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The thermometer read 23 degrees F, winds gusted between 20-27 mph, and my blood has stayed thin in this mild winter.
Crew on Brendan does exactly what they’d do if it were midsummer, anchor hawse rinse notwithstanding.
For this or any job, each person has private mix of motivation, some set of reasons for tolerating the discomfort . . .
This blogger/fotographer comes out here for the big bucks, of course. That and the ability to see great names like this Silver Lining.
This 3-plus-mile ditch is a microcosm of places like the Panama Canal, the Shanghai offing, the English Channel/La Manche.
There’s something to be said for being inside, but at the same time . . .
it’s exhilarating out here.
By now Brendan and Kimberly have their tanker secured at the dock, and have no doubt moved on to the next assist.
All fotos this morning by Will Van Dorp. For a scientist’s tracking of sixth boro weather this season, check out seaAndsky.
If you’re in NYC, this movie comes out this week at Anthology Film Archives and it’s about this world and called The Forgotten Space. I plan to see it next weekend.
By the way, according to the site Shipspotting, here’s Silver Lining‘s itinerary for the past three months:
| 2012 February 10th, 13:00:18 UTC | New York |
| 2012 January 26th, 23:30:17 UTC | Milford Haven |
| 2012 January 22nd, 22:30:40 UTC | Amsterdam |
| 2012 January 8th, 19:00:25 UTC | Freeport |
| 2011 December 22nd, 22:00:37 UTC | New York |
| 2011 December 4th, 14:01:32 UTC | Brofjorden |
| 2011 November 28th, 19:00:54 UTC | Skagen |
| 2011 November 28th, 09:00:54 UTC | Brofjorden |
| 2011 November 28th, 00:01:18 UTC | Rotterdam |
| 2011 November 12th, 14:30:24 UTC | Montreal |
This short dozen tugboats chosen because they passed on a given part of a morning recently differ in size, age, tasks, and number of fleet siblings. Less visible are their differing histories and crews.
Laura K Moran, 2008 built in Maine 87′ loa and 5100 hp here escorting in Ever Devote. Below her is Caitlin Ann, built in Louisiana in 1961. 70′ loa and 2400 hp.
Vane’s Bohemia and Quantico Creek differ in many respects: 2007 v. 2010, 4200 v. 3000, Louisiana v. Maryland, and 96′ v. 90′ loa.
Below them, escorting Dubai Express, is James Turecamo, 1969 built in NY, 92′ loa and 2000 hp.
Greenland Sea, built in Louisiana in 1990, 4200 hp and 112′ loa.
Below her is Barbara McAllister, 1969 built in Louisiana, 100 loa and 4000 hp.
Charles D. McAllister, 1967 built in Florida, 1800 hp and 94′ loa.
Margaret Moran, shown twice escorting Cosco Tianjin, 1979 built in Louisiana, 99′ loa and 3000 hp.
Two former SeaBoats tugs are now Mediterranean Sea and Weddell Sea, both built in Massachusetts and powered by 4500 hp. Mediterranean Sea (110′ loa) was launched in 2004; Weddell Sea (105′ loa) launched 2007.
Finally, it’s Nicole Leigh Reinauer, Alabama-built, launched in 1999, 119′ loa, and 7200 hp.
All fotos this week by Will Van Dorp.
I introduced the term aframax here four and a half years ago. Relative to the sixth boro and the Kills, it means BIG, although by no means big by global standards. At 113,043 DWT, Southern Spirit is a minor vessel in relation to the now scrapped Knock Nevis (564,763 DWT) or also-scrapped Batillus (553,662 DWT).
No matter, in the frigid 21-degree morning today, finger almost too cold to trigger the shutter, I felt warmed to see her glide in, with Gramma Lee T. Moran assisting. Doubleclick enlarges.
In my observation, not many vessels navigate with KVK with a 5100-hp vector like Gramma Lee at the ready like this. Here’s a 2002 article about the background and training of the first captain of Gramma Lee.
Spotting the assist was Catherine Turecamo, astern of Gramma Lee.
On a cold winter day, this is what the promise of heat looks like. Can anyone help me figure out where this cargo–if it be crude–exited the earth?
As to promise of heat, if I were crew on watch, I’d be hoping for hot soup for lunch.
All fotos today by Will Van Dorp.
Here’s a post I did five years ago with info on suezmax and capesize vessels and a foto of a very young tugster.
Unrelated: For a mariner’s reaction to the Costa Concordia collision with Isola del Giglio, read Hawsepiper Paul here. Another mariner, Peter Boucher of Nautical Log, weighs in here. I had the pleasure of meeting Peter last summer in Florida.
The sixth boro must have such a reputation for . . . beauty that cutters like Seneca come to admire it, especially in late afternoon setting sun. 1535 hrs.
And I might construe this as an old bulker named Nassau, registered in Nassau Paradise, came to the sixth boro for
the same reason as WMEC-906.
1605 hrs . . . I was out for that reason myself, to see Linda Moran eastbound, or
Pati R. Moran westbound at 1630. I tried unsuccessfully to run to get closer for a better shot.
1644 . . . Laura K. heads northbound for a job.
1645 . . Ellen S. Bouchard heads westbound past Barney Turecamo.
Parting shot of Ellen . . a few seconds later.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
I wouldn’t dream of missing Bowsprite‘s lead, so here goes.
My latest gallivant has found me here,
a location I zoomed through last year.
The vessels in this post
reveal this river on the East coast
Whose name most know as ___ ____r.
So here are the clues: Margaret McAllister and a warship in the distance.
Kathryne E. and another shot of Margaret McAllister. The appearance of “arms” is given by dredge Cherokee.
Dredge tug Fleming passing an unidentified wreck, whose identity I of course want to know.
R/V Dan Moore and Cherokee.
Cape Henry escorting in Petrochemical Supplier pushed by Corpus Christi.
Closer -up of Cape Henry. All these are just SOME of the activity on New Year’s Day on the river called
Cape Fear. By the way, R/V Dan Moore docks at the CFCC Technology Pier, part of the Cape Fear Community College offerings.
Bonne annee . . . more soon.
Here’s my post from a year ago. Where HAS the time gone? A joy of doing this blog is to go back, and sometimes as with this one, my memory–or is it my gut–recalls the eagerness of that morning 365 days ago. What I pursued then I still pursue . . .
Can you spot anything in the foto below that suggests the time of year? Answer follows. All fotos look better if you enlarge by doubleclicking on them.
Oyster Creek reenacts a moment with the Bayonne Bridge that mimics a Fractor scene (see my “masthead” atop each post) from five years back.
L. W. Caddell struts out into the KVK all in a day’s work that
shows off its bollard pull.
Mary Alice (ex-Gulf Sword, 1974) sashays back to the work on the channel near Shooters. I wonder, given how long the deepening of the sixth boro channels has been ongoing and how from the surface, the water looks unchanged, has anyone heard of a moniker for this project akin to “big dig,” a Boston phenomenon?
Behemoths like NYK Romulus, relatively small given the world fleet, benefits from this dredging. Notice the red/green detail nearly in the center of this foto. Might that be on-deck controls for a bow thruster?
In her last moments of this leg of her never-ending journey, she’s assisted by Gramma Lee T Moran and
Margaret Moran. Without the dredging and without assistance, Romulus would never get here and
negotiate this
S-curve. Notice in the distance, where on Shooters shore the dredging currently focuses. If you missed this post showing Shooters a century ago, click here. If you want a comparison then and now, click here.
So, did you find the seasonal reference in the top foto? Here’s another look . . . move your eye toward the bell in front of Amy Moran‘s raised wheelhouse. Piney branches. I like it. And I’m thrilled to see Ice Babe Base back in town.
Parting shot for this solstice: from left to right, Barney Turecamo, Amy Moran, and Turecamo Boys Girls (Thanks, Harold!).
Saturday I hit the road for the south, Chattahoochee watershed, then Cape Fear, then maybe Newport News. Tomorrow I may put up some road fotos not yet used from the last trip.
Thanks for reading. Peace, friendship, prosperity, and imagination to all of you. Health too.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp, today. . . . first day of winter . . . 63 degrees in the sixth boro!
Maria J. Turecamo (1968) and Hercules (1961), side by side, and my psychic tells me Hercules may be about to set out on a long cold journey, over water. Given the name, I’m inclined to wonder what Hercules 12 labors were/are and where on that list this journey fits.
Scott Turecamo (1998) and
Reinauer Twins (2011) wait with their respective barges. Twins holds the distinction of being the newest tug in the sixth boro.
Norwegian Sea (1976) waits, but
Meredith C. Reinauer (2003) is on the move, as
is McKinley Sea (1981).
And most of them could carry Augie on davits as a tender. Anyone know the age of Augie, here at a dock upriver?
Finally, another foto of Byrce Kirk operating Patty Nolan (1931) and still running.
Foto of Augie by Dave Williams, Patty Nolan by Seth Tane, and all others by Will Van Dorp.
For a low-emissions all-weather pilot boat, the Dutch port of Rotterdam looked . . . to the US. Kvichak has built for many ports. Fotos courtesy of Fred Trooster.
So would that be a Dutch pilot in middeck with the bare-shoulder uniform?
Sandy Hook Pilots, serving the port of New York, have gotten some of their boats, like Yankee, just up the Sound at Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport.
Docking pilots travel in . . tugs like Laura K. Moran.
Click here for a link to vessels carrying pilots in a number of East Coast ports. A highlight of 2011 has to be the ride on an Edison-Chouest C-Tractor, thanks to JED.
Unless otherwise credited, fotos by Will Van Dorp.
means all kinds of stuff, starting out with this. Bowsprite took this foto Thursday. Yes, that’s the VZ Bridge in the distance. Not sure what be-flagged and hatted thing does in the foreground go!.
Not sure about this either, but it was fast.
Yes, I have heard of Theodore, but did you know the entire vessel is wood and fiberglass? Kudos to Bowsprite, who refuses to draw it. I’ve no clue why it made a short sixth boro stay.
I’ve never seen a four-pontooner before, like this.
Since i’m being flip and opinionated today . . . let’s me share my sense that the bow of a light container vessel is not a pretty thing!
Twisted Sisters has arrived to fish! I’m wondering if that means that some
sort of season begins 1 November?
Isn’t the house profile on this tanker unusual?
Maersk Murotsu entered service in 2010, so she is quite new, and her raked house and plumb bow are unusual. Does it translate into
increased speed? This PDF from the Onomichi Dockyard builders call this a Shin-kurushima knuckle-shaped bow, an energy saver.
As she left the KVK and the sixth boro the other day, crew on the bridge wing plotted a course for Aruba.
Thanks to Bowsprite for the fauxtug fotos; all others by Will Van Dorp.
So concludes this series . . . with total time elapsed from Qatar nosing around Bergen Point until Suez Canal Bridge‘s stern clearing the west side of the Bayonne Bridge . . . about 50 minutes. Furthermore, a fourth vessel–Seatrout–traversed in that same time period, as did RTC 135, moved by Nicole Leigh Reinauer.
So while you’re enjoying –I hope–these fotos, let me do some math. Using deadweight tonnage info available in that magic library called the internet, I total the cargo capacity of these four ships and one barge as . . . 223,157 tons. And I’ll assume (just an assumption for sake of discussion) that each of these vessels was at its peak capacity.
While the math process is going on, enjoy the fotos of Ellen McAllister helping rotate Sea Land Mercury at Bergen Point.
Assuming that an average semi-trailer carries 20 tons of cargo, I come up with the equivalent of 11,157 truckloads of cargo passing below this bridge . . . in 50 minutes!!
Now I’d love to see my illustrator or modeler/gamer friends depict the KVK as a highway and
run 11,000+ trucks under this arch in 50 minutes! Read the thoughts of Ellen McAllister captain here, thanks to gCaptain. Another article on Ellen appeared here in the Wall Street Journal today!
Imagine noise and fumes of 11,000 trucks/per hour . . . and impact on traffic flow. The final shot here shows the stern of APL Qatar, Marion Moran, Seatrout, and the bow of RTC 135.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp. As of this writing, Sea Land Mercury is already between Savannah and Mobile.
And if you’re wondering why none of these fotos were taken by the new camera, I was lugging it, but it confounded me by moving one of its own buttons and not working until I got home.
tugster: a waterblog 
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