Government Tugs Barge Canal 1

I’ve seen this image printed and framed somewhere . . . in a lower Mohawk town, but I don’t remember where.  The lines are quite similar to those of Urger. As to Schenectady she was ex-Buffalo, George W. Aldridge, and City of Schenectady. Around 1910 the name was shortened to just Schenectady.   Per her state description card, she was 50′ x 15.4′ x 5.9′ tug, crewed by three.   By 1924 she was back in Buffalo doing commercial work. The last mention of Barge Canal work is 1922. 

For anyone who can colorize this, I wonder what the color scheme was.  As to the quayside scene, I gather this is what the Waterford canalside buildings looked like in 1915.

Below is the view of Schenectady from canal side as shown above.  Beyond the Fourth Street bridge, that’s E-2, the first lock of the Flight of Five, numbered 2 through 6.  Yes, that can be confusing.

Here’s the view from the Fourth Street bridge above, with a lot of cargo barges waiting their chance to transit.  And the two men atop the wheelhouse appear to be operating a motion picture camera on a tripod, no doubt filming their and possibly others’ passage through the flight.  That tells me Schenectady was working as a press boat here, not the attraction.

This photo begs the following question:  Which larger boat and smaller motor launch are those in the lower right hand side of the photo?   Double click on this link from the NYS Archives Digital Collections to learn what dignitaries were on the unidentified and very crowded boat partly obscured lower right.  The small motor  launch might be NYS Police, which had been created only a month before by the Governor, who happens to be on the crowded boat below.  It’s hard to overstate the importance of May 15, 1915 for NYS politics and Barge Canal history.

Wouldn’t this be lock E-4, white ink captioning notwithstanding?  Adjacent to lock E-3 westbound, there’s a dry dock.  And it’s been a couple years, might I be remembering this wrong?

And below is a different state boat farther west and at lock E-12,  tug Buffalo, built in 1923 as a steam tug, westbound here with some heaping cargo on a deck barge. Could that be trash?  If so, where might it be headed?  Notive the crewman on the barge about midships?  In 1948 she was sold to a private company. Currently she has a 1931 Cooper-Bessemer diesel engine which ran in 2010.  Before 2017, when she was  sold  to Buffalo interests, tug Buffalo was a fixture at the Waterford Tugboat RoundUps, as captured here by Fred Tug44 at the 2010 Round Up.  I don’t know its current disposition.

Many thanks to the Canal Society of New York for letting me wander through these archives and post my best information.  Any additions/corrections are welcomed.

Retro 2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup

The 2010 post had a photo from 2009, so let me start this one with one from 2010.  This photo made the cover of a NYS Restoration publication devoted to boats, but I lent my copy to someone and it’s never returned.  If you know the publication, please let me know.

OK, let’s see one more from 2010, taken from the same bridge, but closer to the bank and less zoomed.  Lots of folks come to these Roundups, but the number of working boats that can get there is decreasing because of increasing air draft and the inflexible 112th Street bridge, which also wiped out the viability of Matton shipyard.

The Roundup always begins with a parade, and that used to be always (in my times there) led by Urger.

Cornell and spawn named Augie waited on the wall in Troy.

Buffalo is now in Buffalo, and in less good condition. Here‘s more info on her.  She’s 53′ x 16’ and worked for the Barge Canal from 1916 until 1973.  Originally steam, she was repowered after WW2.  See her engine, a Cooper Bessemer, running here back in 2007.

Wendy B was the show stealer in 2010.  She looked good and no one I spoke with knew where she’d come from.  She’s a 1940-build by Russel Brothers of Owen Sound ON, originally a steam tug called Lynn B. More info is here but you have to scroll.

8th Sea is a staple of the Roundup, probably has been since the beginning. She was built in 1953 at ST 2050 by American Electric Welding. That makes her a sister to ST 2062, now in the sixth boro as Robbins Reef, seen here if you scroll.  Here‘s a tug44 description of tug and captain.

Small can still be salty, especially with this innovative propulsion . . . . Little Toot.

As I said, one of the traditions of the Roundup is that Urger leads the way.  Here, above the federal lock, the boats muster. And traditions are important.

The active commercial boats line up at the wall nearest the Hudson River, but when a job needs doing, they head out.

Since the Roundup happens just below lock E-2 of the Erie Canal, the thoroughfare for the Great Loop,  it’s not uncommon to see some long distance boats pass by.  All I know about Merluza is that it’s the Spanish word for hake.

What happened to 2011 you may ask?  Irene happened and the Roundup was cancelled.   We’re indebted to tug44 for documenting the damage of that hurricane in the Mohawk Valley.

All photos, unless otherwise attributed, WVD.

 

 

Random Tugs 232

Let’s start here as a quiz.  Name that tug?  Answer follows.  The blurriness is a clue to the vintage . . . of the photo.  More oldies at the end of this post.

Here’s an unusual treatment of name boards.  Can anyone clarify why the 6140 hp J. George Betz is the only Bouchard boat wit this treatment?

 

I suspected it was Betz when I noticed her here, but had to look more closely to verify.  I believe this is the first time for me to label–if not see–the B. No. 235 barge.

Gulf Venture . . .I’ve not often seen this 5150 hp boat light.  Question:  Does Gulf Venture currently work for John Stone?

Ernest Campbell departs MOTBY here, her mast perfectly shown against the Putin monument . . .  he did come here for the dedication.

Gabby L. Miller .  . she’s not been on the blog in a while.   This 660 hp tug gives the right push at the right time in the right place sometimes.

The 2000 hp Eric R. Thornton dates from 1960, making her the oldest tug in this post except

More oldies.  This is Marion, although I have no information on where and when it was built.  Marion was one of two tugs operated by Disston and June Marine Construction, previously called Burcroft Marine Construction Company. Their other tug was Constructor. Marion sank in Weedsport, although I can’t find that date.

This tug may still be afloat.

It’s Morania No. 8 pushing Morania No. 170 barge.  Has anyone seen her in Port-au-Prince Haiti?  I wonder if this was a company slogan or something displayed more widely.  I’ve never heard it.

The mystery tug, believe it or not, is Buffalo, somewhere in the Erie Canal.  Click here for a few good photos of Buffalo taken by Tim Hetrick back in 2014.   Maybe someone can put a date of the photo by taking into account the color.

All photos except Buffalo by Will Van Dorp.   All the oldies here are by Steve Wunder.

 

More 1923 Buffalo Auction

When I woke up this morning, I realized I had more Buffalo photos, and my boss (??) could be convinced to post them ASAP.  All photos of this boat to be auctioned off I took in September 2012. Here she’s approaching the Troy lock, and

 

this is above it.  Buffalo leads the pack .  . . .

with a handsome complement crewing her.

All comments are always welcome, but if any of her crew wish to add anything about the project and the history of the boat, here’s space.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who around that same time made this video and this one of the event, unfortunately NOT showing Buffalo underway.  But HERE is Buffalo‘s engine running thanks to Nobby’s magic.

Playing in the Cuyahoga 2

I missed the ship  at first, even though I was looking for it.  Then its slow steady movement caught my attention.  Behold the bunker carrier Buffalo in Cleveland

steaming upstream without tug assist, although it has thrusters.  There’s 68′ beam of this self-unloading bulker winding her way upstream.

See the green-domed clock tower on the ridge?  On the photo above it’s just to the left of the bow mast of Buffalo.  That’s Westside Market.

See the West Side Market on the map below?  And the red line in the river heading its way under the Detroit Avenue bridge?  That was my location for these shots. Destination was somewhere near the red circle below.  Imagine shoehorning a 634′ ship through here?

 

And whatever reputation the Cuyahoga had a half century ago, there’s river life stirred up here, as evidenced by the gulls.  Anyone know what draws the gulls?

The folks in the apartments on the ridge (along W 25th Street) must have an enviable view of this traffic.  Invite me to visit?

 

Again, what amazes me is the absence of tug assist.  And learning to pilot this . . . I’m impressed.   See this location in a time-lapse at 11 seconds in this short video.  And the outbound leg is done stern wise, as seen at about the 6:00 mark in this video. 

Cleveland . . . I’ll be back.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who posted the first of this series here.  See a bit more of Buffalo on the Cuyahoga here.

 

Specialized 22

I’m out of my weight class here, but formulas exist for calculating mechanical advantage of compound pulley systems like this.  I’m just focusing on the task in the north country for this machine.

Grasse River (1958) is dedicated to the Saint Lawrence Seaway and based in Massena NY, along with tugs Robinson Bay (1958) and

Performance (1997).  By the way, road distance from Massena NY to the sixth boro is over 350 miles!!

Perversely or providentially, Grasse River was the last ship produced by American Shipbuilding on the Buffalo River, before the shipyard closed, a victim of the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Plans have been set in motion to replace Robinson Bay, but the 300 t. capacity Grasse River is there, on call, dedicated as a “mitre-gate lifter” in the case of damage.  It’s sort of like the tow trucks on the ready at the Lincoln Tunnel to expeditiously drag out a wreck should a mishap occur inside the tunnel.

Seeing the size of the superstructure, I erroneously first assumed Grasse River was self-propelled.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose previous 21 “specialized” posts can be found here.

And let me add a postscript here about the location in Buffalo where Grasse River was built.  The shipyard was where a vacant lot across the street from Tewksbury Restaurant finds itself today.  The Tewksbury reference here is to one of two “runaway” ships  that destroyed a bridge on the Buffalo in January 1959, a month when no ships were supposed to be traveling on the river.  The ships involved were MacGilvray Shiras and Michael K. Tewksbury.

In that same neighborhood, Harbor Inn once served as a community institution as well.

Buffalo’s First Ward are the focus of an entire blog, as you can see here.

 

Random Ships *8

We continue along the Great Coast, now on Lake Erie, a place of

dramatic early morning skies.

And lakers against the canary daybreak.

Calumet has just left the Cuyahoga,

Italcementi Essroc has the very best logo . . .

and Stephen B. Roman has worn it for some time now, as it also has the distinction of being the first vessel to break out of the Toronto winter ice most years.

The engineering department catches some air and ambience entering Cleveland on a late summer evening.

See the hatch in the hull of Buffalo directly below the ladder on the port side?

J. S. St John (1945!) is a sand dredge I’d love to see under way.  I caught these two slightly different angles in Erie PA.

 

And finally, American Mariner–possibly transporting grain to ADM in Buffalo–makes her way into port and up the ship canal after dark sans assistance.  Two details not captured by these photos include the sound of crew opening hatches and the effect of three spotlights picking up a variety of landmarks along its path in.

Here’s the scoop (pun intended!) on the purple lights on the Connecting Terminal elevator.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Ships *4

The * here denotes these are freshwater ships, plying their trade along what must be the longest peaceful international water boundary in the world, a fact I think deserves to be more widely known and celebrated.  Here are installments 1–3.

Radcliffe R. Latimer has appeared here a year ago.  For a complete history of the 1978 launched vessel on her third name after a transformative trip to China, click here.

Algoma Mariner is entirely built in China, delivered in 2011. Initially, the forebody was intended for Algoport, a vessel I’d photographed the the Seaway in July 2008, but (to allude to a story told by links here) Algoport sank on its way to China.   For more detail of this vessel, let me redirect you again to boatnerd.

The United Way logo here piqued my curiosity, and here’s the answer from corporate Algoma.

 

Buffalo is US-built and US-registered, a product of Sturgeon Bay WI and launched in 1978.

Bigger isn’t always better, and that’s the genesis of Manitowoc, built to negotiate the rivers around the Great Lakes, waterways where commerce and manufacture still lives inside cities often dismissed as having succumbed to “rust belt” disease.   She was launched in 1973 in Lorain OH.

Frontenac is a Canadian built launched in 1968

the the classic “house forward” design.

Coe Leni is the only “salty” in this batch.

Her previous name–Marselisborg–is still visible.

Sam Laud is another Sturgeon Bay WI product, launched in 1974.

Algoma Olympic–named for Canada’s hosting of the games in 1976–was launched that same year.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who hopes you’re forming an impression of the dynamic economic engine along the international border with our friendly neighbors to our north.

 

 

GWA6: playing in the Cuyahoga

After a seiche sped us from Buffalo to Cleveland through the night, morning found us under the Cleveland Memorial Shoreline Bridge, down where the Cuyahoga flows.  Cuyahoga, to most non-Clevelanders of my generation, connotes a many times burning river of the past.

Here’s a reference to that time on a sign inside the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.  I never visited Cleveland in the 1960s or ’70s, and without these opportunities to visit now, I’d have imagined it a possible setting for a Philip K. Dickesque dystopia.  As a caveat, let me say upfront that  I’ve not lived in Cleveland, so this post is based on impressions gleaned from reading and quick visits like this one.  But

this has to be the most unexpected postscript to any predictions made in 1972.

Believe it or not, this working Iowa is 102 years young.

All these photos–except the one directly above which I took on July 4, 2016–were taken in a few-hour period of time in late July 2017.

Restoration indeed, and with the collaboration of Cuyahoga River Restoration, cuyahoga arts & culture, and  ArcelorMittal.

Yet commerce goes on. It does not have to be “either-or-or.” A 634′ Buffalo weaves through what must be a captain’s nightmare to get to the steel plant under the corkscrew path of the Cuyahoga.

 

Simultaneously, a 630′ Manitowoc exits the Old River after having taken on a full load of road salt for Milwaukee from the Cargill Salt mines extending far under Lake Erie.

For both watch standers, this has to be an ordeal of concentration.

 

 

And a waterway already juggling commercial vessels and recreationalists, trains are another factor;  all small vessels lined up as one train after another cross this bridge move expeditiously once the lift rises.

 

My early 1970s self would never have imagined 2017 Cuyahoga’s mouth, although

accidents sometimes happen.

Still, I believe the effort is worth it.

All photos and sentiments by a gallivanting Will Van Dorp.

 

Go West 12

We had a long transit from Detroit to Mackinac, so here are a lot of photos, starting with Federal Kumano and Ambassador Bridge in the distance;

passing steel operations,

 

 

and the mailboat Westcott.

Near central Detroit a pilot boards Federal Kumano from Huron Maid.

Entering Lake St. Clair, we pass Philip R. Clarke, 

followed by Lubie in China township,

Radcliffe R. Latimer, 

Great Lakes Maritime Center,

lightship Huron,

and as we headed unbound into Lake Huron, we passed Arthur M. Anderson . . . the last vessel in contact with the Fitzgerald before she was taken by Superior.

This was sunrise nearing the end of this leg, and in the night and distractions, I missed Alpena.

This post closes with Buffalo, as she leaves the Mackinac Bridge behind her.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.