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The year is in its last hours, and these vessels saw their last hours in this year as well. Of course, this is a subjective list, made up of mostly photos I’ve taken over the years of sixth boro and Great Lakes vessels. This list is not definitive. If you know of others, you might add them in the comments section.
Many photos of Helen McAllister have appeared here over the years, but time caught up with the 1900 Helen, who began and ended her life on Staten Island. I caught her doing her last dance –a tango or a waltz– here.
More than 10 years of silence passed between the photo above at the McAllister NY yard and the one below in Tottenville. Eagle-eyed Tony A. caught her stripped of her identification and ready for the scrapping jaws last month.
The 1907 Pegasus saw her end this year as well. I spent many hours on Pegasus, and regretfully, sometimes the scrappers’ jaws are the most humane end for boats.
The 1970 Joanne Reinauer III also saw its end. I learned a lot about the modifications made to tugboat from her and from photos of her tranformations supplied by readers. My photo below is from 2009.
The 1972 Viking also saw a series of modifications. You might think a powerful machine like this . . . like these . . . would never wear out, but like you and me, they do. I believe it was 2021 that she was scrapped, but it may have been earlier. The photo below is from the September 5, 2010 tugboat race.
The Great Lakes shed some vessels also. Mississagi began work in 1943. I took the photo in Lake St. Clair in August 2016. She was towed to a Sault Ste. Marie scrapyard in October 2021.
Manistee dates from the same year and has the same dimensions–620′ x 60′– as Mississagi. This photo I took in Toledo, where she had been laid up for some time. More on Manistee here.
Ojibway, a 1952 bulker, is currently underway in the Saint Lawrence River, bound for Port Cartier with a load of grain. After that, she’ll lay up awaiting an uncertain future. For what it’s worth, she came off the ways the year I was born.
And on a sad note, the 1975 St. Clair was relatively new for a Great Lakes bulk carrier, but a devastating fire during winter layup in February 2019 condemned her; she arrived at the scrapyard in Port Colborne just a few weeks ago. Photo here is credited to Corey Hammond.
Thanks to Tony and Corey for their photos; all others, WVD, who wishes you all a healthy and happy 2022 and the fulfillment of all your goals.
And unrelated to this post but entirely germane to this day of reflection/new goal setting before a new year, check out Ellen Magellan’s expeditions. That’s not her real name but it’s so clever I wish I’d come up with it.
Sometimes I’m conflicted about what to post, like today with too many competing stories, and we’ll start with news, and Cisne Branco, which translates as “white swan.” The photo below shows Cisne Branco, a Brazilian Navy training vessel, in the sixth boro in May 2012 for a sixth boro OpSail event. Earlier this week, the 1998 vessel got swept downstream the Rio Guayas in Guayaquil, Ecuador and came to rest against a pedestrian bridge. See it and hear about it here.
Here’s another shot of Cisne Branco in Gravesend Bay.
In other news, the 1967 83′ steel schooner Mystic Whaler, a regular in the sixth boro, has been sold to a party on the West Coast. The Egintons have owned it since 1995.
A few weeks ago now, the 1943 laker Mississagi was towed to the scrapyard in Sault Ste Marie. I caught these two photos of her in summer 2016 in Lake Michigan below and
along the Saint Lawrence River below. Other photos can be seen here.
While looking up my May 2012 photos of Cisne Branco, I saw this photo of Taurus in the North River. She’s now Joker, featured here several times recently. In May 2012, the K-Sea fleet had just been sold to Kirby, and in the photo below, the red K-Sea visor was painted blue, the K-Sea logo was removed from the stack, but the Kirby logo had not yet replaced it. Also, in the background, it’s Harvey and Frying Pan at Pier 66.
This photo also from May 2012 shows Ellen McAllister coming alongside Dewarucci, an Indonesian training ship. Between the two, it’s Scotty Sky, the small bunker tanker now sold somewhere in the Cabibbean.
Since there’s a lot of media attention on the congestion in SOME US ports, have a look at what’s off Savannah. This was a screen grab from VesselFinder almost a week ago, and it’s not much different today. A personal frustration is the outermost vessel shown, CMA CGM Marco Polo. I missed getting a photo of her in the sixth boro on Saturday, October 9 because I was out of town; in the wee hours of Monday, she departed for Norfolk and then Savannah. She’s now been anchored, about 60 miles out from Savannah’s container terminals since the 15th. Earlier this year she was setting a new record in US/Canada ports, and now she’s stuck in a jam.
And finally, two photos from April 2018 showing Mon Lei getting towed to a marina just north of the GW Bridge, where it stayed for some time. Question: Where is Mon Lei today . . . asking for a friend.
This red/white junk was once quite the fixture in the sixth boro, and although I was never aboard, I’m told the interior was sumptuous! Click here for posts I’ve done on the boat. I talked with one of the owners once on the phone.
That’s some news from my desk in Queens. All photos, WVD.
I’d really like to know what became of Mon Lei.
Yesterday, Labor Day, I took no photos, except one of a wood sign carving project in progress.
It turns out . . . Labor Day 2020 I took no photos either; these were sent to me though by Josh Watts, and embarrassingly, I’ve not posted them until now. Sometimes I get into a groove and lose track of things. These are two new generation NYS Canals tugs and a floating gradall, maintaining canal depth. It’s a great shot.
Here’s anorther from that date and that area of the west-of-Rochester portion of the canal, Adams Basin. The vantage point is a house barge from Erie Canal Adventures.
Labor Day 2019 I had the good fortune to be laboring, and taking photos, and doing that in Cleveland. Self-unloading freighter Algoma Buffalo was winding its way down the Cuyahoga
with assistance from two tugs, Cleveland and Iowa, launched 2017 and 1915 respectively!! You caught that 102-year difference in age, right! Also, that waterway used simultaneously for commerce and recreation . . . that’s the Cuyahoga, you know, the one that caught fire a number of times a half century ago. That is a story of concerted problem-solving, concerted means people with different ideas solving problems together.
Labor Day 2018 I was exploring Chicago and saw this massive Muddy Waters mural.
Just beyond this navigation aid, you turn to port and enter the federal lock that leads to the Chicago River.
Labor Day 2017 I was in Manitowoc. Then and many other times I’ve seen and wondered about Halten, a 1966 Swedish Coast Guard vessel (maybe not since painted-over raised letters on the stern say Oslo) that appears to be a yacht that might not move much. Maybe it just moves when I’ve not been paying attention.
Avenger IV passed us on Lake Michigan, where lots of fishing was happening from small boats.
Labor Day 2016 I had just left Ogdensburg downbound, and was passing the Canadian port of Johnstown, where the 1943 freighter Mississagi
was discharging cargo,
and a half hour later, we were still looking back at Johnstown in the beauty of the morning colors.
I could go farther back but won’t now. I’ve no idea why I’ve not taken any photos the past two Labor Days. September 5, 2022, I need to get back to work. Thanks to Josh for the first two photos; all others, WVD.
Looking ahead, just a reminder that after the TugBoat RoundUp, I’ll be road foto tripping a lot, and that might be no posts some days.
When you have a big horizon, unlike the case in my cliff dwelling near the sixth boro, sunrises make getting up and out a must.
And when a laker–in this case RadcliffeR. Latimer seen illuminated by the first rays of dawn–
shares it with you,
start of day comes with a high.
Later in that same day, the wind has kicked up some spray and a pair of Lower Lakes Towing vessels come by . . .
Saginaw and
Mississagi . . .
no matter what else is going on, it’s a good day.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
“one of the toughest ports in the world, sharing that distinction with Shanghai and Calcutta . . .” I believe that’s “tough” as quantified in black eyes, missing teeth, and blood spat out onto the gravel. I wonder who had the breadth of experience to render this judgement. Why would such ports as Rio, Murmansk, and Oswego not be included . . . or others?
Besides that, those few sentences render a great description of mechanization.
Mississagi is wintering over here in Ashtabula. She’s appeared on this blog a half dozen times . . . working. I’m coming home is Norfolk Southern’s mantra.
I believe this archway is a coal conveyor belt.
That’s all you get of GL tug Rhode Island. Mississagi (1943) is only a year younger than Alpena. But Rhode Island dates from 1930. The white tug in front of it is Nancy Anne. based in Cheboygan, MI.
A bit farther east in Ashtabula, Calumet winters over. Previous posts including Calumet can be found here.
and off its stern, it’s the upper portion of tug Olive L. Moore (hull launched in 1928) and barge Menominee. I caught them on Lake Huron in August 2017.
If you wanted to start reading that historical marker from side one, here it is, then if you want, you can go back to the beginning and read that in proper context. If you want the short history of Ashtabula, click here for a review of a good book. If you want the juicy details or at least the gritty ones, buy Carl E. Feather’s Ashtabula Harbor: A History of the world’s Greatest Iron Ore Receiving Port. My copy is on order.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
To start, these are boats, I’m told, not ships. I first saw the type as a kid, reading a book that made an impression and crossing the St Lawrence on the way to the grandparents’ farm.
I’ve posted Great Lakes photos a fair number of times in the past few years, so I continue CYPHER series here with Manitowoc –a river-size self unloader–departing Cleveland for Milwaukee.
Alpena–1942–with the classic house-forward design transports cement. I was thrilled to pass her late this summer on a magnificent Lake Huron afternoon.
Although you might not guess it, Algoma Harvester was built here half a world away from the Lakes. To get to her trading waters, she crossed two oceans, and christened less than four years ago. The selling point is that she carries more cargo than typically carried within the size parameters of a laker (Seawaymax), requires fewer crew, and exhausts cleaner. I took the photo on the Welland.
Thunder Bay hails from the same river in China as Algoma Harvester and just a year earlier. The photo was taken near Montreal in the South Shore Canal.
Tim S. Dool was built on a Canadian saltwater port in 1967. I caught her here traversing the American Narrows on the St. Lawrence.
American Mariner was built in Wisconsin in 1979. In the photo below she heads unbound on Lake St. Louis. I’ve seen her several times recently, here at night and here upbound St. Clair River.
Baie St. Paul is a slightly older, nearly identical Chinese built sister to Thunder Bay.
Algolake, launched 1977, was among the boats built in the last decade of the Collingwood Shipyard.
Lee R. Tregurtha, here down bound in Port Huron, has to have among the most interesting history of any boat currently called a laker. She was launched near Baltimore in 1942 as a T-3 tanker, traveled the saltwater world for two decades, and then came to the lakes. I also caught her loading on Huron earlier this year here.
Mississagi is another classic, having worked nearly 3/4 of a century on the Lakes.
Buffalo, 1978 Wisconsin built, and I have crossed paths lots recently, earlier this month here. The photo below was taken near Mackinac; you can see part of the bridge off her stern. Tug Buffalo from 1923, the one going to the highest bidder in five days, now stands to go to the bidder with $2600 on the barrelhead.
I’ll close this installment out with lake #12 in this post . . . . Hon. James L. Oberstar, with steel mill structures in the background, has been transporting cargo on the lakes since the season of 1959. She is truly a classic following that steering pole. See Oberstar in her contexts here, here, and really up close, personal, and almost criminally so for the diligent photographer, here.
All photos by Will Van Dorp. More to come.
Here are the previous ones.
Whitefish Bay was built in China in 2010.
See the beached vessel to the left, it’s
Kathryn Spirit, not a pretty sight.
Here Orsula departs upstream of Beauharnois Canal.
She’s formerly . . . Federal Calumet.
Here Mississagi was offloading corn,
with a green light and 84% of something status.
And closing this out, I have a friend on Algolake who prompted me to help them fete their vessel’s anniversary five years ago here.
Happy 40th very soon and fair winds. I’m curious about the United Way logo on the superstructure.
All photos by Will Van dorp.
This series goes back to 2006, when I had no idea where it would end up a decade on. Click here to see past installments. All the photos in this post I took between Prescott ON and the start of the Beauharnois Canal.
Below . . . it’s the light at the location of the Battle of the Windmill. Some of the charm of seeing this borderlands is learning of the obscure events of US-Canada history and the little remembered or mentioned groups like Hunter Lodges and the so-called “patriots” of the Patriots’ War.
Here’s the active monument to commerce at the port of Johnstown, ON.
What prompts me to do this post is a recognition of the beauty little seen.
More Mississagi soon, but for now, the self-unloader is offloading upstream of the Iroquois Lock.
This wall leads into the Iroquois lock, which doesn’t always close. It’s a check lock.
This is the same dairy farm off the port beam and
the stern.
We meet Thalassa Desgagnes upstream of the Eisenhower Lock.
These transmission lines come off the Moses-Saunders Power Dam, crossing over the River at Massena.
Dog swimming on a leash?
Singer Castle, it’s not.
Singer Castle, 50 or so miles upstream, this is.
And these are the Adirondacks, as seen from the River downstream of Massena.
This looks like the Eglise de Saint Anicet, QC.
Labrador here is just upstream of the first lock in the Beauharnois Canal.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Let’s look at these from a different perspective . . . whether they can escape the inland seas shared by the US and Canada or not. The maximum size the Seaway aka Highway H2O can accommodate is 740′ x 78. x 30.’
So Kaye E. Barker . . . 767′ x 70′ x 36′ . . . Nope. But when she first came off the ways in Toledo in 1951, her loa was 647′ and she had no self-unloader, so back then she could have,
although there was no St. Lawrence Seaway then either. So Nope again. But she was not lengthened until 1976, so Yes. Her tonnage capacity is 25,900.
Mississagi comes in at 620′ x 60′ x 35,’ so if she’s carrying a partial load . . . maybe. She came out of the River Rouge in 1943. Her capacity . . . 15,800 tons.
In photo #2 above and the one below, notice the RenCen of Detroit.
American Mariner came out of Buffalo in 1979 at 730′ x 78′ x 45.’
So with a light load, yes.
Her capacity is 37,200 tons.
I don’t know if she ever leaves the Upper Lakes.
Chemtrans Elbe is a saltie, so obviously she’s a global traveler. She was built in Korea in 2009 and measures 423′ x 75.’
Edzard Schulte was built in China in 2011, 475′ x ’75.’
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
And the trip goes on . . . here heading for the Straits, where it seems there are underwater sights I missed.
Meanwhile, on the surface of the top of Lakes Huron and Michigan, there are plenty of things to look at, like this old ChrisCraft and
1944 fish tug Richard E.
After we pass White Shoal light, we encounter traffic
like Karen Andrie and
“maritimer” Mississagi.
From morning to night, there were small boats fishing and larger
ones –like this unidentified Algoma Central Corporation dry bulker–
x
until day ends over Wisconsin.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
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