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June 2012 was pivotal for me. A photo sent along by a friend alerted me to Canal commerce–Canadian corn– entering the US at Oswego, a place I knew something of from my youth.
If that was a spark, then the breeze that fanned it was an invitation to do my trial article for Professional Mariner magazine, which led me to Kingston NY, the mouth of the Rondout, and a project involving use of a half century old tug Cornell to do TOAR signoffs. My most recent article in the magazine came out today and can be seen here.
On that assignment, I was privileged to have a mentor, Brian Gauvin, do the photography.
Other big events for June 2012 included the movement of shuttle Enterprise from JFK airport ,
ultimately to the Intrepid Museum to be
hoisted onto the flight deck as part of the display, now covered.
My daughter went off to Brasil (again) and the Amazon, leading me to go there myself a year later, fearing she’d never return because she loved it so much there.
I’d given her a camera before she went, and was rewarded with some quite interesting photos, like these small motor boats that looked almost like slippers …
with straight shafts coming straight out of air-cooled engines.
During my trip up to the Rondout, I stopped in Newburgh, where replicas of La Niña and Pinta, crafted using traditional techniques on the Una River in Bahia, Brasil, attracted crowds, one of many stops along the great loop route.
Other festivities on the Hudson that summer . . .
included the sails and music associated with the Clearwater Festival, and of course the small boats moving in some of the venues.
Patty Nolan and Augie were the small tugs, and of course the sailboats including Mystic Whaler, Woody Guthrie,
and of course the sloop Clearwater. The Clearwater organization will not be doing a music festival in June 2022. Mystic Whaler is now working in Oxnard CA at the Channel Islands Museum.
Summer time and the living is easy well, at least it feels that way some days . . . .
All photos, except the first one, WVD. That first photo was taken by Allan H. Seymour.
CB is obviously “Chicago bound.”
Neither Thomas D. Witte nor Clearwater here off Mount Beacon is that, but we were.
Meagan Ann headed south with
used and abused cars on
SMM 157 for the start of their last trip.
James William pushed several loads of building materials southbound.
Rebecca Ann turned around for her next trip.
Lisa Ann worked on the bulk heading project in Troy.
Frances moved a scow south, and
Ancient Mariner too moved on.
All photos by will Van Dorp, and this was Newburgh to Troy.
It’s that time again . . . a glance back at exactly a decade ago. Back in June 2009, the 400th anniversary of the Half Moon going up the Hudson kicked off with a 20th century version of the Half Moon going up the Hudson. Note the banner hung to the old TZ Bridge along the right side of the photo. That replica is now in the Netherlands, looking for a new home, and that bridge–parts of it–have become fish structure somewhere off Long Island.
A newish boat in town was Peter F. Gellatly, now Vane’s Long Island.
Bounty–alas her fate–was still an irregular visitor to the sixth boro. Here she’s made up to Harvey just outboard of Frying Pan.
Brian Nicholas moves a scrap barge out of the East River.
Paul T. Moran made one of her really rare visits to the sixth boro.
Container vessels calling in the ports of NY and NJ had not yet become UL . . . ultra large versions
Harvey follows Half Moon northbound on the Hudson.
Michigan Service and Erie Service gather near IMTT.
Sisters assists with a tanker, and
here’s more of the River Day procession marking the year of Half Moon the first.
All photos taken in June 2009 by Will Van Dorp.
Way in the distance where the waterway narrows, that’s lock E-11 and accompanying moveable dam, Amsterdam NY. Click here for closer-ups of some of the Erie Canal locks and bank scenery.
I saw no names anywhere as this catamaran cut dynamic grooves into a calm river, where I was waiting–in vain–for a vessel in the opposite direction, hoping to get photos of it navigating through the morning mist. By this time, that mist had dissipated.
Here Bear motorsails westward past Little Gull light . . .
Anyone help with the name of this large sloop in the sixth boro about three weeks back?
It looked to be about 60–70′ . . .
America 2.0 plied harbor waters operations
out of Chelsea Piers.
Off Croton Point, this metallic-looking catamaran headed upriver.
Again, I noticed no name, but the flag could say Bermuda.
Even as the mainsail is lowered, Clearwater is unmistakeable.
And this brings up back up to the Oswego Canal, it’s brigantine St Lawrence II;
her rig conspicuously missing tells me it went on ahead on a truck. St. Lawrence II here was nearing Oswego.
And to close this out, here are three photos from Lake Erie, late summer.
All photos recently by Will Van Dorp, who by this time should be back on the St. Lawrence River.
aka GHP&W 5
You saw the tug Cornell moving Clearwater to the Rondout in this post in late October. But if you wondered how the Maine-built sloop was loaded, today’s your lucky day. First, the truck comes to deliver the wood to support the keel on the barge before the
Travelift moves Clearwater. Along the left side of the photo, that’s Norman’s Kill near where it flows into the Hudson.
When the blocking is ready, the Travelift moves down the tracks alongside the “pit”
and final adjustments are made.
Jacks provide stability. Note the large green building in the background; that’s Scarano Boat Building, where the Manhattans and many other vessels have been built.
Click here to see the 3m31 sec YouTube of the process of getting the loaded barge out of the pit for the southbound trip to the Rondout.
Many thanks to Paul Strubeck for these.
The Cornell (1950) with Clearwater (1969) on Hughes 141 photos come with thanks to Glenn Raymo. The Hudson Valley is particularly beautiful this time of year, especially if you catch it in the right light, which of course is true everywhere.
The other tugboats and landscapes in this post are mine. In the KVK, Sarah Ann (2003) passes RTC 135 just as the morning sun clears a bank of low-lying clouds.
An upriver-bound Navigator (1981) clears the Kills with HT 100 around the same hour.
. . . passing lighthouses,
gantry cranes, storage facilities,
and impossible towers.
Many thanks to Glenn for use of his photos. I’m sure Paul Strubeck plays a role here also. And I took the photos of Sarah Ann and Navigator.
Here and here are some previous photos of Clearwater on its winter maintenance barge.
Here’s the index.
Of course, it’s two boats, the sloop Clearwater tied up to the ex-NYC DEP skimmer Cormorant. As I understand the situation, it’s on the market . . . again.
I don’t know the date of this photo or the identity of the person showing scale.
Dimensions are 114′ x 44′ x 10′
And here’s Clearwater pulling away. But, before they cast off lines, their crew was on the dock checking
this short nose sturgeon. Now I can’t prove a connection between dead fish and TZ construction, but a few days ago I read this article at the Lohud site that included this paragraph: “In June 2012, the fisheries service determined Tappan Zee construction would injure or kill some sturgeon but was “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of the fish. Under a federal permit issued to the Thruway Authority, two of each species can be killed during construction.” I’m surprised such language exists in the paperwork. And what happens if this limit is exceeded?
Well, here’s another paragraph from the article: “[Riverkeeper] said 100 Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon have died since the start of construction in 2012. From 2009 to 2011, it said six sturgeon deaths were reported to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.”
Here’s a statement of Cormorant‘s mission, now turned over to the USACE.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, back on June 12, 2015.
There’s winter sail, spring sail, and autumn sail. And today I’m just staying inside culling photos. Since moving by wind has been around for millennia, Pioneer is a relatively modern vessel.
Pioneer, 1885
This vessel below can be “insanely fast.” I took this photos and ones that follow back on May 11, 2015 in Morris Canal.
Lending Club 2, 2015
Here’s another sixth boro regular, the largest NYC-based schooner. See her here in winter maintenance.
Check out these special sails on Clipper City.
Here LC2‘s just finished the 635 nm run in less than 24 hours.
From Seth Tane on the Columbia River, it’s HMCS Oriole, US-built in 1921.
I’d love to see the interior of Lending Club 2, but my guess is . . . spartan.
Also from back in May . . . it’s Wavertree in the last feet of its transit for a major makeover, Thomas J. Brown sliding her over.
Here’s another shot of L’Hermione entering the Upper Bay for the first time.
And what do you make of this?
Maybe more on that last photo tomorrow.
Except for the photo by Seth Tane, all photos by Will Van Dorp.
To start part 2, I’ll go back upriver a bit to Esopus Island. Craig Eric Reinauer with RTC 103 is anchored to the south. Much of the Hudson has associated with some unusual characters, both in fiction and in real life. Esopus Island is no exception: about a century ago it was the magical hideaway of Aleister Crowley. My friend Mitch–Newtown Pentacle–wrote about him here.
Farther south is a place with a magical name but a quite mundane though necessary construction on it. This is the current resident of Duyvil’s Danskammer Point, idled in litigation I think. The Dutch called it “devil’s dance chamber” because they saw natives doing a ceremonial dance there by firelight . . . A lighthouse and several brickworks also once stood here.
Looking back upstream . . the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and Danskammer Point in the background. Foreground is picnic boat Gem. A Hinckley?
River Rose previously appeared here about three years ago.
Justine McAllister . . . I caught her the day before east- and then northbound at the KV buoy pushing RTC 120. Also, three years ago I caught Justine towing the same barge on the Hudson.
Upbound off Cornwall . . it’s Kimberly Poling, also a frequenter of both this river and this blog.
I’m not sure why so many large yachts were on the river the other day . . . off Bannerman’s Castle, location of a ceremonial swim a few months back, it’s Blue Moon.
Here’s Bannerman’s from the south side, juxtaposing the residence (left) with the warehouse.
I’ve yet to deliver on closeups of the residence, but here’s a preview. The “picture window” serves to illustrate the interior for now.
That’s Bannerman’s in the background as Black Watch passes northbound. Slope on the right is dauntingly named Breakneck Ridge.
The Hudson is truly loved.
Here a crowded Clearwater lowers sail in the Hudson Highlands.
Seastreak New York, usually shuttling south from the sixth boro, travels north when the leaves start to turn color. Not pictured to the left is West Point.
Peak behind Bear Mountain Bridge is Anthony’s Nose, which I scaled back in April.
And finally . . . just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge . . . it’s another people mover usually associated with the confines of the sixth boro, Circle Line Queens, here assisting in leaf peeping.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
If anyone out there needs to be convinced of the beauty of the Hudson Valley less than 100 miles north of the big city, take a glance at this foto by Tim Hetrick showing tanker Icdas 11 escorted by a paparazzi savvy eagle.
The foto below shows sloop Clearwater in mid-June arriving at the music festival that shares the same name.
A minute or so earlier . . . Clearwater rounded the bend following Woody Guthrie toward the shallows.
But if anyone has notions of operating a wooden vessel, it’s important to consider the regular maintenance. Here was a post from about three years ago about work on Clearwater. Currently way upriver this
is happening again. All the following fotos now come thanks to Paul Strubeck. In mid-December, Clearwater was downrigged and hauled out near Albany at Scarano Boat Building and
gently placed onto Black Diamond, with tug Cornell nearby.
Securing the big sloop for travel takes care and time, more time than there is light at the winter solstice end of the year.
But when all’s fast, the trip to where the winter maintenance crew can begin.
Click here for an article about Clearwater‘s winter home in the shadow of the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
Many thanks to Paul for sending these along. It looks like I need to find time to get up to the Rondout. The first two fotos in the post are mine.
tugster: a waterblog 
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