Other Peoples Photos 84

Timo Pajunen took this photo back in 2010.  Here are my questions for you:  whose livery?  what mission?  what was McArthur‘s original mission?  I’ll answer at the end of the post.

Charles Ritchie took this.  Hawk YTL-153 has fine pedigree:   in 1941, she was built and launched in Pearl Harbor and was present during the attack.  Since 1980, she’s been based in Narragansett Bay, operated by Specialty Diving Services Inc.  Do I see this correctly that she’s being operated from a topside helm?   Here is Charles Ritchie’s project.

When I posted Brad Ickes’ photos a month back, I forgot to post the best shots of Cable Queen he had sent.  I hope this makes amends for my having misplaced them.

The other day I noticed Cable Queen is docked back at her usual spot, nestled in a corner just west of the Moran dock.

These days there are photos everywhere of the salvage of incorrectly-ballasted  RORO Golden Ray.  This structure, as I understand it, incorporates both a saw and a lift.  This photo and the next two come from Chris Roehrig.  These photos from gCaptain are stunning.   The yellow structure over the wreck is Versabar’s VB 10,000, a heavy lift vessel launched in 2010. 

Moving the deck barge around with portion of the wreck are Crosby tugs, Crosby Star, a 4200 hp boat, below and

to the left.  The real eye-catcher here is Kurt J Crosby, here alongside Crosby Leader.  Kurt J, according to the company website, packs a whopping 16500 hp!  Have a look at their photo of the 2000 build. Crobsy Leader, dwarfed and mostly obscured here, itself is rated at 15000 hp.  Seeing these behemoths at work would almost make a trip down there worthwhile.

Jack Ronalds sent along these photos from Strait of Canso.  It’s Calusa Coast and her

tank barge Delaware.  They’ve spent some years working on the Great Lakes and are now returning

to salt water.  They have returned to the sixth boro, where I photographed her 13 years ago, but I’ve not yet seen them this visit.  For a treasure trove of Jack Ronalds/marine traffic photos, click here.

Getting back to that first photo, MV McArthur began life in 1965 as NOAAS McArthur (S330).  She was decommissioned in 2003. In 2006 she was purchased by Blackwater USA (you’ve heard of them and their founder Eric Prince?) who offered it as a “warship for hire.”  In the murk, Blackwater USA morphed into a series of other private security businesses.  MV McArthur became Eaton while operated by Saracen International.  At last record, the Norfolk VA vessel flew the flag of Comoros and was called Maandeeq,  and since AIS showed her last in June 2019 in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, India,  just north of Alang, I don’t think she’s chasing pirates anymore. 

For a crazy tangent, Gujarat is the 9th largest state in India by population.  At 9th place (of 34), it has a population greater than Italy, South Korea, Spain, Poland, etc.  It’s way larger than Canada, whose population is currently at 37 million.  India’s largest state by population, Uttar Pradesh,  is 200 million, which would make it the 8th largest country in the world by population, bigger than Russia, Mexico, Japan, etc . . .   But I digress.

Many thanks to Timo, Charles, Brad, Chris, and Jack for sharing these photos.

Related:  If you’ve not yet read Chris Maag’s story on NY sixth boro shipping, you can read it here, and enjoy the photos/video by Chris Pedota as well.

 

 

Strait of Canso Traffic

Guess the usage?

Avalon Sea is an AHTS vessel of the sort I’ve not seen call in the sixth boro.  Any guesses on usage, age, and dimensions of the unit?

 

If it reminds you of the various semi-submersible vessels that’ve called here, great, because that’s what Boabarge 37 is.  It measures 499′ x 125′  with a draft of 30′.  She’s on long-term lease to the Irving Shipyard in Halifax.  Avalon Sea is one of seven vessels operating for Secunda Canada, self-described as “a harsh weather fleet vessels serving Canada’s offshore gas and oil projects.”   Avalon Sea measures in at 300’x 66′ and propelled by 15,500 hp.  To see how Irving Shipyard uses Boabarge 37, check this out.

Point Chebucto is based in the Strait of Canso, but out behind her are two transients:

Behind her are Bylgia, a Heerema tug measuring 236′ x 59′ with 202 tons bollard pull, and Maersk Mobiliser, launched in late fall 2018 and 311′ x 82′ and currently tending craneship Thialf out by Sable island.

 

Here Bylgia is hooking up to 400′ x 125′ cargo barge H-407.  For specifics on Heerema equipment, click here.

All photos thanks to Jack Ronalds.  As I’ve said before, if you want to see some of them right now, click here  for his Marine Traffic snaps and here for his general photos, not limited to maritime shots.  The connection between the Strait of Canso and NYC’s sixth boro was highlighted in this post from a few days ago.

 

 

To Bayway, from Point Tupper

You saw a different version of this photo last week, NS Leader being assisted into Bayway.  This begs the question . . .  from where did NS Leader come?  Where did it take on the cargo discharged at Bayway?

The answer for NS Leader and lots more crude tankers is Point Tupper NS, where there’s a NuStar Terminal.  Maybe you’ve seen that on AIS.

Sailing a tanker from there looks a lot like here, although the Strait of Canso is quite a bit deeper than the Kills.  That’s Eagle Varna, a VLCC,  at the dock.  Smaller Eagle tankers (AET) used to call in the sixth boro, as in here and here, although I don’t recall seeing them recently.

Here Point Chebucto and Point Valiant assist Suezmax tanker Eagle San Antonio.

Here London Spirit departs the dock

with Point Chebucto and Svitzer Montreal to port and Svitzer Bedford to starboard.  NYK “Spirit” tankers used to call regularly in the sixth boro as in here,  here and here, and maybe they still do.

Stena Weco tankers call in the sixth boro frequently as well:  Stena Concert, Stena Contest . . .  come to mind.

Here Switzer Bedford and Point Chebucto assist Stena Conquest

out to sea via the Strait.  Svitzer Canada is a towing branch of Maersk with a network of hundreds of boats.

Many thanks to Jack Ronalds for these photos.  More of Jack’s photos soon.  If you want to see some of them right now, click here  for his Marine Traffic snaps and here for his general photos, not limited to maritime shots.

Once US citizens are again welcome in Canada, I hope to make many trips, including one up his way.

Other Peoples Photos 63

Jack Ronalds took this photo of Ontario (Jeffrey K. McAllister) and Erie (Missy McAllister) in Canso back in August 2016.

John Jedrlinic took this in the sixth boro in December 2008.

I took the photo below a few months earlier in 2008, as the transfer from Normandy to Ross Sea was happening.

Grouper has been featured here many, many times over the years, but you’ve never seen this much of her out of the water;  it’s “draw-down” time on the Erie Canal near lock E-28A.  These photos come from Bob Stopper a few weeks ago.

 

From Bangkok, Ashley Hutto sends along photos of a decidedly pastel Thai tug

with two barges

on a hawser.

Thanks to Jack, Jed, Bob, and Ashley for these photos.

 

Really Random Tugs 41

Sea Power has been lurking in and around the sixth boro the past few days, and I will continue trying to get some good photos of her, but on 9-22-16 Jack Ronalds up at the Canso Canal caught these photos of her as she headed into Lake Erie to pick up her barge constructed in Erie PA.

Remember, if you need photos of a vessel traveling between the Great Lakes and the west Atlantic Coast from the Maritimes southward, Jack’s your guy.   See some of his work (2440 photos) here.

4-24-08  Dean Reinauer passes NYK Daedalus.  This Dean left NYC for Nigeria in June 2011. 

6-16-08  Juliet Reinauer pushed oil a decade ago.  She’s still in the harbor working as Big Jake.

6-23-08  Odin . . . no longer has an adjustable wheelhouse and may be laid up, and ITB Groton, single-hulled tanker, . . . was sold in later 2008 to Nigerian interests first to ship grain and then returned to petroleum trade.  It was sent to Alang and scrapped in late 2013.

9-13-08  Viking seen here out of the notch has made its way to Kirby and is currently very busy on the Hudson.

9-05-10  Here’s another showing Viking out of the notch and all gussied up, and (it seems) terrifying W. O. Decker.

And finally, another from 9-22-16, a shot of Sea Power heading north through the Canso Canal and ultimately to Lake Erie to pick up its mated barge.  In the background is the 60+ year-old quarry now operated by  Martin Marietta Materials in Aulds Cove, where vessels like and including Alice Oldendorff pick up the aggregates.  Last year, four million tons worth of rock was shipped from here.

Many thanks to Jack for use of his photos.  All others by Will Van Dorp, who has learned that as of this morning, Sea Power is sailing for Charleston SC.

 

Millville and 1964 at the Canso Lock

Canso Canal separates the Nova Scotia mainland from Cape Breton Island, lying between Northumberland Strait to the north and Chedabucto Bay to the south.  And it’s a great place to watch traffic between eastern USA and the Great Lakes.  Jack Ronalds pays attention to that traffic, and is always eager to accept paying photo commissions, he tells me.

Right around Christmas, he caught Millville and 1964,  beautiful winter light bathing newly painted steel.  Millville and barge came off the ways in Sturgeon Bay WI this fall, and is currently passing the Florida Keys on a run to a Texas port.

 

Notice the traffic backed up on the causeway.  For a very comprehensive slideshow of 450 images compiled by the Gut of Canso Museum, click here.  For more on Port Hastings on the east side of the Canso Canal, click here.

Note the pilot boat on the far side.

According to tugboat information.com, she 129.9′ x 41.9′ using two GE 12V250MDC8s for a total of 8000 hp to push the 578′ loa, 180,000 bbl barge 1964.

Many thanks to Jack for permission to post these photos.  I’m definitely looking to get up there this coming summer.

 

San Jose

Under wraps last summer, this new build in Cleveland was ready for the intended client, but  . . .

“we have a problem” finalizing the deal, so there had to be another deal.

So finally a month ago, San Jose got under way from Cleveland getting through the Saint Lawrence and around Nova Scotia bound for eastern US.

Jack Ronalds caught the next two photos as the tug and crew sought refuge in Port Hawkesbury after having ridden out gales from the mouth of the Saint Lawrence to the Strait of Canso.

When the stormy seas lay down, they left port again, rounding the point at Canso, but southern coast of Nova Scotia was still rough and required sheltering again before making the jump across to Portsmouth NH,

arriving in the wee hours at this lovely spot on Ceres Street up the Piscataqua a ways.

I have long history with the Piscataqua going back to the mid-1980s.  As a much younger kayaker, I used to ride its current all the way around New Castle . . . .  Here, here, and here are some previous tugster posts mostly showing Portsmouth.  Note the Christmas tree of Drum Point?  To her port side is Mary M. Coppedge.  More Moran photos from Portsmouth will be included in an upcoming post.

Here’s a closeup of San Jose, with an

even closer up here, showing the location of its intended client.

And finally, here’s a view of the Moran yard from Badgers Island, Maine, a short distance across the Piscataqua.  What these last few photos fail to convey is the inviting smell of lobsters, shellfish, and other delightful fruits of the sea.

San Jose COULD be called Handy Four, as its largely the same vessel as Handy Three shown below, as taken in 2013 in the process of my writing this article.  San Jose will soon be painted to match the other Moran tugs in the photo above, as Handy Three has already been since PRT has been purchased by Moran.

 

Thanks to Jack Ronalds for use of his photos.  All others by Will Van Dorp, who just has to find some good lobster for dinner today.