Retro Sixth Boro 49 B

May 2012 was a month of verticality, as in these twin tugboats,

as in the towers of these bridges with a low, long riverboat transiting beneath, and

and in the 156′ air draft of this mega yacht once owned by one of the oligarch’s now sanctioned and hiding his other yachts wherever he can.

It was also time for Opsail 2012, the sixth of six such events to date. 

I recall an evening sail around Gravesend Bay one May evening to see some of the tall ships that overnighted there prior to parading into the confines of the sixth boro.

Above and below were tall ships from Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brasil.

 

 

 

The tall ships have scattered to the seven seas, but these tugs each returns to the sixth boro as work dictates.

All photos, WVD.

 

 

Name that Port 1 Response

Thanks for your patience; this follows up the post from two days ago.  The port is Boston, the date is November 1960, and the fleet tied up at the T wharf.  Luna, pictured below, is still extant; the others . . . I believe are all gone.

Above in the distance and below, that’s Orion.

I have no ID on this gentleman in Orion‘s engine room, or

this gentleman in the wheelhouse of another era.

Allan Seymour went on to a career as a professional photographer, and he sent me these photos.

Here’s how I first saw two of the boats–including Luna–back in 1987.  Here’s a report on the historic value of Luna submitted to the Boston Landmarks Commission in March 1985.

Thanks for your guesses, both here and on FB.  For the Boston Public Library’s trove of T Wharf photos, click here.   And here is the motherlode, at least 150 photos of Boston tugboats from the Digital Commonwealth collection.

 

Road Fotos 36

Here are the previous ones.

One of the joys of driving is the serendipity–even if guided . . . thanks, GT–of noticing the entirely unexpected, like the device below.  Any ideas?  If GT hadn’t mentioned this, I probably would not have thought twice about this weathered industrial object.  And it’s for sale.  For the right price, it can be on your boat.

A clue is that the device above is located geographically between the tin building below and Boston, where this road trip ends.   The tin building is Gallery 53 on Rocky Neck.  I’m guessing it once had a seafood related purpose.

A bit down the coast is Salem.  The brick building with cupola in the distance is the old Custom House, where Nathaniel Hawthorne once worked.

I had forgotten that this replica is Hudson River built. There was a trade with China already 200 years ago.

 

I’ll have to come back to the North Shore when all these vessels–Adventure, Friendship, and Fame–are sailing.

 

Continuing southward . . . we arrive in East Boston, and Jake.

Here’s another device on a rooftop.  Fiat Topolino?

If you know the area, you’ll guess I’ve been heading south on 1A, and now I’ve parked and am walking over the McArdelle Bridge.  Anyone know anything about that red vessel that looks a bit like Augie?

My tour of Luna recently is what lured me to this area around Chelsea Creek.  Here’s Luna resplendent.

Anyone know the story of JW Powell?

And the red and the white sailing vessels farthest from the camera here?

Over yonder is Aegean Sea, formerly of the seas of the sixth boro.

This bullnose will likely never again see the water.

And here we are at the end of this stretch of road . . . it’s Roxbury High Fort aka the Cochituate Standpipe.

So here we are . . . it’s a whistle from the SS United States!  Are there any developments in her refurbishing?  For some interior shots of her I took two years ago, click here.   Here are some other photos taken on the SS United States.

As to the particulars on the whistle, here’s what I learned this morning from SW:  “The whistle from the United States is a Leslie Tyfon, size 300DVE-5.  [Click on that link to hear one of these.]  It was purchased in 1986 by my uncle at auction I believe through Marine Technologies  Brokerage Corp. out of N.Y.   We have a letter of authenticity and it is currently for sale to the best offer.  Last recorded offer was $10,000.00.  We feel it is much more valuable.  It was on of three steam whistles from the forward stack of the ocean liner.  My uncle purchased the large forward whistle.  Thanks for your curiosity.”

All photos taken by Will Van Dorp.

Many thanks to GT for the heads up and to Steve for the info on whistle.

Luna

It was spring 1987 when I saw this boat first, a decade and a half after her retirement.  She and her sister Venus were a sorry sight on the bank of the Charles near the Science Museum; if you wanted a photo that screamed “forlorn,” they were that shot.  Unfortunately, I took very few photos back then.   Over the years, I knew Venus was scrapped and always wondered about Luna.   Here’s a chronology of steps toward the saving of Luna–and loss of Venus–in the first two/thirds of the 1990s.

All the photos in this post–and there are a lot of them–were taken less than a week ago over in Chelsea.

Click here for a chronology of Luna’s life from 1997 until end of 2000, which found Luna in Boothbay, Samples Shipyard.

I don’t think you’ll argue if I say she’s a great looking 86-year-old today.

 

Talented and exacting volunteers were attending to details when I visited.

Of course, she’ll never push again  But who imagines sending an 86-year-old out to work?

 

Here’s another link with some duplicate info.  John G. Alden was the designer.

The “lights” under the tender bring light into the engine room.

Here’s from the engine room deck looking up . . at the gauge boards, with

project priorities in full view throughout.

 

 

As a result of Luna’s immersion(s), her Winton engines, exciters, and motor will likely never run again.

 

Here’s a finished starboard aft crew cabin.  Note the stencil on the mattress for Boston Tow Boat.

 

Those are functioning 1930-era bulbs, and yes, Bag Balm has been around since long before 1930.  My father used it in the stable.

What!?  No Nescafe?

 

 

Many thanks to Ben Grudinskas of Atlantic Hunter for this tour.   Here’s another shot of Atlantic Hunter arriving at last year’s Roundup.

Play Boats 2

Here was the first “play boats.”

What’s this?

For some to entice us to play, it takes a 1935 85′ Mathis Trumpy named

—what else–

Enticer.  Exactly a year ago, I posted about a 1926 Trumpy Mathis named Freedom.

For others it takes teeth and arms . . . even if faux.   If you live along the Erie Canal, keep a watch since PT 728 will soon be moving over to Lake Erie.

And still others of us need to fish, as from a C-Dory like this.

Then there are Feadships like Utopia II.

Or there’s the plaything of Roman Abramovitch, the

vessel with the luxury tender, Luna!

What’s this red unit, plaything of tides, currents, and winds?  More later.

And very near many of these playboats, a banded bird that plays with prey. To see more eagles along the Hudson and other birds, click here.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

May 2012 Boro6 News B

Change is the only constant.  New stuff always appears, like this slightly different foto (than Saturday‘s) of Mark Moran, and

old stuff gets painted, again.  Click on that link to see only some of the colors Greenland has worn over the past 22 years.   I may be biased, but the K-Sea colors seemed to have suited her best.

This next series shows what I think is an ongoing filming of a Z-drive tug by a crew on another tug.  “Reality show” BIG TELEVISION discovers the sixth boro” perhaps?

Notice in the third foto down here Ellen McAllister had the words “tractor tug” painted on her hull midships.

I’m guessing this heeling to apply maximum pressure on MOL Earnest‘s stern was the subject of the filming.

Surely I’ve never seen this many people on the foredeck of a working tug.

Ellen put on quite the show, shoving Earnest‘s stern northish to point the bow southish.

Anyone want to “praytell” what the filming was?

I enjoyed the show myself.

I also caught this behemoth yacht over at the Red Hook passenger terminal, where the Queen Mary 2 docks in town.   My first thought was that it might be a yacht taking design inspiration from Discovery Coast (third down), but then I learned

it was Luna and predates Discovery.   That small white craft on this side of Luna is

is R/V Nauvoo.

Finally, rounding out this newsy but very “mixed bag” is this clutch of sailing vessels, from left to right . . .  Spirit of Massachusetts, America 2.0, and Adirondack.  Next week promises many more sails.

All fotos this weekend by Will Van Dorp, who’s now minding a swan.