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The 2010 post had a photo from 2009, so let me start this one with one from 2010. This photo made the cover of a NYS Restoration publication devoted to boats, but I lent my copy to someone and it’s never returned. If you know the publication, please let me know.
OK, let’s see one more from 2010, taken from the same bridge, but closer to the bank and less zoomed. Lots of folks come to these Roundups, but the number of working boats that can get there is decreasing because of increasing air draft and the inflexible 112th Street bridge, which also wiped out the viability of Matton shipyard.
The Roundup always begins with a parade, and that used to be always (in my times there) led by Urger.
Cornell and spawn named Augie waited on the wall in Troy.
Buffalo is now in Buffalo, and in less good condition. Here‘s more info on her. She’s 53′ x 16’ and worked for the Barge Canal from 1916 until 1973. Originally steam, she was repowered after WW2. See her engine, a Cooper Bessemer, running here back in 2007.
Wendy B was the show stealer in 2010. She looked good and no one I spoke with knew where she’d come from. She’s a 1940-build by Russel Brothers of Owen Sound ON, originally a steam tug called Lynn B. More info is here but you have to scroll.
8th Sea is a staple of the Roundup, probably has been since the beginning. She was built in 1953 at ST 2050 by American Electric Welding. That makes her a sister to ST 2062, now in the sixth boro as Robbins Reef, seen here if you scroll. Here‘s a tug44 description of tug and captain.
Small can still be salty, especially with this innovative propulsion . . . . Little Toot.
As I said, one of the traditions of the Roundup is that Urger leads the way. Here, above the federal lock, the boats muster. And traditions are important.
The active commercial boats line up at the wall nearest the Hudson River, but when a job needs doing, they head out.
Since the Roundup happens just below lock E-2 of the Erie Canal, the thoroughfare for the Great Loop, it’s not uncommon to see some long distance boats pass by. All I know about Merluza is that it’s the Spanish word for hake.
What happened to 2011 you may ask? Irene happened and the Roundup was cancelled. We’re indebted to tug44 for documenting the damage of that hurricane in the Mohawk Valley.
All photos, unless otherwise attributed, WVD.
I’ll devote a whole post once again to the 2012 races, since I have a lot of photos. What I did was look for the most dramatic or interesting photos and, in some cases, re-edited them. What I didn’t do is go back through the 2012 posts, but you can here if you want.
Again, you can identify these, or I’ll help you if you can’t. I call this the pre-race cluster, with some even pointing upstream, as if Yonkers would be the finish line.
The cluster continues as more boats arrive.
And then there’s the burn-out, or in this case . . . froth-out as two Cat D-399s crank out over 2200 hp.
The pack spreads out quickly. This was almost 60 seconds into the race. If this were a terrestrial drag race, the contest would already be over and the smoke clearer.
I’m not sure I’d want to be in a kayak, particularly a double, as all this wake translates into wave motion.
A full five minutes into the race, Quantico Creek‘s two Cat 3512 3000 hp power plants take her past the finish line with sturm und drang . . .
Seven minutes into the race . . . they’re still coming.
At the 19-minute mark, the race is over, but the bulls appear to have scores to settle . . .
and next thing you know . . . it’s tugboat rugby!
Tomorrow . . . how about returning to 2013.
All photos, WVD.
As you know, today is the first full day of spring, and this morning roar man looked like this.
My neighborhood looked like this, and
a local shipyard looked like this, with snow obscuring the name entirely or
partly.
But lest you think I’m glum . . . my day blossomed as soon as I saw
this . . . juices–at least orange juice–flowing, infusing by the ton into the port. And this . . .
new life–at least a vessel new to me in the sixth boro. Welcome Josephine K. Miller.
And you guy below and friends, you gotta go.
All photos by Will Van Dorp. Snow obscured tug is of course Little Toot, only recently employed in North river icebreaking.
There was a Little Toot here half a year ago, but
this one, in spite of its name, can work.
Give it a more assertive name, please. Or, since this is time for “sirens on sunday,”
festoon it with a pudding like this.
Photos, WVD.
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