Random Tugs 358

I’m posting early today and can’t guarantee I’ll be able to move this on to FB the next few days because I’m traveling.  So, sign up to get new posts straight to your email.  Also check the note at the end of this post.

Here’s one that got away:  the tug to the right is the 1975 Mary Emma, ex-Evening Light.  I’d been waiting in St George hoping she’d move from Mariner’s Harbor eastbound.  Finally I gave up and boarded the ferry.  Partway to Whitehall, I noticed she was headed east, right past where I’d been.  Once in Whitehall I boarded the next ferry south, hoping to get photos near the St George side.  It’s not a great shot and it would have been if only I’d stayed put . . .   but life is full of as many missed opportunities as fulfilled ones. 

Sarah Dann (1983) recently made a big move of a crane from Wisconsin to Maine, a longer trip by water than by land.   Two years ago, she made another long tow with components for a refinery.

Franklin Reinauer (1984) has been based in the boro and carried that name since she came out of the shipyard.

Osprey (1961) is a recent newcomer to the sixth boro.

Christian Reinauer (2001) is the most powerful of this batch, with 7200 hp moving her payload.

A year ago Eastern Dawn (1978) was still painted white.

Andrea (1999) came here without the upper wheelhouse.

Thomas D. Witte (1961) and James E. Brown (2015) pass each other in the Back Channel.

Diane B (1980) seemed to drift through this part of the channel the other day. 

And finally, I believe,  Morton S. Bouchard IV (2004) is the only remaining Bouchard tugboat over at the stack in Stapleton. When will her transformation to Jesse Rose begin?

All photos, WVD, who has left the boro for a while.

By the way, a few days ago I made up some 2022 calendars, of which 17 are left for sale. I used a subjective process for selection this time. More details later but if you’re interested, email me your interest and your address. Send no money at this time, please, but prices will likely be up a tad because, of course, politics.

Random Tugs 357

Quick photo tribute to the variety of the sixth boro . . . with Kirby and Jonathan C. heading for an assist,

Diane B moving petroleum product to the creek terminals,

James E. pushing a mini scow,

Durham moving a scow named Wheezer,

Curtis returning fro the base to her barge,

Gregg assisting Lady Malou, now heading from the sixth boro to Panama,

B. Franklin returning to her barge,

another shot of Durham pushing Wheezer,

and here, finally my first close-up view of this Osprey.

All photos, last week, WVD, who found this story of a bizarre deal involving the Canadian CG buying a light icebreaker from Turkmenistan!!?

 

Dense Traffic 6

I’m surprised I’ve not used this title in almost a year, since the thought often comes my way that some very busy waterways exist in the sixth boro.  Like below with the four Moran tugs and one tanker.  Since three are headed to the left, you might be wondering why.  Easy . . .  those three–JRT, Kimberly, Margaret— are assisting an incoming ship, the single tug, Jonathan C,  in the foreground heading to the right will soon assist another ship coming in.  Polar Cod–a great name–is transferring petroleum product.

Here’s that incoming ship, exciting the birds as the ship and maybe stirring up the menhaden and their predators below.  We’ll get back to this.

Here’s a closer up of that fish/bird stirring ship, a torrent called Torrente.   Portside the ship is Mary Turecamo, and starboard, it’s the Belford-based Osprey. 

And here’s the most dense photo, eight tugboats from four different companies, two loaded container ships, and one tanker, all in less than two miles of waterway.

Getting back to all those birds and fish in the Con Hook Range . . .  a lot of people in small boats are putting their baited hooks in the water there.

Unrelated:  An unconfirmed report with this photo below says the 1912 Argo sank in Long Island Sound off Wading River NY on November 1.  Can anyone confirm that this happened?  I looked for a report but couldn’t find one anywhere.  To see a photo I took of it underway in the sixth boro just over 10 years ago, click here. And here, taken in June 2011.

The photo below was posted by Steve Adkins and said to be taken by USCG responding to the distress.

All photos except the last two, WVD.

Random Tugs 320

A new tug in town . . .  Osprey?  Built in 1961, she’s a sibling of Kodi.  Photo thanks to Tony A.

B & B . . .  it’s Brendan Turecamo in the distance and Bruce A McAllister.  It turns out they are not clones:  Brendan is a year newer, and Bruce A. is few feet longer and packs a few more horses.

Curis Reinauer is the third tug to carry that name.  This Curtis dates from 2013.  The previous one was sold to Nigeria, and the one before that has been reefed.

Emily Ann dates from 1964;  she appeared on this blog just a few weeks ago but out of the water then.

Mister Jim, 1982,  has been in the sixth boro for about eight years. 

Doris Moran, also 1982, is a powerhouse.

Navigator, 1981, is the only boat currently operated by Balico Marine Services.

Gulf Coast, 1982, got her upper wheelhouse up at Feeney‘s on the Rondout.

Patrice, 1999, has so far spent half its life working on the Great Lakes.

Shannon McAllister is a rare one in the sixth boro, but she passes through here once in a while. like this week. She dates from 1991.

Thx to Tony for that first photo;  all others, WVD.

Any Number of Tugboats

All the photos in this post I took over a two-hour period Friday.  I post this in part in response to the question raised by a commenter recently, how many tugboats operate in the sixth boro, aka the waters around NYC.

They pass one at a time,

you see them in twos . . . . and that might be a third with the crane barge off the Battery in the distance,

a trio might be assisting a single ULCV,

foreshortening might collapse four into a single shot, and

if you look across the repair and docking yard, you might see five tugs plus one science boat.

And finally for now, move the huge box ship away, and six of more are revealed.

This is the sixth boro, folks, one of the busiest ports in the US.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Critters 3

Click here and then scroll to the last three pics;  you’ll see a sixth boro version of the photo below, taken just east of Lyons.

Near the Montezuma, these passed twice, and they were certainly not the mute type.

Lots of herons hunt for fish from the locks, but they fly away as a boat appears.  This one, however, may have thought himself fleet

footed enough to play ostrich.

The parrot that share an apartment with me stretches each morning before flying; ospreys  . . . it appears . . . do the same, especially

if they transport meals like this.

Final shot for today . . . the four-point buck here just about to  find footing and camouflage on the north bank.

All photos here taken by Will Van Dorp, who has access to wifi AND a more contemporary computer tonight.