Canal Reef Express 3

Following on the photos from April 29 and May 19, here is finale for Tender 6 and Reliable of Utica.  As of this posting, they are 2.5 nautical miles off Shinnecock and 80′ down, precisely placed and not sunk.  My guess is that soon this section of this chart will be updated.

Here is the last daylight for

Tender 6.

Here’s the final journey

 

for Reliable

of Utica.

Thanks for use of these photos to a generous gentleman. More photos can be seen here.

 

Canal Corp 45 BU

You may recall my wondering about a Canal Corp boat I saw last year while I was working on the canal.  Alan Nelson sent the photo below showing the type of vessel while it performed ATON (aids to navigation) service.

Here’s what Alan wrote:  “It’s a 45’ buoy boat. Designation was “45 BU”. They were built 1957-’62 and in service through the 1980s. Used extensively on inland waters, they were powered by a GM 6-71 main engine and small Onan generator. Max speed approx. 8.5 knots.  Although they had a small galley and berthing area, they weren’t often used for overnight operations, and didn’t have a permanent crew assigned.   They were usually assigned to an ATON team to service small inland buoys and day markers. I ran one on the Delaware River around Philadelphia in the mid-1970s, until we took it up to New York for assignment to Lake Champlain. A slow and long trip, towed by the Coast Guard 65’ Tug Catenary.   The one in the attached photo is numbered 45301-D, the first one built. The one I ran was the 45306-D.”

Below is a further edited photo of the boat I saw.

And here are some photos by Bob Stopper last month in the dry dock in Lyons.

Alan and Bob . .  thanks much for your photos and information.

Now if you look closely at the subtitle of this blog, you’ll see a longer phrase there.  It now ends in “gallivants by any and all the crew.”  We are the blog crew . . .  you and me.  I’ve long stated in the “About Tugster” page drop-down just below the header of the Bayonne Bridge that “I like the idea of collaboration and am easy to get along with.”  I am thrilled by the amount of collaboration you all have offered.  So thank and let’s keep group-sourcing this blog together.

 

Canal Corp Boats 7

Here’s a view from the oldest of the fleet–Urger–heading through the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.

Grand Erie and Tender 4 (?) heading west almost three weeks ago.

SPS 54 (?) tied up above lock 1 of the Cayuga-Seneca Canal.   By the way . . . SPS expands to “self-propelled scow.”

Earlier this week, Urger meets Grand Erie near Clyde.

Seneca in Lyons.   It was built by Electric Boat in 1932, and in 1960, was sold from the USN to Canal Corp.

Another SPS,

a derrick boat and a tender.

 

Syracuse, a heavily loaded scow, and a derrick boat.

And finally . . . can you tell by the foliage color?  Urger and buoy boat 109 with external fuel tanks in late August.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who recently with one erroneous click, lost about 200 photos.  Ouch and we move on.

 

Canal Corp Boats 6

Once you move west from Waterford–as I hope to soon–you see a plethora of tenders, tugs, dredges and scows, derrick boats . . .  and if you’re like me, you’ll keep looking for more.

I enjoyed meeting so many nice people at the Roundup this past weekend.

 

Waterford Tugboat Roundup 2013 b

First, and I quote, the roundup “began in 1999 as a way to preserve and promote the maritime industrial heritage of the State Canal System….”  Many thanks to the sponsors and the volunteers.   Thanks to the town for their “hawsepitality”  (That’s Jed’s newly minted term.) which brings about 25,000 people to a Saratoga County town of fewer than 10,000.

What light is this illuminating the Second Avenue Bridge between the town and Peebles Island?  And what is the kayaker . . .

and all these others looking at . . .

while bathed in varying light?

If you do Facebook, catch about a minute of the grand finale of  Fireworks by Alonzo‘s artistry in Waterford the other night here.

Waterford’s pyrotechnics are unusual because the geography makes you feel them.  There’s light, sound, and some serious concussion, and that’s all one thing, singular.  And the only thing I like more than watching the explosive colors is to see what they illuminate. . .  like Mame Faye and the glassy water–after an almost shower–at the confluence of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River.

Scroll through here for my video of the show four years ago.

I’m awed by the power and flash reflected in this fresh water.   Click here for my fotos from the first roundup I attended seven years ago.

And then it’s morning and time to clean up, check

the condition on the barge, move

the tow to a place where the ebris can be offloaded, and

send in the underwater inspection expert.

??

For that underwater inspection of prop and flanking rudders . . . that’s tomorrow’s post.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who needs to get to his paying job.

Here’s a fireworks post I did a little over a year ago.