Crazy Patterns 2

Here was the first of this series, from over four years ago.  And what’s this?  whose wake prints?

Answer?  It’s the flotilla assisting Hanjin San Francisco into Port Elizabeth.  Four months ago I caught San Fran outbound . . . here . . . scroll through.

Let’s do an anatomy of wakes on a curve called Bergen Point.  That’s Marion Moran on the stern quarter, a New Jersey State Police boat overtaking on the port side.  Click here to see a now/then foto of Shooters, the island just beyond the container vessel.

Marion clings, presses while moving “sideways” through the water.

Laura K passes.

In the same general time frame, surveyboat Michele Jeanne

and lube tanker Emma Miller scribe the surface with their own signature, as

does Ellen McAllister and as

a commingling with

Catherine Turecamo.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Sixth Boro 3

I’ll use fotos from the past week, since the past two days have been darky and rainy.  Penobscot Bay is called an ice-breaker, a mission not yet activated this season.

M/V Dynamic Striker–with an arresting name–probably wants to forget its high-speed chase on the Indian Ocean two years ago.

Susana S and (in the distance) Intrepid Canada await in the anchorage.  Since that moment (Wednesday), Susana S has departed for points east and Intrepid Canada has move up Raritan Bay and into Arthur Kill.

Here Cosco Osaka departs the KVK, bound for sea, i.e., Boston and then maybe the Canal in Panama.

I’m guessing that every major port in the world sees a member of this fleet now and then, most looking like Bow Fortune here.  For great fotos of these set, taken both onboard and from a distance, click here.

John B. still lies in a beached position, but  yesterday Brian Nicholas rather than Sarah Ann attended crane barge Raritan Bay.

HanJin San Francisco left here a week ago, made a few stops headed south, and is now bound for the Canal.   Previously I caught her here in late September this year.

Stena Primorsk–named for the largest Russian port on the Baltic–has lingered in the harbor for the better part of a month now, occasionally  giving the impression she’s outbound somewhere distant.

Two weeks til winter . . . and we’ve not yet seen a frost locally.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Rhythms 4

Here’s 3.

Cape Washington left today, following in the wake of Lia.  Zim Beijing came in;  I’m guessing “my” Bebedouro will leave soon, and the pace of ins-outs is such that I have to content myself seeing in on AIS.

Although I’m intrigued with names and itineraries like OOCL Oakland and

Zim Qingdao back here yesterday,

traffic longterm runs together and

goes out of focus and even

blurs.

For a moment, that is.  HS Livingstone entered the harbor Saturday morning, and by midmorning Sunday, it’s off Atlantic City making for Baltimore.

In

in

inbound, then outbound  .  . .

I wonder about the blur for the mariner of these global box vessels.  Here’s a question I have insufficient info to answer:  Pick a year like 1940, and the number of dockworkers that year per ton of cargo transferred between ship and shore.  Now compare the tonnage of freight handled on the docks of NYC in 1940 and 2012 and thereby calculate how many dockworkers would be needed in 2012 using the 1940 dockworker/ton rate.  And why?  Check out this article in today’s NYTimes called “…Rise of the Machines.”

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.