non-Random Tugs 15 B

Vane Brothers has expanded their fleet quite dramatically during the time frame of this blog [since 2006].  Although most of their boats operating through the sixth boro fit into two classes, Sassafras 3000 hp and Patapsco 4200 hp, strong design similarities blur the distinction.  In other words, with a quick glance, you might think they’re all identical.  Patapsco came out in 2004, and Sassafras, in 2008.  All come from the drawing boards at Entech, which has an impressive portfolio, as seen here.   Ironically, Sassafras now operates as George Holland, and Patapsco as Marilyn George.

Let me show some Vane boats I’ve seen in the sixth boro recently, beginning with Elk River, a 3000 hp.

Would you sat Bohemia is identical to Elk River?

The difference is in the height of the upper wheelhouse.  Bohemia is a 4200 hp boat, aka Patapsco class. 

Charleston is a 4200 hp boat, but given some upgrades, is considered of the run of at least four Elizabeth Anne-class boats. Elizabeth Anne and several other Vane boats work on the West Coast.

Brooklyn is an outlier;  it came out in 2002 and is a Blount product, previously called Sea Bull and Labrador Sea.

Helen is also an outlier, a Sassafras-class boat previously called Charles Burton.

Choptank is a 4200 hp boat.

Cape Fear is a 3000 hp, 

Pocomoke 4200, 

Magothy 4200, 

and Jacksonville, a 4200 hp boat of the Elizabeth Anne class. 

All photos, any errors, WVD.

Here was the first installment, and here’s a long series called Vane Brothers.

Pairs in Winter 9

Here was “pairs in winter 8” from four years ago.  The others can be found in the search window.  The title started as my attempt to be too clever and parody this Edith Piaf title, which someone else–not me–liked.  Number 4 might be my favorite.

Not much to say other than that yesterday morning was quite foggy before the rain started.  Eventually I gave up because the fog got too thick, gruelly although not quite peasoup.  Fog serves almost as a way to narrow the depth of field;  the names of Caroline M and Mount St Elias are clear but farther from them, details drop out.

Ditto Dace with RTC 83 and Silver Dubai,

Bohemia and Doris, 

Brian Nicholas and Stephen Dann, 

Kirby and Mary, 

and the incongruous Gelberman and MSC Lisa.   

All photos, any errors, WVD.

Unrelated but interesting:  a gray whale off Nantucket!

 

Retro Sixth Boro 45 B

Let’s have another look at photos in the sixth boro during the first month of 2012.  It was a snowy day that I caught Cheyenne

and Franklin Reinauer. Cheyenne is now in Wisconsin, for sale, and Franklin is still in this boro.

Thomas Dann had a crane barge over alongside New Century.  Thomas Dann had a serious fire off Florida and was scrapped in 2015.  New Century is now Lucky Century, NE  bound near Mauritius and Reunion.

Bohemia assisted Quantico Creek with a bunker barge. Bohemia is on the Delaware River, and Quantico Creek . . . in Tampa.

This scene was so busy I might come back to it in another post.  What I can identify here (l to r) is this:  Maersk Murotsu, Quantico Creek, of course Greenland Sea, Dubai Express, and a Reinauer barge. Dubai Express is currently on its way from the Med to the sixth boro.

Seaboats had already been scooped up by K-Sea in January 2012, which had itself been scooped up by Kirby.  Notice the stacks of the two boats:  the red/black initials have been painted over and a K-Sea oval placed but not painted with the K-Sea logo nor had the stack itself been painted K-Sea “yellow.”  Mediterranean Sea and

Weddell Sea still carried their mostly-green livery, and when painted, we clearly Kirby boats.  Mediterranean Sea has just recently changed hands again and is now Douglas J., a Donjon boat.  

Beaufort Sea was still fully K-Sea, as evidenced by the yellow stack and the K-Sea oval.   She was scrapped around 2016.

Left to right here, it’s Pearl River I and Morton S. Bouchard Jr.  The ship is now Zim Vancouver–just left Norfolk for Spain–and the tug is now Stasinos Boys. 

Ellen McAllister passed the 7 buoy. 

And finally, Penn Maritime began the year as its own company before been acquired by Kirby, and

Penn No. 6 carried that name forward until 2018 when she began what we now know as Vinik No. 6.

All January 2012 photos, WVD, who hopes you enjoy this photographic account of some of the changes in the sixth boro in the past decade.  I have lots of photos of that month, so I could do an installment “C” of that retrospective.   Besides, although there are things I want to see in the boro today, I might have to acclimate to the cold first.  Yesterday after it was 57 degrees here, and this morning . . .  a dramatic 31.

And unrelated, here‘s how the new year was feted in around the world . . .

Also unrelated, this 1953 “tugboat tug” (sic) is still for sale.

 

 

Really Random Tugs 35

So the difference that makes the “really” is that several folks have contributed these photos.

Starting in Toronto with Jan van der Doe, here’s M. R. Kane, which has appeared here and here previously on this blog.  In the first link, you’ll see Kane towing the hull that would become tall ship Oliver Hazard Perry.

Next three photos came from Allan Seymour, who took them as he traversed the Cape Cod Canal recently.  This Independence is rated at 5400 hp.

Bohemia and barge wait to pass.

And Buckley McAllister shares escort work on the Canal with Independence.

The rest of these photos I’ve caught recently, all of tugs I’d not previously seen.  Miss Ila came through the sixth boro Saturday,

Miss Lizzy I saw Friday, and

 

Performance I saw in Massena earlier this month, and

Robinson Bay.  These last two are operated by DOT’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC), which is looking to replace these aging tugs.  Robinson Bay (103′ loa and built in Wisconsin in 1957) and Performance (50′ and Indiana, 1997) do maintenance work on the US portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

 

Thanks to Jan and Allan for the first photos here.  All the others are by Will Van Dorp.

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.

 

Vane Brothers 1

Nanticoke

Choptank . . .

Nanticoke again . . .

Wye River . . . though it looks the same as Nanticoke and Choptank.

Christiana . . . is in a different class, for Vane, although she looks a lot like a certain Reinauer.

Chesapeake . . . thought it could be –at least to my eye– either Wye River, Choptank, or Nanticoke.

Wye River . . . although it could be Chesapeake with nameboards switched?? [No, there’s a slight window difference in the wheelhouse.]

The nameboards say Wicomico.

Wicomico again.

Wicomico a third time, passing what  looks like Charles D. McAllister.

Patapsco, according to the nameboards.

Brandywine is a twin of Christiana.  At 6000 hp, they’re a smidgeon less than 1/3 more hp than the Patapsco class.

Back to the Patapsco class, it’s Bohemia.

Of that class, I’ve yet to see Patuxent, Anacostia, and Severn.

Has there ever been another company that had 15 identical (are there nuances I’ve missed??) tugboats?  And on the Patapsco class, why does the forward companionway lead starboard rather than port?

All fotos . . . Will Van Dorp.

Other Watersheds 3

Unless you already know from the clues here, you’ll have to guess:  from left to right and at anchor, Vane Brothers Chesapeake, Wye River, and Tuckahoe. Slightly off center to the right is Scotia Sea.  The twin raked funnels I won’t identify til later.

So yes, clearly this is another watershed.  Am I cheating on boro6 by blogging about this?  No way!!  I don’t use the word “cheating” that way.  Did Henry Hudson “cheat” on Europa by exploring new passages and connections?  Did the Apollo 11 folks cheat on the Earth?  By my perspective,  sampling of all sorts spices our inner broth,  chases off monotony,  sustains life, and just follows logically from curiosity and wonder.  If you call it cheating, then you might say I cheat all the time.  But to do otherwise would be to cheat myself.  End of rant.

Any guesses on the location?

Scotia Sea is ex-Mr Shep.  Guess where Scotia Sea is located before clicking here.

Bohemia here passes . . .Campbell Field.  Now that’s a clue.

All I’ll say about Jupiter now is that it was built in 1902 in this city at the yard of Neafie & Levy.

Jupiter‘s horns.  I’d love to hear them.

M as in Myle . . . pronounced “my lee.”

This city also hosts the cruiser USS Olympia, and

the slightly older look-alike of the sixth boro’s very own Peking.  This bark is Moshulu, which in the Seneca language means “one who fears nothing.”  It was aboard this vessel that the author Eric Newby once worked.

Tugboat Jupiter link

Cruiser Olympia link

Barque Moshulu

And this is the city of brotherly (and sisterly and everybodily, one would hope) love.  The two raked stacks off in the distance in first foto top the SS United States, launched the year I was born:  such a young fast creature she is.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

In case you missed the hint above, TWO NEW messages have arrived from Henry Hudson, modulated by hurricane winds and arriving across 400 years almost precisely.  Check them here and  here.  I have to confess, I feared we’d lost his signal, but  . . .  oh the joys of 21st PLUS 17th century technology!!

Meditations U

U . . . “you”  as in thank you for bearing with me.  Truth be told . . . my first thought was of Bart’s beautiful site uglyships, but he does that so well, I fear to cross or even approach his wake, and judging by his enthusiastic fan hatemail, he has quite the following.  So I’m using a series of unrelated U’s.

I can tease and start with underwear, as in the bottom paint on scow 65, here moved on the hip by Melvin E. Lemmerhirt.  Wear and chemistry might be beckoning new bottom paint here.  Watch the foreshadowing in this post.

Unchanged landscape.  This is the Henry Hudson year, and Bowsprite and I are not the only ones somewhat obsessed by that Henry.  In spite of the dramatic transformation of Manhattan and environs, islands like this in Jamaica Bay might give a sense of what Henry saw when he sailed into the sixth boro.  Now if this were Bowsprite’s post, she’d inform you by block letters that clash with her charming calligraphy that the foto below is “not to be used for navigation.”

Under-reported.  That’s a series on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate show.  I love it.  John P. Brown (2002)  and Bohemia (2009) are two under-reported boats on this blog.

Unidentifiable . . . some language on the stern of this trawler.  What make of trawler?  I really don’t know.

Road Harbour is on a British island in the Caribbean, but the script looks somewhat yet not quite like Inuktitut.  What it is?

“Up” position . . . where the wheelhouse currently set.  Designed for the canal system, Cheyenne can lower the wheelhouse, if needed.

Unbounded . . . came to mind as I watched this trimaran sail towards the sixth boro, here past Hook Mountain.  Unbounded like summer when you have no ties holding you back.  Trimaran name is Friends;  on a journey with that, you’d soon make them.

Unbelievable . . .  that the mermaid parade took place a month ago already.  Tell me it’s not true.  I’ve read that Andy Golub does beautiful painting event around the boros but I’ve yet to catch one.  Remember my earlier comment about bottom paint?

Unidentified . . . this vessel moving up the Rondout more than a month ago.  I remain with two questions:  what’s its name and are there spars that make this a schooner?

U . . . actually if I might indulge in “textingspeak,”  I happy w U read my blog.  At least that’s how I do texting, lazy yet impatient as I am.  On a whim I started this meditations series, because I wanted to get out of a rut that convenience had pushed me into, but I feel the encouragement you send along, and that has given me a stretch.  Thank you for helping a community germinate and grow.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Remember, click on the fotos to enlarge them.  Do one twice, and you might be surprised.

Meditations U . . .  just realize it sounds like higher ed.   Get a pennant on your wall to show support for  . . .  Med U.

Meditations B

After posting yesterday, many other ideas related to attachment came to mind, but I’ve rejected returning for a second A for now.  Let’s move on to B, as in bow, and today there seems to be no sprites.  Some bows seen head on so resemble faces that no figurehead is needed.  Behold Ever Radiant, eyes resolutely downcast, focused, bound for sea from whence she came less than 24 hours before.  And what looks like a tiny tongue

in profile turns huge.

Stolt Capability, too, bow . . . like a face albeit that of a distinctly  marine mammal.  I know a bulb protrudes somewhere below the surface.

What fountain spurts forth from bow portside of MSC Dartford?

I wonder about the condition of the prop that spun over the bulb of Ever Refine, leaving the design.

Foreshortening operates here, but I don’t think I’d keep fishing if my runabout were this close to King Edwin’s bow wave.  The little white boat is going to rock.

In parting, a question:  Vane Brothers’ new Bohemia here  (Is that pronounced Bo-hemia or Bow-hemia?)

sashays out of the KVK with Doubleskin 51 on the hip.  The notch says the barge is stern forward, but given that it throws off a “bow” wave, in nomenclature would the notch for now be in the bow of the barge?  I’m guessing the answer is negative.  So would it throw off a “stern” wave?

So much more could be said of bows, but just not now.

All fotos, of course, by Will Van Dorp.