Pegasus High and Dry

Initially I wrote this as a “mystery tug” post.   After a day or so, I changed the title here to “Pegasus High and Dry” since she’s well-known in the sixth boro.  She’s in Caddell’s drydock for a repair involving the tailshaft.

To remove the tailshaft, a “portal” gets cut from the rudder.  Notice the balanced rudder–leading edge forward of the pivot point.

Pegasus has a stem –to my layperson’s eyes–as sleek as that on a Viking longship.  For some scale, notice the worker on the starboard side.

This tug has been featured on this blog before.

The  tender is a classy addition.

It’s Pegasus!!  The  103-year-old Pegasus (ex-S. O. Co. No. 16, Socony 16, Esso No. 1, John E. McAllister) therefore shares an ownership ancestry with Lincoln Sea and Greenland Sea, albeit several times removed.   And she’s primping, prepping for the season!  Like spring training is about to begin.  You saw her previously here, here, and use the window to search for others.  More Peg very soon.

By the way, Pegasus came out of the Skinner Shipyard in Baltimore on the banks of the Patapsco.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

High and Dry 5

Caddell’s has quite the history.  It also has a busy present.  Sunday . . . four tugs and a barge ccupied the dry docks.  First, Franklin Reinauer

showed her wheels inside kort nozzles.

In the next dock, Christine (thanks to identification by Jed and Allen) McAllister tug.

See the size of the worker relative to the wheels.  Christine‘s size and (to me) unusual climbing arrangement are proof-positive.

Next dock . . .  was Gateway‘s  Navigator.  Outrageous has appeared here before, most recently here; I’ve not seen Navigator before.

And last but not least, also a veteran of this blog,  James Turecamo, I believe.

Oh and the barge . . . sorry I took no foto.

Ships both functional and in transition need maintenance.  You can help support Mary Whalen, a vessel in transition, AND  meet and dine in a unique and truly exclusive  waterfront setting with yours truly Tugster and Bowsprite by bidding for us on eBay soooooon.  Details will follow.  Now I know that bidding on an experience with Tugster and Bowsprite sounds like it should be illegal, but we two bloggers have suspended some rules by allowing ourselves to be put up for auction.  eBay link soon.  So . . . sister, if you want to hang out with your brother, here’s your opportunity, but I know the competition could be fierce.

Actually Portside’s Mary Whalen project is truly worthy of your support.  Proceeds of this fundraiser do not go for Whalen restoration:  rather, they will support Portside’s mission of hosting visiting vessels (tugs, historic vessels, charter and excursion boats, government boats of the FDNY, NYPD, USACE, DEP, NOAA, and more.  Come to the fundraiser on Saturday, June 13–(just one week before the Mermaid Parade)– 6 through 9 pm at Brooklyn Lyceum.  Tickets are $50, raffle on site, auction online.  Tickets here and more info here.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated but Harbor Night is this Friday night, and River Day . . .  the longest day, starts Saturday.

 

 

Peking 2

Don’t look for a post entitled “Peking,” but time sensitivity calls for this post to follow yesterday’s “High and Dry 4.” As of now, I don’t know of the flying P’s return hour, but she deserves an improvised orchestra on Pier 17 to welcome her back.

Now more fotos ‘neath. And some questions: when was the previous haul-out? are her steel plates riveted in place? how differently was steel made then than now? how different was shipbuilding techniques for Peking from those for Titanic, also built in 1911. See this fabulous Titanic building site here.

 

Bosun’s whistles, trombones, kazoos, bagpipes, dombaks, tympani, saxes, pan’s pipes, lyres, erhus, fifes, concertinas, alpenhorns, charangos, pahus, even turntables . . .

 

gamelans, dizis, gusles, whistles, accordions, hurdy gurdies, musical saws, didgeridoos, bullroarers, and all manner of voice from bass to falsettos to throat singers. Tango music a la summer nights and dog howls, too!

 

Every busker in the city or under it could drown out the purr of the tug escorting her until the response roars out from every tug and ship in the harbor. Every chantey-singer on this side of the Atlantic all the way from ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ to Tierra del Fuego could She’s back from thew Kills! Call and response, repeatedly for the most fotografed ship (I’ll wager) at Pier 17 if not on the whole east side if not . . .

 

Welcome her back, she predating a bulbous bow!

Seriously, check here, here,  and here for Peking/Arethusa links.

Photos, WVD.

High and Dry 4

or highest and dryest so far in this series. Imagine an 18-story structure appearing behind your house like these on Staten Island…

 

or trying to blend into winter trees.

 

Nearly 400 feet long, Peking, you never let me “see” your features before.

 

Peking–one of the “flying P liners” of F. Laeisz–could “fly” a century ago, leaving slower vessels to see a distancing stern. Peking‘s twin–Passat–twice collided with steamers cutting across its path, misjudging its speed. In one case, the steamer sank.

 

No matter how often I looked at you in your South Street Seaport slip, I never noticed your sweet lines, sans prop. Compare with lines of the gypsum bulker. Also, assuming the workman here stands 5 feet, the rudder extends at least 25 feet top to bottom.

 

No wonder you sailed at 16 knots! Peking hauled nitrate from Chile to Germany, making the run from the mouth of the River Elbe to the “nitrate coast” in just over two months. For background, click here and read “abandoned nitrate mining towns.”

 

Such exquisite steel plating after nearly a century! The wooden blocks supporting the keel stand around three feet high.

For more info on Peking, read the prolific Basil Lubbock‘s Nitrate Clippers. I plan more posts too. Thanks to the fine folks at Caddell Dry Dock.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Wet and Dry

..or low and wet, high and dry. Here’s an almost anatomical look at the same boat same general angle in and out of its medium.

 

What can these props and 3400 horses of Caterpillar churn up?

 

Plenty frothy. A bronze and wine red beauty either way, Stephen Scott.

 

All photos, Will Van Dorp.

High and Dry 3

Guess who got a raise last week?

Where’s the prop?

I’m sure we need a prop. Check this link for a wet and low foto of the 66-year-old tanker in use.

Photos by Will Van Dorp.