Sojourn Sixth Boro Bound 2

. . . aka the leap between the seasons.  Call this photo, taken on Saturday dusk, the last moments of autumnal daylight.

I was here waiting as a slight November blush lingered in the central NY trees, hoping this

vessel, Sojourn, would pass before daylight faded and before those storm clouds caught up.

She eased into the lock.  Some of you, I know, can guess this lock by the structure far left.

 

And here at sunrise was a new season.  Winter isn’t just coming anymore.  It came in the night. By the way, thanks to Xtian’s comment here, I understand the significance of the registration numbers.

Here the converted freighter eases into Lock 17, the highest lift lock in the Erie Canal system.

Watch the descent.

The gentleman below built this barge 53 years ago in Belgium, then used it to transport cargoes, including animal feed, through all the canals in the low countries, and in this case that included France and Germany too.  He’s riding along on the trip, his first visit to the United States.  Imagine the joy, being reunited with your handicraft in this way after a half century and halfway around the world!  His daughter, Maja, who was literally born on this barge and who as a kid jumped from hatch cover to hatch cover while the vessel–loaded to the coamings–was underway, is accompanying him.

 

When the water level is lowered by almost 41′, the counterweight (almost) effortlessly raises the guillotine-style door.

Click here to see photos I took of Urger from the same vantage point two years ago.

And in the snow falling at a faster rate by the hour, Sojourn journeys eastward toward the Hudson.

And from the road I took back to the sixth boro, here’s what has already accumulated east of the Hudson . . .

All photos taken in the past 24 hours by Will Van Dorp.

For many other posts I’ve done about Dutch canal barges, click here.

 

Off Gallivanting Again

By the time you read this, I should already be in Quebec, and once we get under way, we’ll reverse the trip I began six weeks ago in NYC’s sixth boro here. From Quebec City we travel up the Saint Lawrence, up as in upstream.  The waterway is truly beautiful, and although I have defined tasks on the ship, I get to spend a lot of time watching .

 

 

 

The photo below I took from the NE corner of Lake Ontario looking toward the port of Oswego.

From the Lake, we cut in at Oswego via the Canal, bypass all the fishing, and

make our way via the grand canal back to saltwater.

Here’s the 1899 Buffalo-built steam tug Geo E. Lattimer (loa 59′ x 16′ x 4.5′) exiting the low side of Lock 17.

Given the pain of finding enough of a signal to post, I can’t tell you when and what you’ll see next.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, including the photos of photos from Canal signage.

Golden 12 Minutes

You can find my previous “golden” posts here.   From the first photo below until the seventh and last one, only twelve minutes pass.  The setting is lock 17 in Little Falls, NY, where the lift/descent is 40.5 feet.  .

Click here and here for some interesting historical pics.

Let’s start with 0703 hr on October 27 last.

Six minutes later . . . the chamber has drained and the sun has emerged from the clouds.

The door starts to raise as the counterweight descends . . . and against the south wall, it’s Urger .  . . behind a wall of drips . . .

At 0715 . . . the captain has rung the forward bell and

now squints, looking into the sun for navigational aids on the way east to Amsterdam, about six hours away.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who has postponed dealing with more unfinished business until tomorrow.