Two Hours on the KVK 4 a

I’ve mentioned Heraclitus before here . . . he’s the guy credited with observing that you never step into the same river twice.  It’s certainly true about going to a the Kills with a camera.  Take Saddleback . . .  never seen it before I thought  . . . although on longer reflection, yes I had here, doing what it’s designed and built for back in 1992 and in the North River back in the winter.  Stern view just looks different than profile.

As my eye followed Saddleback to the east, I noticed this “neck,” and for some instants wondered what was afoot, or afloat at least.

I didn’t have long to wait . . . it was Weeks 526 pushed by Shelby, Norfolk bound as it turns out.

Mr Russell usually stays upriver, but shuffles are sometimes necessary  . . .

I suppose some of this equipment will end up in Boats and Harbors once the TZ project is complete.

Gelberman  . . . at first I thought she was headed here to fuel, and that would have surprised me because I’d never noticed that before, but when the fishing poles came out,

I realized they had a different objective, one

that boats like this benefit greatly from.

I’ll end this foot-in-the-water with Gabby, pushing a small barge with reinforcing forms.

 

More soon.  All photos by Will Van Dorp.

And finally . . . a research request:  a friend is looking for photos of McAllister workboat M. L. Edwards.  Birk writes about it here, and Bob Mattsson includes this photo

of it here.

 

More Cargoes 20

Cargo I’ll define as “goods transported for profit.”  Click here to see the range of cargoes posts.

So what’s this?  That’s what I wondered when I first glimpsed it yesterday, over by the Sandy Hook Pilots’ pier.

I got no confirmation, but there’s no mistaking what this is.  And there was this tugster post involving Onyx Arrow from just two weeks ago.

In an ideal world, I would have had means to look down onto the tow, say, from Fort Wadsworth or a drone.  From my vantage I didn’t get olfactory evidence, and maybe I should be thankful for that.

Just the facts . . . Gelberman towed the carcass and traveled a distance roughly 50 miles to the SE from the end of the Ambrose, and then returned.   The whale, I gather from this NOAA article, at some point such that it would not drift back into land, became a “whale fall.”  This surfing writer, based on who knows what authority, suggests this is the best way to dispose of such a carcass.

So who profits here are the locals of all the boros being spared the smell of decay but also all the creatures in the food chain around the whale fall.

Tangentially related and tied to the focus of most of my attention these days, did you ever hear the story about the what in the Erie Canal?  Well, go back to 1891, a Capt. Nickerson killed a 65′ whale off Cape Cod.  And he must have been really tired of salt water and his erstwhile profession because he decided to try making a fortune showing off his catch to folks along the inland waterways, in this case the Erie Canal, that highway mainlining immigrants into the American heartland and creating boom towns along the way.  I’m not sure what sort of steamer he used to tow the whale, but westbound he went, stopping at docks and charging folks . . . kind of like his own unique Coney Island show.  I’m told that the farther west he got, the less he could charge . . .  Check out this article telling of the whale’s impact in central New York state in November 1891 . . .   and for anyone not familiar with the route, Seneca Falls is on a cul-de-sac off the route to Buffalo.

Rembert, frequent contributor of wit and esoterica here, read my mind and informed me of a beluga that swam more than 100 miles up the Rhine back in 1966, animating a generation with a desire to clean up the watery environment and more . . ..

 

All photos above by Will Van Dorp.

And on yesterday’s post with the three landscape shots . . . commenters gussed it:  photos #2 and 3 were both taken from the Newburgh area looking south.  Photo #1 prompted me to do the post because at first glance, I thought it too was a photo taken from the Newburgh area looking south.  More careful study showed it was not.

Anyhow,  a friend and former colleague Scott Stroot recently took that photo in Oregon, and wrote this: “Columbia River Gorge, just downstream of Hood River OR. Some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world (IMHO).  Tugs & barges sharing the river with sail & para boarders is a pretty common sight in certain spots. Eastern end of this gorge is likewise dramatic, but the topography is temperate desert, as opposed to “wet side” verdant [as he usually sees in Kentucky]. Absolutely stunning.”  This is all the encouragement I need to add the Columbia River Gorge to my very long list of places to gallivant . . .  Thanks, Scott.

 

Random Tugs 126

The sixth boro has pyramids?

It does have fortifications, here patrolled by Gelberman.

And lots of interesting names, making for great juxtapositions.

And every now and then some seldom seen boats pass like this one, always out there but rarely –it seems–coming in close.

Kendall J. Hebert for a closeup!

I regret I didn’t get a close-up of the stack.

Ron G rotates through the sixth boro now and then.

So . . . back to those pyramids, there’re over by South Amboy, at Amboy Aggregates.  Sand Master is involved, of course.

Thanks to Ashley Hutto for the pyramids and Sand Master photos.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

 

Two Hours on the Narrows 2

Here was the first in the series.  Yesterday’s post ended here, so it’s the place to resume.

In was still the golden hour when Joseph Bisso headed to the dive site.  Anyone care to comment on what the project out there is?

Gelberman seemed to be following, but a mile or so beyond the VZ, they made a 180 degrees and returned to the Upper Bay.

A number of tankers came through, led by Zambezi Star.

As winter ends, pleasure craft return . . . like Painkiller2.  An anesthesiologist, I wonder.  Or is there some connection with the gray-hulled tanker beyond it?  Can you read the name?

Pretty World‘s been here before.  She’s part of a fleet that includes Pretty Jewelry and Pretty Scene.  I can imagine some additional names . . .  Pretty Polly, for starters.

If you’ve never watched traffic from here, it’s a rewarding spot.

Enough sitting inside, I’m headed back out.

Government Boats 29

Here was 28.

Click here for a photo of this tug showing its deep belly.  How long has the canal owned her?  Answer follows.

Click here for info on Arkansas-built Gelberman, here photographed yesterday pulling a tree out of the way of navigation.

Driftmaster I believe dates from 1947, making her older than me.   Scroll through here for photos of Driftmaster helping with clean-up post Sandy.

Jersey City fire vessel Joseph Lovero is named for their dispatcher who died in that attack twelve and a half years ago.

343 arrived in the harbor nearly four years ago.  Click here for the welcome ceremony in the harbor when she arrived in April 2010.

T-AKR  316 Pomeroy, named for a Medal of Honor winner who died on a Korean mountain at age 22,  has been dry-docked in Bayonne for about a month now for maintenance.

Click here for more info on the Watson-class.

So we’re back to the beginning.  Governor Roosevelt came to the canal as a steam-powered icebreaker in 1927!  I’d love to see pics of canal traffic from back then.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Ships 26

The insides of your computer?

Clearly not.  That Ellen McAllister on the right and

assisting Siteam Explorer around Bergen Point.

Floating legos with USACE theme?

Again . . . no.  It’s Mare Atlanticum with Gelberman to port and McAllister Sisters assisting to starboard.   Click here (and scroll) for Sisters before getting the upper wheelhouse.  See after and before here on Birk and Harold’s site.

And what yacht pokes her bow from beneath the Bridge here?

It’s the certainly yachtly North River.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Government Boats 21

Here was 20.  And below is Wire, Saugerties-based “boat of the year” at the 2012 Waterford Tugboat Roundup.  In less than a year, the New Bern NC Barbour WYTL will be a half-century old, although to me she looked brand spanking new.

Note the crane on Gelberman‘s stern:  she’s one of several debris-collectors operated by the Corps of Engineers.

Like the “bear boats” I wrote about yesterday, seeing 32-year-old Morro Bay in the sixth boro is another uncommon seasonal indicator;  it’s going to get cold soon (maybe) and ice will need breaking.

Hugo started life as an oilfield support vessel, but now, painted gray, works as a weapons-training Naval auxiliary vessel.    Homeported near Hugo is Apache, subject of several posts including this one.  Recently, Apache has been tasked with a diver-training mission as reported here.

Continuing outside New York, Cheryl B sent this foto along from Grand Haven MI.  Vessel 105 is a WTGB that no doubt lay side-by-side in the shipyard with Morro Bay as they were constructed in Tacoma several decades back.  Neah Bay is Lake Erie-based  . .  but from there, the sixth boro is only a voyage away.  Any guesses on the red vessel off 105′ stern?

It’s Griffon, which appeared here on this blog four years ago.

The 42-year-old vessel is based on the St. Lawrence, just northeast of the top right corner of Lake Ontario. The “F-word” on her stern has no place on USCG vessels, although no doubt US and Canadian vessels found themselves on opposite sides of these wars of the late 20th century.

HMCS Moncton, last month, was paying a friendly visit to Port Huron MI.

And finally, thanks to JED, HMS Vigilant, a sub that resembles a whale.  Read about it here on JED’s site.

Any finally . . .  I mentioned earlier that Wire was “vessel of the year” at the Waterford Roundup.  Here, with thanks to Brian Gauvin, is a frozen nanosecond of the fireworks show that brought the roundup to a close.

Thanks again to Cheryl, Jed, and Brian.  Thanks also to Rick Old Salt for  a reality check on piracy.

Random Tugs 95

First foto comes thanks to William Hyman, who took it eight days ago.  Resolute waits along the dock in MOTBY for its next assist.  In the background is a lesser-known 9/11 monument, a Tsereteli statue given to the US as an official gift of the Russian government only six years ago. Putin himself came here for the dedication.   Resolute is six times older than the monument, and when it was launched, no doubt no one would have imagined a Russian-donated statue would stand anywhere in NYC.

Ireland dates from 1940;  she first appeared on this blog only five months ago here.

No vessel makes more noise as it passes as OSG Vision.  And if you don’t know her power in “equines,” check here.  I guess that partially explains the throbbing, only partly since President Polk is rated at 57,000! 

Amy Moran (1973, 3000 hp) assists OSG Vision and OSG 350 through the Kills.

Amy C McAllister (1975) follows McAllister Sisters (1977) to the next assist.

Bruce A. McAllister (1974) here assists Baltic Sea I (2003) rotate and then head outbound.

A few seconds earlier, McAllister Sisters used noticeable force to push Baltic‘s stern around.

There was once a Baltic Sea that belonged to the same fleet as Beaufort Sea (1971), but that other Baltic now works out of Lagos, Nigeria.  I’ve written the new owners to ask for fotos, but  . . . so far, in vain.

Bering Sea (1975) and Jane A. Bouchard (2003) spend some time at the fuel dock.

No tug appears on this foto, but some of you just know which tug is mated to RTC 135.  Cruise ship, I believe, is Explorer of the Seas.   Answer about the tug follows.

Gelberman (1980)  may look like a tug, but USACE call it a “debris collecting vessel.”  More info on her can be found in this post from three and a half years ago.

Thanks to William Hyman for that first foto;  all others by Will Van Dorp.   And the tug mated to RTC 135 is Nicole Leigh Reinauer.

June Fishing in the Sixth Boro

In previous posts we pondered winter fishing and puzzled about East River fishing.  Yesterday I caught wind of a fishing competition between Gelberman and Hayward, two vessels operated in the New York District of the US Corps of Engineers.

The fishing began the very instant the echo of the starter’s signal boomed across the boro.  Gelberman was first out the KVK with

Hayward right behind.  But the first rod to tilt upward belonged to Hayward . . . aware of what all drifts beneath the surface.

After what seemed an epic  struggle worthy of Santiago’s, Hayward gained the upper hand, raising the crane skyward although

the prey twisted and turned, prolonging the fight, clawing back to remain in the murky fluff.

The quarry now secured, two helmeted Junetime fisherfolk posed with their trophy, which gets classified

by a dear fellowblogger as Junk.  I sincerely hope bowsprite has kept her eye open for other junk, infiltrating the boro and threatening our way of life.  Junk is junk after all, whether it be Detritus rectangulus furnitureus or Detritus rectangulus aluminumensis.

Thanks to the Corps of Engineers for their efforts in many domains.

Unrelated:  I’m happy but shocked to read about Coast Guard plans for Deepwater oil washing towards . . . . Long Island!    Plans are good, but . . .

Government Boats 3

Here’s another installment in this series.

 

This blue vessel coming west on the East River enjoys a second life. T/V Kings Pointer, its current name, began life as an ocean surveillance vessel. See particulars with the navy here and the specs here. Example of spec info? Fuel capacity…

 

…almost 230,000 gallons. This vessel, which replaced an earlier Kings Pointer in 1992, distinguished itself in 1999 when it arrived first on the crash scene of EgyptAir Flight 990.  Kings Point, by the way, is the Long Island location of the US Merchant Marine Academy.

 

A year older than Kings Pointer, here’s USCG medium endurance cutter Seneca. Read through this article on some of her accomplishments. See crewman using a gun in a rescue here.

 

Here’s USCG ice breaking tug Penobscot Bay headed for the Verrazano Bridge; I’ve used this shot before, but for a good look at its icebreaker hull, see this link.

 

Based in Bayonne, as is Penobscot Bay, USCG small harbor tug Hawser has a set of siblings with similar names. See here.

 

Finally, here’s Corps of Engineers converted tug Gelberman. For another shot, click here. It’d be interesting to see government boats from other large ports. Any senders?

Photos by Will Van Dorp.