Retro Sixth Boro 26 a

May 2010 . . . I took my first trip to see the thrills of the southern Arthur Kill, thanks to Bonnie.  Back then the hull of Astoria (1925-1967 on the East River Line) was still there. Since then, I believe it’s been removed  . . . said to be an eyesore.  !@#$?!!  Here’s more from that paddling trip.  Keansburg Steamboat Company operated it until it ended up here. If I read The Boats We Rode, Roberts & Gillespie, p.13) right, I’m wondering why it spent so many years before being broken up. And why isn’t it listed here?

ABC-1 was hauled out back that month. I know some of you are happy to see what she looks like below the waterline.

OSG Vision was new, and spent some time at the Bayonne shipyard. Here she’s nose-to-nose with Horizon Discovery.

I recall vividly this spectacular spring morning before work . . . Irish Sea went by pushing DBL 103, passing NYK Rigel at Howland Hook.  Mornings like that tempted me to skip work.

I’m not sure where this boat is today, but I did manage to get close-ups out of the water here, three and a half years later.

Heather M II here passed NYK Rigel.  I’ve never seen Heather M since, I believe, but she has classy lines and a great bow pudding.

Colleen was still in salt water back then.  I’m not sure she ever thawed out after a late December transit to Lake Michigan six years later.

Janice Ann, here pushing RTC 28, was still around here.  If you want to read about life aboard Janice Ann, I did a review of a book written by one of her captains here.

Niz C. Gisclair was an exotic in town, likely here working on a dredging job.  She has a Marquette logo on her stack.

Sorry about the backlighting here, but it’s Allied’s Falcon in the Kills. She has since appeared on this blog as Carolina Coast.

And finally .  .  . a sad shot of sister ship of Day-Peckinpaugh, launched as Interwaterways 101.  The vessel below was launched two months later as Interwaterways 105, and from 1936 until 1976 operated as Michigan. She’s languished in the AK for decades, possibly since 1976.  She’s an Eriemax, tailored to the dimensions of the Barge Canal locks, built in Duluth 99 years ago!

Here’s the same vessel on the Erie Canal, date and photographer unknown.

Yup . . . after 18 days of virtual Erie Canal touring, I needed to sneak another Erie Canal pic in here.

All photos except the last one by WVD.

 

CB11

I’ll delineate a new region here . . . the Greater Strait of Mackinac, 20 of so miles on either side of the bridge.

First we met Michigan with its barge Great Lakes.  To see her light and still sporting the AMOCO logo on its stacks, click here and scroll to 6/21.  Photos from 11 years ago.

Calumet was crossing under the bridge westbound.  Little did I know we’d cross paths again soon.  More on that later. Here are previous locations I crossed paths with Calumet.

Then Cuyahoga allowed a great profile view until

 

we got a 3/4 stern view.  Note the steering pole on the bow, like a bowsprit.

The next two were Indiana Harbor and

Mobile Bay.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

GWA8: following Huron

Although I’m a newbie, this being only my second run on Huron, I suspect this view dominates the experience of crossing Huron, possibly Superior also, which I’ve not traversed.  Huron is the inland sea with the longest shoreline, surrounded by sparse population.  Sarnia, the largest city on Huron has about 70,000; Port Huron, 30,000; and Alpena, 10,000.  Of course, Bay City–population 35,000– lies there also, but at more than 50 miles into Saginaw Bay, it’s a city you go to as a destination, which I need to do soon.  I’m eager to visit all the towns along this lake.

Off to starboard, it’s Thunder Bay, China-built, Seawaymax.

To port, it’s barge Menominee pushed by

Olive L. Moore.  If you look at no other link than this one in this post, check this one for the evolution of this tug since the hull was first laid down in Manitowoc in 1928, designed low to fit under the bridges in Chicago.

Arcticus ,Laurentian, a USGS vessel launched in 2014, was working some research project off our starboard.  Here’s a post I did in 2014 on another USGS vessel at its christening in Oswego.

Otherwise, along the shore there are lights  like Thunder Bay Island Light,

(and I’m not sure of the identification here) New Presque Isle Light, and

Spectacle Reef Light.

Near here, we passed tug Michigan pushing barge Great Lakes, which I last saw in Montreal last fall.

 

Martin Reef Light tells us we’re approaching the Straits, as

does the appearance of Kristen D, the ferry between Cheboygan and another Bois Blanc Island–more places to visit some day. Kristen D dates from the late 1980s.

Samuel D. Champlain I could pick out anywhere by its profile, but John C. Munson I had to check on my device. SDC appeared on this blog several times before, with a closeup here, and in a previous iteration here. Last year I caught SDC southbound in roughly the same end of Lake Huron.

And less than a mile from the dock on Mackinac Island, we pass Round Island Light.

Writing this post has clarified one section of where my next road trip will take me.  All photos and sentiments, errors, etc. by Will Van Dorp.

Related:  Check out these 10 facts about the Great Lakes.

Unrelated:  The 2017 NYC tugboat race is scheduled for Sunday Sept. 3. 

Random Tugs 177

Here’s an Ocean tug I left out of yesterday’s post . . . one of the Trois Rivieres’ fleet, Andre M.  She has a distinguished past as the former Foundation Valiant, of the company made famous in Farley Mowat’s classics Grey Seas Under and The Serpent’s Coil.

Svitzer moved into Montreal recently, named one tug for the port and

another for 17th century gallivanteur bretonais.  Click here for some backstory on Montreal and here for  . . . Cartier. 

Denis M, a port tug, is an oldie from 1942.

Michigan and its barge Great Lakes is

Indiana registered, and it appears to be Andrie-managed for US Venture.  Here are some specifics.  To my surprise, other Andrie-managed (?) vessels may include G. L. Ostrander and Samuel de Champlain.

Boatman No. 6 seems to operate as a one-boat harbor service vessel.

Since Everlast has captured my imagination, I was happy to see it again just upstream from Montreal.

Has anyone seen a photo of her as Bilibino?  Some of her interesting worldwide history can be found here.

And the last boat for today is Qimu, which

is a rare sight for my southern eyes because of the script on the stern and bow.  It’s Inuktitut, written in a Canadian Aboriginal syllabic script.   Over a decade ago and before I had the habit of carrying a camera, I saw a general cargo ship in Red Hook Brooklyn with its name written in similar script.  I no longer recall the name of the ship, but it looked like this one.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

And unrelated but in closing, here’s a information request from Michael Pak, which you can also see in the comments section to the left above, where you can also post your answers:  “Hello, I’m wondering if anyone here can help me find out any information about my great grandfather John Maitland Adams, a tugboat captain on the Hudson in the thirties and forties I believe. He is mentioned in the March 1947 National Geographic magazine in the story “Shad in the Shadows of Skyscrapers” along with ‘river veterans, Captain, Fred Truax, Harry Lyons,Floyd Clayton and William Ingold.’  My grandmother and great uncles spent their early years on the river, they hauled coal and lumber up and down the river. He retired from the river and became an engineer on the Hudson River West Coast Line. He lived out his life on the river dying on his boat in Edgewater, I think. In his obituary they refer to him as ‘Pop Adams.’  Any records or info about him would be greatly appreciated.”  MP.

Anyone help out with leads?

Here’s more on shad fishing in the Hudson.

And since we’re on research requests, does anyone know which tug would have been towing cargo barge Columbia Boston in Cape Cod Bay in February 1992 when it lost some containers?  Here’s a reference to that event in a Bangor paper a year later because of  flotsam.

 

Ports of the Acushnet

I took these photos in early September.  That’s New Bedford on the far side of the Acushnet River;  I was standing on the Fairhaven side of the hurricane barrier.  Acushnet was also the whaleship name in Moby Dick.

Note the Portuguese name:  Sao Paulo, built 1977

A member of the crew looks homeward.

Mary K, built 1990, and registered

in Woods Hole.

Megan Marie, built 1980, is registered in

Montauk.  If you want to watch fish boats, the hurricane barrier is a good spot.

Sao Jacinto, 1977, and registered n New Bedford. And following them out, it’s

Jim Dandy, 1977,  of So. Dartmouth.

Direction, Westport, MA.

 

Michigan, Fairhaven, 1947.

 

Nicole Danielle, Atlantic City, NJ.

Whitewater, Marathon FL!

Here are four vessels of the Eastern Fisheries fleet. 

There are two boats by this name in New Bedford, as is

true of this one.

The registration on the stern says “New Bedford.”

The density of boats on the docks makes credible that this port is rated #1 in the US for catch value, and has been for the past decade and a half.

 

Check out Cape May NJ and Lowland, NC.

 

All photos taken over a two-day period around the mouth of the Acushnet by Will Van Dorp.

Someone more informed than me could identify what fishery each of these vessels engages in.