Names 51

I caught her at the fuel dock the other day, and knew a bit of back story.  Do you recall seeing her before on this blog?

Since she was fueling and I was not waiting around for that process to end, I left.  I wish I’d gotten a 360-degree view, because changed paint really changes appearance.

She used to be Marion Moran, as seen in these Bayonne Bridge April 2013 photos

here muscling a HanJin container ship around Bergen Point. 

Another new name . . . Marilyn George, stencilled on for now. 

As you can see, before that she was Steven Wayne and before that . . .

she was 

Patapsco, as seen here in a September 2008 photo.

Welcome Marilyn George and Topaz Coast.  All photos, WVD. 

 

Hudson Downbound ’18a

Here’s a Hudson down bound set of three posts I did five years ago, in a different season.

This trip starts at Scarano’s just south of Albany, where a crew picked up excursion boat Kingston for delivery to Manhattan.   Last fall after delivery up bound, I posted these landmarks.

Spirit of Albany (1966), operated by the Albany Port District Commission, is a regular for the Waterford Tugboat Roundup parade.

High above Castleton, name going back to Henry Hudson, is that Sacred Heart Church?

Two bridges cross just north of Coeymans are the Berkshire Spur of the NY Thruway and the Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge, the furthest south operational rail bridge over the Hudson.

Katherine Walker performs spring buoy planting south of Coxsackie.

I’ve heard a story behind the “parked” marine equipment in Athens NY, but need a refresher.  Anyone explain how this came to be frozen in time here?  The view is only possible if your draft allows you to navigate the channel on the west side of Middle Ground Flats.

Hudson-Athens Light is one of the lighthouses saved from demolition at a point when all lights were being automated.  Back when I did more hiking, I looked down on the Hudson and some of these landmarks from the heights, in “what Rip saw,” as in the long sleeper.

South of Catskill Creek, you can see snow still covering the slopes of the Catskills.

Marion Moran pushes Bridgeport upbound.  That’s the east shore of the Hudson beyond her.

By the time we get to Saugerties, snow seems to be creating whiteout conditions on the Catskill escarpement.

We head south, here meeting Fells Point pushing Doubleskin 302.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  For more on the lighthouses, click here. In the next in the series, we head farther south.

And for what it’s worth, I’m still in the market for some “seats” photos.

 

Random Tugs 202

Patricia was built in 1963 and works in the sixth boro here and here, and last I knew worked for C.H. Phoenix LLC of Green Cove Springs, Fl. . . .   I like the racing stripes.

Caitlin Ann was built in 1961 and has worked for DonJon since 2011.   Here, she and

Sarah Ann appear to be moving coal.  Sarah Ann is from 2003, working for DonJon since 2009.

Marion Moran has worked by that name since 1982.  I think that’s Katherine Weeks on the far side of the barge.

Bruce A. McAllister, 

Eric McAllister, and

Alex McAllister were all working from the Narrows the

other morning.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Congestion 3

Here  are the two previous posts by this title, and more.

Juxtaposed boats invite comparison, allow perception of subtle difference, here between Marion and Doris.

It also gives a sense of the random traffic patterns, here about to pass the impatient Peking are (l to r) Michael Miller, Charles Burton, and way in the distance Robert E. McAllister.

Here , a few seconds later, Charles Burton‘s barge CVA-601 is about to obscure Chandra B–on a ship assist?– and Miriam Moran.

 

Here, from l to r, it’s Sapphire Coast, Charles Burton, Evening Mist, Ellen S. Bouchard, Robert E. McAllister, Scott Turecamo, and Erin McAllister.   

And a quarter hour later and from a different vantage point, it’s Stena Companion, Cielo di Milano, a Miller launch, Maersk Phoenix, and NCS Beijing.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Tugs 183

On the cusp of wintriness if not winter per se, the Hudson Valley is spectacular.  Let’s start with Fred Johannsen pushing this crane barge northward.  That’s the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge aka George Clinton Memorial Bridge (DeWitt Clinton’s uncle)  in the distance.

Here Treasure Coast urges Cement Transporter 7700–one I’ve never seen before–the last mile to the cement dock.

This reflection was so magical, I needed to include this closer-up.

Emerald Coast pushes a fuel barge downstream.

Sarah D moves a motley pair of scows upstream.

Eastern Dawn moves a fuel barge downstream.

Mr Russell shifts a barge near the TZ Bridge.  What is in those tanks?

Might that be Marion Moran pushing sugar barge Somerset up toward Yonkers?

I believe this is Doris Moran moving cement barge Adelaide downriver.

And as a last-but-not-least photo today, here’s Cornell conducting a TOAR sign off session.  Here’s a post I did three years ago with the same activity but using a different barge.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who has a proposal below:

If you are working Thursday and therefore having lunch and/or dinner at work–whether on a vessel or in some other work setting–and you choose to take a photo of the dinner–any aspect of the meal–and send it to me, please do and I’ll try to devise a post with it on Friday this week.  Thanks for the consideration.

Also, you may be “choosing” ed out by now, but here’s a set of thoughtful, well-reasoned and -articulated perspectives on the Hudson anchorages question that is open to public discussion until early December.

Also, if you’re planning to be at the WorkBoat show in New Orleans next week,  I’ll be wandering around there, maybe looking for some extra work.  I hope to see you.

 

 

Between Bayonne’s Tanks

Click on the image below for an interactive map of this portion of the sixth boro.  Right now at about the 9 o’clock position you see two small white specks.  They

are the huge spherical tanks seen off Barbara McAllister‘s stern.

Consider the size of the wraparound stairs and you’ll understand why locally they’re called “gorilla’s balls.”.

So here’s what the tugboat fueling station looks like from the north bank of the KVK, and

here looking west.

Here’s looking NE across the tank farm, and

from the landslide looking eastward across Robbins Reef Light to Brooklyn.

Off the bow of Oleander–the incoming small container ship, would be the Staten Island ferry racks,

and here’s looking south across tanker Navig8 Spirit toward the salt pile. But here’s the surprise, inside the fence and between the tanks,

there’s a very old cemetery, which pre-dates the use of this land for oil.

It’s Constable Hook Cemetery, founded by Pieter van Buskirk.

Who knew?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  Many thanks to Jack Kennedy for arranging for this tour.

 

Checking Back 2015 c

Remember the logic in this series is . . . the first pic of the month and the last pic of the month . . .

Early September found me still along the Acushnet . . .  Malena–as of this writing–is in Sierra Leone, having bounced around the Caribbean since departing New Bedford.

By September’s end, Wavertree was slathered in a beautiful red primer.

Early October . . . that’s North Star off the Orient Point, and Plum Gut, with Plum Island in the background.

Late October . . . a conversation led to an invitation to tour iMTT Bayonne and see Marion Moran at the tug fuel station from the waterside.  I still need to post about that.

November . . . and Med Sea bound for the Sound and beyond.

Joyce D. Brown going back to the kills.

And late in the month, my only view of Patty Nolan, on the hard in Verplanck. Click here for some of many posts on the 1931 Patty.

Early December . . .it’s mild and I decided to experiment with some color separation on Margaret Moran. Click here for a post from seven-plus years ago with Margaret Moran  . . .

And since December has not yet ended, I will post this in its incomplete state, with the promise of a “last December 2015”  post yet to come.

This is my last post for 2015.  Happy New Year.  May it be peaceful and safe.

Fireworks & Tugs

See the decorated Dutch bar?  That’s not something you see every day.

but July 4 is not an ordinary day.  Just look at all those people at the land’s edge:  “water-gazers” Melville called them, as you can read here with the last sentence of the second paragraph and go through the next two paragraphs.   All wanting to see the decorated Dutch bar?

Brendan Turecamo, showing the Turecamo flag!

Marie J Turecamo brought a barge of pyrotechnics too.

Marion Moran–like Brendan Turecamo–brought a barge full to midtown, I believe.

. . . as did Doris Moran. Again, see the water-gazers fill the esplanade.

Other tugboats brought other gazers . . . sky-gazers soon.

like Kimberly Poling and .

 

Yemitzis, launched as a PRR tug in 1954.   Click here and scroll to see her original look.

My goal at the fireworks on Pier 16 had been to get shots of Ambrose bathed in pyrotechnical light, but alas . . . without the right orientation of camera to boat to flashes . . . this is the best I got.

This photo from July 2012 was what I had imagined I could get.  Well . . . it’s all about a lot of things, including location.   See the different version of this shot of the left of this page and please let’s continue the discussion on the future of Pegasus.

Speaking of sky-gazers . . . from the back of the crowd on Pier 16, this is what I got.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

And if you didn’t see this article in the NYTimes about digital photography and ethics, check it out, even if you just look at the before and after photos.

 

 

Crazy Patterns 2

Here was the first of this series, from over four years ago.  And what’s this?  whose wake prints?

Answer?  It’s the flotilla assisting Hanjin San Francisco into Port Elizabeth.  Four months ago I caught San Fran outbound . . . here . . . scroll through.

Let’s do an anatomy of wakes on a curve called Bergen Point.  That’s Marion Moran on the stern quarter, a New Jersey State Police boat overtaking on the port side.  Click here to see a now/then foto of Shooters, the island just beyond the container vessel.

Marion clings, presses while moving “sideways” through the water.

Laura K passes.

In the same general time frame, surveyboat Michele Jeanne

and lube tanker Emma Miller scribe the surface with their own signature, as

does Ellen McAllister and as

a commingling with

Catherine Turecamo.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Pretty World

At 0630 today . . .  this vessel was still in Gravesend Bay, flanked by two tugboats.  I recalled it’d been there for about two days.

As the tide turned, one assist tug switched out and others added.

Three hours later . . . it was Margaret Moran, Joan Turecamo, and Marion Moran . . . and

then Gramma Lee T Moran hooked into the bow, totaling over 16,000 hp if needed.  Pretty World looked like a dead ship.

Towing stern first,

Gramma Lee T brought her into Upper Bay by noon and then on to GMD Bayonne.  It looks like time to pop the hood on Pretty World.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.