Other Peoples Photos 101

Quick, name that boat.

It’s appeared on this blog before. 

She appeared here before as Charles Burton, but now . . .  meet Helen!

Cape Hatteras (1967) and Eugenie Moran (1966) have recently appeared over by Prall’s Island, regular spot for tugboats being prepared for reefing.   I caught Eugenie in Portsmouth NH over a decade ago here. 

Now over to the coast 3000 miles away, it’s C-tractor 22.  Thanks to JED, I rode out to sea with a previous generation C-tractor here over a decade ago. 

Many thanks to Tony A for all but the last photo, which was sent along by George Schneider.  Thanks to you both. 

And I’ll keep the lights on in tugster tower to keep juicing up the robots.

 

Dispatches from the Canal

But first, a reader “read” my mind and asked a question about the image below from this post a while back:  what are the square “hatches” directly below the wheelhouse glass?  Are they square porthole covers?  Another question while we’re back at this image, did that “upper wheelhouse” design work well?  How much additional visibility did a helmsman get?  Did they leak?  How was it raised/lowered?

Canal users have experienced some “section closures” this summer due to gear breakage, rainy-induced flooding, and wall collapse and subsequent low water.   A healthy attitude for canal transits is a willingness to smell the flowers, explore the small towns.

In the photo above, the small sailboat is second from the left.  Bravo to anyone who does long journeys in a 25′ sailboat, as here in the port of Lyons.

Next stop, Port of Newark saw a two-week “making merry” as shallow areas to the west made it prudent to stay put between E-28B and E-29.

Rarely has Newark seen this many boats, tied up on both walls.

 

To the west, water levels were still low between E-29 and E-30, because of a breach.

And this has to win some awards for Bob, as a heron stands guard while Knotugal enters.

All photos, Bob Stopper.  And for full disclosure, these photos were taken in Wayne County NY, where I grew up.

 

 

Erie Canal Mystery 2

See the caption on the photo from 1963.  Eugenia Moran is in the foreground.  Off its stern is a tugboat that looks a lot like Urger, but has the name Seneca on it.  Which Seneca was that?

Eugenia herself is quite interesting.  She would be wearing Moran colors for only a year here.  She’s from 1938, Jakobson, Brooklyn.

Many thanks to Jason LaDue for the photo.

Here’s the Seneca I know . . .

And talking about the Erie Canal, central NYS has seen a lot of rain the past few days, draining it all through the Mohawk Valley, making some current (understatement) and resulting in string of locks being closed. Check the notices and alerts.  Cohoes Falls might be looking mighty these days. 

Retro Piscataqua Mouth

Yes . . . I’ve been off wifi and away from the sixth boro, sometimes admiring images like the one below.  I’m back now and have more photos from July 2010 to revisit the Piscataqua, and a watershed where I canoed, kayaked, and just generally roamed from 1986 until 2000, along with some hiatuses out of the country.

A fixture in Portsmouth NH is the Moran fleet on Ceres Street.

L to R back in July 2010 are Mary M Coppedge, Carly A. Turecamo, and Eugenia Moran.  Mary M Coppedge, 1975 and 95′ x 30′ and 3200 hp is still in service.  Eugenia Moran 1966 and 102′ x 28′ and single screw 2875 hp and built at Jakobson  is “laid up.”   Carly A. Turecamo, 1966 and 98′ x 30′ and single screw at 2200 hp is now Marjorie Winsow.

Sakonnet . . . based in Gosport  . . . is a mystery to me.  This photo was taken in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Navy Yard (PSNY) in the Picataqua has been active since 1800, the presidency of John Adams, making it the oldest continuously operated USN shipyard.   YTB 771 aka Keokuk, 109′ x 31′ was commissioned in 1964. Some other YTBs that have been featured on this blog can be found here.  The sixth boro’s staple ex-YTB is Ellen McAllister.

YTL 602 aka Cocheco was commissioned in 1945.

Nose-to nose with YTL 602 is a tug I can’t identify.  It’s much newer and has lots of fendering below the waterline, an adaptation for working with submarines, which is PNSH’s specialty.

By this article, the mystery tug and the one below are both LT-65 tugs, although that seems impossible to me.

Sir William Pepperell appears to be a launch named for a Colonial merchant from Kittery ME, right across the Piscataqua.  Click here to read a 1924 published book about  Pepperell and two friends written by John Francis Sprague.

Two USCG cutters in the harbor that day were Reliance and

Campbell.

And of course . . . there were lobster boats galore.

 

I have not been back in since 2017, when I went to see the new Moran tug San Jose. It’s high time for a revisit.  A memorable canoe trip I took there was  . . . early 1990s on the Great Bay, starting in Newmarket and eventually losing the tide.

Here‘s a bit more.

All photos, WVD.

Retro Sixth Boro 20

November 2009 saw the USS New York (LPD-21) arrive in her namesake city for christening commissioning. Just faintly, the name is visible on the stern.

I also went up to the Lyons NY dry dock in November 2009 and caught Urger, then in seasonal layup. Five years were to go by before I did my season on this Barge Canal tugboat.  May she return!

Firefighter was still working in the sixth boro.

Stephen was working then too, and she’s still working today.

Cape Ann’s Essex Creek is hardly the sixth boro, but you can get there from here . . . . and Essex MA is one of my favorite places, although –truth be told–I’ve been there only once since 2009.

Some miles north of Essex Creek is the Piscataqua River, and back then these were the horses in Moran’s stable on Ceres Street:  Carly A. Turecamo, Mary M. Coppedge, and Eugenia Moran.  Carly‘s now in Maine with Winslow, Eugenia is maybe laid up, and Mary M. is still working there . . . but again I’ve not been there in almost two years.

And finally . . .  she who need not be named alongside a dock in Philly.

Any since we’re on the retired undefeated speed champion, let’s zoom in on the “crow’s nest” in these next two photos . . .

Not my photo although I felt like talent that day . . .   Here and here are more photos from that day, in 2014.

This last photo is by Chris Ware.  All others by Will Van Dorp.