Canal Tug Project J

Hugh O’Donnell appeared in installment “I.”  In fact, this photo might very well have been taken just seconds after the photo showing the string of barges following her.  As for location, clearly it’s a part of the Canal with riprap along the banks.

Other than the name, Thos. R. Coyne, and the fact that the Coyne family was until recently still associated with the Barge Canal in its current iteration,

I can’t add much.  There was a court case here.  However, this photo gives a good view of the massive timbers used to construct the barges/scows that plied the Barge Canal.  The photo was clearly taken from either the scrap barge–or another one–or a tugboat.  I can’t make out what the illuminated surface inside the barge house lower right might be.

Desoto . . I presume.  Sorry, I haven’t found any info on her.  Given the low and short house, I wonder what and where the accommodations and galley might be.  That must be the cook with his back to us.

This looks to be taken in one of the “land cuts” of the Barge Canal, and I’d guess that stretch west of Rome.  Given the height of the scows, one can easily see the need for an “upper wheelhouse.”  The name of the green tug and the photographer’s platform . . . I can’t help you.

There’s a name on the deeply laden fuel barge, Jemson No. 1, and it appears in court records then pushed by Cree.   Note the deck structures ( I know they have a name, but I can’t come up with it.) below compared with

these.  Also, since this was taken in lock E-24, compare the view of Baldwinsville when this photo was taken with the one in this link. The red building has been re-invented multiple times in its long existence. I don’t know the name of either tug or barge shown here eastbound.

George A. Keating is another puzzler.  In the sources I have, I find nothing. 

This eastbound tug appears tied up above lock E-10, waiting for the excursion vessel heading in the direction of Amsterdam.  The iconic power plant is still a landmark in this location. For more on the McKim, Mead, and White-designed building, click here. More on that excursion vessel coming in another post.

And finally, here’s an unnamed tug with an unnamed barge full of grain.  Above the life ring of the tug is a nameboard, but I can’t make it out. I also can’t tell for certain if the barge has just been filled or whether it’s just transited the Barge Canal, and the crew meeting there is preparing to oversee the discharge.  My hunch, based partly on the terrain is the latter and that the photo was taken in Port of Albany.  Astern of the tug (I think) is an interesting motorship that will be featured in an upcoming post in a Barge Canal motorship series.

I use these photos thanks to the Canal Society of New York, which will hold its Winter Symposium in Rochester in just under a month from now.  More info here.