Something Different 59

See the draft numbers? Here‘s a good definition of and discussion of their usages.  I pay attention to these just because I’m a curious layperson. These appear in multiple locations around the hull because draft varies longitudinally. The markings here I’ve read near the stern, as below, or the bow.

This bulk carrier had discharged most of its load and not yet ballasted itself for sailing.  The froth forward of the draft numbers comes from the cooling system.  The two staples (or are they padeyes?) would be useful in the case of propeller work or other underwater repairs near the stern of the vessel. All those other numbers indicate info about the interior structure of the vessel, and are above my current paygrade. 

The draft markings I read as 9.2.  Some of you might read this with more nuance.  These marks differ from payload to payload and are also used to measure air draft.

I’d read this as 10.8.

I read this as 11.

This starboard bow marking I’d call at 11.3.  With this vessel underway, notice the physics causing the water to flow over the bulb and up the knife edge.

This . . .12.6.

Lots of info here, but the draft makings here say 13.4.  The 90t on the recessed shell bitt indicates how much towing pressure this is capable of.  The G and L on the load line disk indicates the Germanischer Lloyd classification society;  an A and B here would mean American Bureau of Shipping. 

Draft here looks like 14.4.  The disk with four spokes indicates the location of the thruster. 

I digress, but Hyundai Speed has two bow thrusters.  Note also the info on the size of the bulb.

Note that two sets of draft markings (and two staples) here. 

I read this as 14.4.

So how about this one?  Is it the deepest of all?

Actually, Double Skin 509A has the least draft.  This is feet and would convert to about a 5.2 on the same scale as the others shown above.  Well . . .  we have resisted much use of metric measures.

All photos, WVD, who alone is responsible for any errors here. For much more on ship classification societies, click here.

Down and Up the Black Rock Canal

This is the same story as yesterday’s, but the perspective is different, thanks to a Great Lakes mariner.  New York slides the 509A into Black Rock Lock, a USACE facility.  By the way, Black Rock was a town that once rivaled Buffalo.

The photo above looks downbound, but the one below looks back toward Buffalo and to the stern of the tug.  Depending on conditions, one or sometimes two tugs are used.  To the left it’s Vermont;  to the right, New Jersey.    Vermont dates from 1914;  New Jersey, 1924.  It boggles my mind that one of the assist tugs is more than a century older than tug New York, launched 2019.

Here the unit heads down to Tonawanda.  Note New Jersey and Vermont. 

After discharging 50000 barrels of 300-degree hot asphalt, the unit turns back upstream.

Straight ahead here is the Niagara River and the speedy current this unit might never climb;  Black Rock Lock is off to the left.

When the 509A is loaded, it’s deeper in the water;  when it’s light, it’s way high.  Notice how little of the rocky margins of the Canal you can see. 

By this point, we’ve gotten south of the Peace Bridge;  a few more zigs to port and zags to starboard . . . and we’ve back into Lake Erie.

That’s the Buffalo skyline back there, as seen here in a previous post.  The barge goes onto the wire if the conditions warrant, and it’s Detroit bound, ETA 36 hours or so.

All photos, thanks to a Great Lakes mariner.

 

Tug New York and Double Skin 509A

I hope you read my latest article, about Vane Brothers expanding to the Great Lakes.  Here tugboat New York pushes Double Skin 509A (A for asphalt) into the Black Rock Canal (or channel) near Buffalo.  Great history and aerial photos of the area can be seen here. 

In the photo above, the Vane unit came off Lake Erie just beyond the Buffalo Breakwater Light on the white pedestal.  Click here for the history of that light, that one in place since only 1961 because the previous was hit by Frontenac.  GL tug Vermont, a strong and youthful product of 1914!!!, provides the assist.  There are multiple turns in the Black Rock Canal, and bridges

such as the 1927 Peace Bridge. 

 

The waterway is tricky because of the turns, bridges, and rocky sides.  Of course, those factors can be controlled much more easily than the factors just west of the canal, the Niagara River which has currents up to 10 knots.

 

Past the lock, which you’ll see in the next post, it’s downstream.  Vermont continues downstream, since it’ll be needed to assist in turning around at the terminal in Tonawanda.

I took these on a cold day in mid-December.  Taking photos with a zoom outside is an excellent way to socially-distance.  Others’ photos of this run and trade soon.

Click here to read an account in Vane’s Pipeline publication.

 

Random Tugs 289

But first, can you guess the date?  Answer follows.

Mackenzie Rose is the newest name for this 2000-built boat, after Vernon C and then Mary Gellatly.

Ellen, ex-YTB-793 Piqua, here assists a box boat with a boat on top.   Ex-YTBs can be found in some unusual places.

Capt. Brian A. approaches the pilot’s door of this ULCV.

Jay Michael is painted a flat red, or maybe that’s a faded bright red.

Mount St Elias heads east with a loaded DBL 82.

Robert IV is off to a job.

Anacostia goes out the Ambrose with Double Skin 509A on wire.

Sea Lion returns, as does

Lincoln Sea and DBL 140 arrive from the south.

And finally, James D and Miriam meet a box ship to escort her into port.

Did you guess the date of the McAllister Bros. photo?  It comes thanks to Steve Munoz, who sent more along as well.  The answer is 1973, and the photo is taken from the Hoboken side.

All photos, except Steve’s, by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated but interesting:  How one small town grocery store in Alaska keeps the shelves stocked here.   More southern Alaska boat infrastructure here.