Requiem 1

August 2021.  Samatha Miller follows the channel just north of the Staten Island Yankees stadium.  Note today’s skyline.

1970.  The rest of these photos I share thanks to Steve Munoz. Note the early night skyline here shows the Towers under construction.

1970 Dalzelleagle in the Buttermilk Channel passing USCG cutters tied up alongside Governors Island.  Dalzelleagle, a 1958 Jakobson product, later became McAllister Bros, which was scrapped earlier this year.   In a comment in an earlier post, Tony A identifies one of the cutters as the storied USCG Dallas (WHEC-716), now BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16),  pride of the Philippines Navy.

1971.  McAllister Bros southbound in the Upper Bay.

1971.  The aircraft looks to be amphibious.  Anyone help?  I’d say that’s a Kennedy-class ferry,  And at the foot of the Tower, note the fireboats tied up at Pier A, occupied by FDNY from 1960 until 1992.

1973.  SS Olympia headed for sea.  Her career spanned 1953 until 2009, when she was beached in Alang.

1973.  McAllister Bros. northbound off Hoboken.

1973.  Dalzellera.  That makes her 58 years old at this point.

1973. Concordia Gulf bound for sea. 

1985.  Statue scaffolded for repairs.

1992.  As seen from a ship on Newark Bay at dawn.

1992.  Kerry Moran seven years before her wheelhouse and propulsion were reconfigured.

Many thanks to Steve for sharing these photos, pre-dating my time here.  I moved to the area and started working in Brooklyn in 2000.

It should go without saying what the focus here is.  More to come. Here‘s what I posted exactly 10 years ago, when it seems to me, we were still a united people sharing common losses and goals.

Thanks to Steve Munoz 20

Steve’s uncle Bob was a captain and pilot on the Dalzelleagle/McAllister Bros from 1968 to 1985.  That makes for a special connection and lots of vintage photos.  Enjoy these thanks to Steve.  I’ll use his captions.

Dalzelleagle assisting ship in East River in September 1968.

Dalzelleagle heading down Buttermilk Channel-from pier 12 Brooklyn in September 1970.  The tug is interesting, but so are the details in the background.

Cook Ralph Andreason waves from the stern on Dalzelleagle departing 69th St pier Brooklyn in September 1970.

McAllister Bros in North River off Hoboken pier on August 24, 1973.

The is the same time and place, roughly.  The Twin Towers had opened earlier that year.

Tug McAllister Bros leading Atlantic Champagne thru Newark Bay Draw on July 5, 1976. This picture brings to mind a story that my Uncle Bob Munoz told me. Bob was a captain and pilot on the Dalzelleagle/McAllister Bros from 1968 to 1985. One time he was piloting a ship in Newark Bay toward the Newark Bay Draw Bridge and a woman passenger came over to him on the bridge of the ship and asked him if the ship was going through that little opening in the bridge. Bob said that they were. She then asked how he did that. So he looked at her and said, “When we get real close I just close my eyes.”    Atlantic Champagne, an ACL vessel, was launched in 1969 with a teu capacity of a dazzling 882 teu.

McAllister Bros in Newark Bay from a ship on June 26, 1987.  That CRRNJ bridge was used starting in 1926;  I saw some remaining piers about a decade ago, but it is entirely gone now.  Given the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, keep in mind that vertical clearance here was 136′.  Maybe someone can tell me the width of the channel.

McAllister Bros galley on January 11, 2001,

and her engine room on the same date.

And finally, McAllister Brothers here along with Christine M. McAllister on November 6, 2006.

It’s hard to say good bye.  Many thanks to Steve for use of these photos.

And thanks to Birk Thomas for posting this on FB today, Dalzell Towing.

High and Dry: Caddells 4

The “4” here refers to the dry dock, not the fourth post in this series.  The last post on Caddell  was Something Different 57.  And in the “high and dry” series, this would be number 11.  I’m just trying to anchor this post in the previous body of work. Also, I believe this dry dock was originally built as an auxilliary floating dry dock (ARD) by the USN to lift submarines out of their watery habitat, but I can’t corroborate that.

In Dry Dock 4 a half dozen years ago was the pilot boat New York.  I put this first so that the vessels in the rest of the photos can be compared against a standard, the dimensions of the same dry dock.

See above for scale.  On this date, winter 2014, Dry Dock 4 was shared by W. O. Decker and schooner Pioneer, currently both in Albany getting refurbished and improved. 

This boat’s a mystery to me;  the livery on upper pilothouse says it’s a Reinauer boat, but I took this photo over 10 years ago and have lost track of its identity.  You may know?

McAllisters Brothers was originally called Dalzelleagle.  I believe it’s currently in the sixth boro but mothballed.

The Fireboat John J. Harvey had some work done in Dry Dock 4 .  She has a long and storied career.

Doris Moran is a 4610 hp tugboat that does some sixth boro work, although she’s currently in Louisiana.

East Coast has not appeared on this blog very often.  She used to tow the sugar barge, and she may well still do so.

Let’s get to the end of this post with Clipper City, having some bottom work done on a cold winter’s day eight years ago already. 

All photos, WVD, who’d love to know more about the history of Dry Dock 4.

 

 

Sixth Boro Fifth Dimension Mon Lei

Recall that “fifth dimension” is my code for the time travel series;  call it history if you wish.

In 1968–50 fast years ago!!–  Mon Lei, which transited the harbor last weekend, was more of a presence.  All photos here come from Steve Munoz, who writes:  “I saw your post and remembered seeing a Chinese junk at the South Seaport in June 1968, and I looked at my pics, which were originally slides. I was on the tug Dalzelleagle (1958 and now McAllister Brothers) with my uncle Bob Munoz, captain and pilot with McAllister. We had some time between jobs so we walked over to the Mon Lei and the people on the boat let us go aboard and inside to take a look. If I remember correctly, the boat was built in Hong Kong around 1895. The interior was beautifully hand-carved mahogany, but very musty smell. You will also see the USCG sail vessel Eagle at seaport pier. I did not know that Mon Lei was still around.”

Another reader of Monday’s post wrote:  ” I boat-sat her for one week in maybe the winter of 87-88. Was bitter cold and she was wintering at the late great Pier 15 [pictured above and below].  Normally she lived at the E 23rd St. marina, but some construction was going on there.  Alan York was traveling on business, so I looked after her. The interior was nothing short of a  fantasy world of Asian carving and ornamentation. One friend described it as a “floating fornicatorium.” Also a nice comfy oil burner for heat. I remember he was scouring the world for new bamboo of a certain kind for her sail battens. Quite the gentleman.”

If you didn’t look at this link previously, see it now for some interior shots.

I’m curious about the two vessels alongside the pier in the lower right.

Continuing here with photos from Steve, below is the future that never was . . . NS Savannah passing Ellis Island (onion domes) bound for sea.  It was June 1968, almost exactly a half century ago for all these photos.

Back when some tugboats had eagles atop their wheelhouses . . . this was Steve’s Uncle Bob at the helm.  A few years ago, I recall seeing one of McAllister’s boats with a plastic dinosaur atop the wheelhouse for a while.  I’ll have to look for the photo.

 

On a different note, here’s a photo by Elizabeth Wood taken in 2005 of Lettie G. Howard along the Brooklynside of the Upper Bay.  Lettie G., built in 1893  (125 years ago, making her as old or even older than Mon Lei, depending on which story you believe.   for all you readers downcast of me, Lettie G. departed the Hudson River around 0700 today, heading for Lake Erie via Gloucester and Nova Scotia.  She is on AIS.  Nelson, Joey, Mac, Jack, Marc, Brenda, Jake, Barry . . . you know who you are.   I hope to see Lettie G. on Lake Erie this summer;  I hope you do too.

 

Thanks to Steve and Elizabeth for use of these photos.

For a history of the Chinese “junk,” click here and here.