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Daybreak finds us entering the Welland Canal, taking a pilot from J. W. Cooper.
The past few weeks at MRC have brought the decapitation of Algorail.
Tecumseh is docked just below lock 8.
Algosea slips into the parallel lock chamber at lock 4, upbound.
We encounter NACC Argonaut as she heads upbound below lock 2.
Then we switch pilots at Lake Ontario level and
we pass Ojibway as we make a course for Toronto.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
I’ve mentioned before about my people the Dutch celebrating “old years day” on December 31. As the child of immigrants, I’m blessed by this one of many ways they see the world differently, a perspective I’m happy to share. So here is a retrospective of the year, the result of a process of scanning through photos in the blog library, not overthinking it.
January. Gunhilde Maersk with James, Kirby, and JRT plus Miriam Moran. the year of the 1200-footers aka ULCVs becoming commonplace in the sixth boro.
February. Ocean Henry Bain serves as a safety boat during the ice canoe race I documented in my Carnavalons posts.
March. Cerro Grande here escorted a Caribbean-bound LNG ship, one of all the Panama Tugs posts
April. When I saw this section of drained canal bed between O-6 to O-7 in Oswego, I thought the work’d never get done before the season began, but I was wrong. Of all my 2018 NYS Canals posts, this and this posted with the greatest urgency.
May. Reliable pushed seaward by Lucy H. As of today, Reliable lies under the sea gathering fishes and entertaining Davy Jones near Shinnecock.
June. Jay Bee V headed out on a high-profile mission. Has she returned to the sixth boro yet?
July. I missed Rosemary‘s christening because that’s what happens when you don’t look at your calendar. First come first serve for a few tugster lighthouse calendars. Send me an email with your mailing address. As I said, I ran a few extra when I made up my Christmas gifts.
August. Kimberly Selvick with AEP barges was one of the treats I saw in Calumet. This day south of Chicago planted a seed of curiosity about the Lake Michigan/Mississippi River link I hope to be able to explore in 2019. Many thanks to Christine Douglas.
September. J. W. Cooper delivers a pilot in Port Colborne at the Lake Erie end of the Welland Canal. Because I hadn’t a satisfying enough fix from the canal earlier, I returned there in October.
October. One Stork, a pink ULCV, came into town. It wasn’t her first visit/delivery, but it was the first that I caught. She’s currently in the sixth boro.
November. Morton S. Bouchard IV rounds Shooters Island light, Bouchard celebrated a big anniversary this year.
December. Ruth M. Reinauer heads west into the Kills in December, the start of heating oil season.
And that’s it for the year, time for me to securely lock up Tugster Tower and prepare myself to meet 2019. The older I get, the more profound is my awareness that although I make many plans for a new year, I might not see the end of it. It’s just how it is. Every day is a blessing. Last year had my own personal ultima thule; I pray that 2019 brings its new ones.
Thanks to everyone who read, commented, and assisted me in 2018. Happy and constructive new year day by day to you all.
Let’s call this Fednav’s B-class . . .
Federal Biscay is one of six in that class, all built in 2015 by Oshima.
She’s upbound to load, possibly grain for export. To get a sense of her recent itineraries, click here and scroll.
As a non-US/Canadian vessel, she needs to carry a pilot the whole distance within the Seaway . . . I mean from eastern edge of Quebecois water to whatever her destination and the return.
On Lake Erie, she crossed Federal Bering,
a similar bulker. To see her recent port stops, click here.
Bering is down bound, and
has to wait for traffic to clear through lock W8 before proceeding.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who wants to remind you of the NYS Canal Conference happening on Staten Island next week. I will show Graves of Arthur Kill and speak on a panel about the hidden places of the sixth boro.
With digressions behind us, let’s resume the journey. In part 4 we descended from the level of the Mohawk at Rome NY into Lake Ontario, approximately 248.’ Canadian pilot boat Mrs C meets us not far from the entrance to the Welland Canal at Port Weller, so named for the lead engineer in building of the first iteration of the Welland Canal.
Below lock W1, Alouette Spirit tied at a dock. The mover is Wilf Seymour, a Canadian-flagged former Moran-owned Texas-built tug I’ve met on most trips here since 2015. I’ve seen her on locations between Lake Huron and the St Lawrence just up from Quebec City. Click here to see her being loaded with ingots.
ITB Presque Isle occupied the Port Weller Dry Docks.
So that you can get a sense of how ungainly this ITB looks out of the notch, I’m sharing this photo thanks to Jeff Thoreson of Erie Shipping News. Usually she’s in the notch and considered a 1000-footer.
Exiting lock W1 was China-built Algoma Mariner, whose bow shows the effect of operating in ice.
Notice how narrow the Welland is here, with less than 100′ between Grande Mariner and Algoma Mariner.
For more info on the Welland, click here.
I drove through Port Colborne–at the 571′ level of Lake Erie–a few years ago, but seeing the names of the shops here, I’d love to stop by and wander. I’m not fanatical about pies, but Jay the Pie Guy sounds too tasty to pass up. Check him out on FB.
Four months ago, I posted photos from Clayton NY on the dead ship tow of the former traversier aka ferry Camille Marcoux. Here’s what she looks like now after the
skilled carving tools of the workers at Marine Recycling Corp in Port Colborne.
See the scrapping in the upper right side of the photo, here the pilot steps off and we enter Lake Erie, turning to port for Buffalo.
After an hour-and-a-half run, the grain elevators of Buffalo welcome us. Seeing the blue G, I can already imagine the smell of the Cheerios plant.
Near the entrance to the Buffalo River, I spot NYPA’s Joncaire II tied up near the merry-go-round. I’d love to see her at work managing the ice boom. I don’t see Daniel on the bow, but I believe the full name is Daniel Joncaire II. ??
Over in Silo City, two older Great Lakes tugs–Washington and Vermont— await between jobs. Of course, they still work. The combined age of those two tug is 195 years. YEARS!!
Silo City may not sound all that exciting, especially for folks who know farms, but this complex made Buffalo and forged a link with another boom city . . . . the six boros of NYC. I like the quote here that it was grain elevators and the nexus of the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal that led Buffalo to surpass London, Rotterdam, and Crimea as then the #1 grain handling port in the world. I also recently learned about the influence the grain elevator form had on modern architecture a la Gropius.
Check out this Gropius design.
A few years ago, I’d never consider exploring Buffalo, and I have so many other photos that I might revisit the city on tugster, but for now, I suggest you go there too and
stop at Buffalo Harbor Museum, Pierce Arrow Museum, and Swannie’s, for starters. I started from Erie Basin and walked to all of these in the same day.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
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