Whatzit 21 Answers and More

Bravo on the almost immediate and many correct identifications of the hulk in yesterday’s post.

Here’s an undated photo of SS Normandie in the sixth boro passing an unidentified Dalzell (?) tug.

Photo from John Skelson . . . PT boat eastbound on the KVK.  Notice the onramp to the Bayonne Bridge in this and the next few photos.  Here’s a “hidden NJ” blogpost about Bayonne’s ELCO shipyard.  Here’s a list of vessels built there.

From the same location, another of John’s photos . . .  destroyer, Great Lakes dredge, spectators,

and Moran tugs.  Anyone add some info on the destroyer?

Recognize the bridge?  This photo–from the New York City Archives, as are all the the rest here– is identified as taken in January 1937.  Whaling City then was a fishing vessel.  A vessel by that name operates today as a fast ferry.

Notice 120 Wall Street.  This photo was taken January 1937 and shows F/V Charles B. Ashley.

Not much info on this next set . . . . a dredge from a century ago and

a survey vessel.

And finally . . . this may be the last of my black/white photos . . . the sign tells all about the attitude of the value of salt marshes a half century ago and before . . .

Thanks much to John Skelson for sharing his “family archives” photos, and if the fog over the sixth boro today has you staying indoors, go check out the New York City Municipal Archives online gallery.

 

Whatzit 21

Many thanks to John Skelson for sharing these photos . . .  and I’ll leave you guessing for a day or so.

Notice the vessel westbound in the background.  In the foreground, that’s Caddell’s with an Erie Lackawanna tug and a dilapidated ferry.    The mystery vessel is what’s in the background.

The bridge needs no identification although the Bayonne shore in the background looks opener than it currently is.

The number of tugs is just fabulous.

And to return some color to the blog, here are Gary (right) and I sharing a beer after the show last night.  Thanks to all who attended and to the crews of five interesting documentaries.   I hope to see more of the festival Saturday and Sunday.

Again, thanks much to John Skelson for sharing the mystery photos.  Now . .  please weigh in.

 

New York Media Boat 1

Photo thanks to John Skelson . . . it’s not a bird . . .  it’s not a plane . . . it’s NY Media Boat, one of the recent recipients of the Life Saving Award from the Marine Society of New York for a February 2014 rescue from a sinking tugboat.

So . . . what might you see on a customized adventure sightseeing tour of the sixth boro aboard NY Media Boat?   Well . . . if you’re interested in fireboats or firehouses . . . they’re near their Pier 25 pick up site.

A bit farther north . . . you can see Chelsea Market or Pier 66 Maritime from the water, a perspective quite different from experiencing either of them by land.

You never know what private boats might be docked at the passenger terminal . . . this one obviously wanting proximity to

the car wash.  Thanks to Phil Little for this unique perspective from the cliff at Weehawken.

You can see the newest NYC scalloper port.  F/V Endurance was back there yesterday.

If Alice is in town, you can meet her up and personal.   Alice Oldendorff, aggregate carrier, was the focus of the very first tugster post over seven years ago, as well as many since.  Use the search window.

The East River offers unusual juxtapositions . ..  like the UN and the WTC.

You might see remnants of industrial Brooklyn riverfront like Havermeyer’s sugar mill, or

demolition happening to IER 17.

You can see classic architectural icons of NYC like the 1929 Chrysler Building or

1976  tramway.   But if you’re like me, you’ll be hoping for

unexpected sailing vessels like Halie & Matthew or all manner of work boats like

Long Island built Maryland.

How about the “interior” side of Red Hook Container Terminal?

Of course, then there’s nothing that beats close-ups of wherever you want on the sixth boro by open boat.  Book a tour here.   By the way, the boat offers warm, waterproof gear and PFDs.

Here’s an article on Bjoern Kils and the boat from a publication of Willard Marine, manufacturer of the boat, which formerly lived on a US destroyer.   Also, here are some recent NY Media Boat clients.

All photos here by Will Van Dorp, except the delightful one of the private boat at the car wash by Phil Little and the lead photo by John Skelson.  Thank, Phil.

 

Merrily Merry 2

OK . . . I’ll admit that I’m foolish enough to think every day is Christmas, every day in New Years,  . . . and I could go on.

So happy 18th day of Christmas 2013.   And my heart-felt thanks go out to Tim and Bill Hughes of Hughes Marine for these images.  Thanks also to John Skelson who helped reformat them for this blog.

Let’s go back to November 1997.  Tugboat Spuyten Duyvil delivered a barge carrying a Torsilieri truck carrying a Norway spruce bound for Rockefeller Center.

The tree was felled in Stony Point.  Click here for the article by James Barron detailing the tree transaction.

If that tree is 74 feet, that’s a long trailer.

You gotta love those red balls.  By the way, Hughes logo on the barge was painted out for this transit.

Here were some fotos taken in the Upper Bay.  I highly recommend getting the children’s book version of the story in part to see the artistic liberties taken in rendering both tug and truck.

Fireboat John D. McKean  does the honors.

Although I’m still working on locating more pics of this event, including Joyce Dopkeen’s shots of the offloading process, I am thrilled to share these with you here.

Again, many heartfelt thanks to Bill Hughes for sending these photos and to John Skelson for reformatting them.

I hope to have more belated “christmas” fotos soon.

Miss Lis’ 56 Days

David Hindin alerted me when this voyage started on November 8 . . . departing San Francisco, sixth boro bound.  I’m very happy to share some folks fotos of Tradewinds Miss Lis‘ arrival at the Narrows this morning.   Many thanks to Peter Michael Patrick Codd, who sent the first two.

Here  . . . as seen from the Brooklyn side.

John Skelson caught these next ones.  Click here for larger versions on his Flickr photostream.

Note a new-to-NY assist tug here . . . Pelham.  I hope someone on Pelham got some good pics.

Many thanks to Peter and John for letting me share their fotos here.

And David . . . while I was driving my way back to NYC through central NJ, he got this record of the last mile of the voyage . . . image thanks to marinetraffic.com

This bargeload is support equipment for the herculean  (oops . . . that’s just a storm?) Left Coast Lifter now heading south from San Francisco to the Panama Canal to work on the Tappan Zee bridge project.    Here’s a link to Tappan Zee Constructors.

Whole Lotta Dredgin’ 11

Here and here are previous posts on a Rockaway Beach replenishment dredging operation that has now ended.   Sea Wolf is still local, but the vessel on the horizon (“atop” the red buoy) has now moved to southern NJ.  Remember, for most fotos, doubleclick enlarges.

Weeks’ Trevor was assisting in this project.

Also assisting was George W.

But here’s the powerhouse, the dredge.  Let’s take a tour.

In spite of about 16,000 total horsepower, C. R. McCaskill is not self-propelled.  To see what towed the dredge to the south, see the foto at the end of this post.    All that power moves the cutterhead on the submerged arm (called a “ladder”) that extends to the sand at the bottom of the Channel here.  At the top end of the ladder are two huge pumps (you could stand inside the pump housing) that suck the sand and whatever else off the bottom and send it as a slurry to a point on the beach some miles away.  Click here for a pdf that shows the beautiful (ok . . . roll your eyes) virgin red cutterhead with green teeth.    Each tooth weighs around 35 pounds!

Here inside the dredge are some interesting astounding facts about the machine.

See the sand colored building on the horizon off the stern of McCaskill?  That’s the area around 105th St. Rockaway Beach where the sand is headed through piping powered by this vessel.  The first few fotos in this post were taken at that beach.  There’ll be another Rockaway post soon.

Candace towed C. R. McCaskill south.  I missed her when she was in town, but John Skelson caught her here.  Click on the foto to see John’s complete shot.  Many thanks to John for use of that shot from his Flickr page.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, except for the one shared by John Skelson.  For more info on each of the Weeks tugs, click here.  More McCaskill tomorrow.

Other People’s Fotos 17

I suppose I could call this “random and gorgeous tug fotos I wish I’d taken.”

Thanks to John Skelson for this one of Coastline Bay Star.  I’ve seen this vessel only once in this incarnation of her, but it was in Belt traffic from which a foto was impossible.  John nails it here.  What a beaut!!

The rest come from Birk Thomas.  This series I just find stunning:  Gramma Lee T turns out after escorting her Nth vessel.  I’m wondering if there’s an actual count of assists for her decade of service since her June 2002 delivery.  Happy Decade 1 celebration.

Birk got this foto off New London: Allison Crosby looks like a Vane boat, whose series she post-dates, but for ocean towing, she has a 10,500 hp plant in the engine room.

Buster Bouchard has been around since 1979, but I saw her in the sixth boro for the first time only this spring.

The newest twins in the boro . . . Discovery Coast and Chesapeake Coast.

Also, by Birk, Ocean Delta, Norway-built, moving more parts for the nickel mining operation in Newfoundland.

Ocean Delta (ex-Sistella)  is a 1973 UT 505 design from the Ulstein Group.   Click here for a snowy/icy foto of Ocean Delta.

Thanks to Birk and John for these fotos.