A Day on the Bay 2

<<Only 17 hours left as of now to bid the PortSide fundraiser…. catered dinner with Bowsprite and Tugster.  Bid now here.>>

More on what defeated the “gloomy Junie” bugs in my head  . . . . and I know the fotos lack winter-sharp clarity, but if I attempted to shoot these today, quality would be even less sharp, given the intermittent rain.

The three men below focus on the business-end of the cutter suction dredge Illinois.  That cutter-head begs to serve as inspiration for a horror movie.  Brangus is one of two associated tugs, the other being Jack Newman, shown yesterday.

Here’s the rest of Brangus and more of Illinois.  When the toothy end of the dredge burrows into the bottom of the Bay, the large rectangular object (motor and gears?) submerges as well, like a woodchuck’s tail following the digging claws.  More dredge fotos soon.  Can anyone educate me on what I’m looking at in these fotos?  In the background is the bow of Horizon Challenger, an old container ship built in 1968!  I could do more on Horizon Challenger.

The sixth boro’s oldest (and possibly most active) schooner Pioneer scuds into the choppy East River lowering the foresail.  It does look like it’d be fun to sail on a day like this.

The pennant snaps in exhilaration, but is that the desired angle for the descending gaff?  Don’t misunderstand my intent:  bravo to the jaunty crew.

DonJon’s Mary Alice tows the massive Chesapeake 1000 as Megan Ann provides assist at the stern.  Chesapeake 1000, the largest floating heavy-lift crane on the East Coast, has participated in efforts ranging from post-Katrina clean-up, salvage of Stellamare, and demolitions/construction more than I know.  Anyone have Chesapeake 1000 stories to share?

James Turecamo quickly passes products tanker with a top-of-the-hierarchy name:  Archangelos Gabriel.  I harbor affection for this 1969 Matton Shipyard built tug.  By the way, Matton Shipyard, walking distance from Waterford,  this August will launch the WOW fleet tour.

It always makes my soul jolly to spot Odin, especially after what seems like a too-long hiatus.  Have I been away, or has Odin cleft (cloved cloven?)  other waters on assignment?

Paul T. Moran waits on the hook, as does Socrates in the background, a 2008 Panamax tanker of the TEN group.

So here’s a mystery.  As was the case a few years ago, a vessel of the Japan Coast Guard docks over in Brooklyn near the Heights/Red Hook line.   Provisioning, I assume.    Anyone help?  Yeah . . . I’m not proud of the quality of photography here;  some days I can only privilege content.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp on June 17, 2009.

Getting all this torrential rain bodes well for a bright Saturday Mermaid Parade, or at least that “wishful thinking” part of me says.  If you can’t make it, at least wish someone a sparkling summer solstice . . . in however they choose to celebrate it.  I do the same to you right now with this foto from last year’s parade.

A Day on the Bay

I won’t dredge up this heavy eloquence of Melville’s “November in the soul,” but I can attest that today I witnessed the cure to “gloomy June.”  And it is:  a hike and a ride around the Upper Bay.  All manner of friendly gestures did their best to bring cheer.  Like Baltic Sea and the two lighthouses, one black/white and the other green/gray.  Oh yes, she was a lighthouse once!

Hornbeck’s Atlantic Service . . . call it a bone in her teeth if you want, but I saw it as sweet fizzy water to a thirsty man.

Sludge tanker Red Hook.  Yeah . . . New Yorkers, every one of us including the Mayor, as fertilizer producers ..  that always makes me chuckle.

Michigan Service, another Hornbeck boat . . . just looks like good energy.

Maas Trader in Red Hook Container Port, shuttling between Brooklyn plus other eastern ports and points on the island of Hispanola.   Maybe someone who was nearer by got a better foto?  No matter . . . I know there was excitement over there that I’ll hear of later.

Peter F. Gellatly, a mere youngster among boats in the Bay.

Potomac not quite two years off the ways . . . . and already immortalized in Bowsprite’s sketchbook.

Jack Newman, a Great Lakes Dock and Dredge boat.  More on Jack Newman and other GLDD vessels and toothy tools tomorrow.

So I fail to understand the mechanisms at play, but this day on the bay –overcast as it was–chased away the “gloomy Junies.” By Saturday I might feel prepared for the mermaid invasion.

200,000 + . . . . that’s  the number of hits this blog has registered since November 2006.  Thank you for reading and telling your friends to check out the site.  We bloggers  get a $10 bill from the Madoff Fund for each hit we register, right?

A little more than 1 . . . . that’s the number of days left for you to EBay bid on an utterly delightful dinner with Bowsprite and Tugster as part of a Mary Whalen fundraiser.

All fotos . . . unfortunately . . . by Will Van Dorp.