Port of San Diego

Fast jet boats . . .  like Patriot, doesn’t every major harbor have one?   Oh well, it gets folks out on the water.  There are many other options as well.   Other boats to see as well.

Ocean Valor was over on the far side, and I recall (and quote) some info about her from George Schneider:  “She is a former oilfield supply boat, built as PAUL W MURRILL 20 years ago by Tidewater Marine at their building yard, Quality Marine, in Houma LA.  With the oilfield slowdown of 2015 she was idled and eventually sold.  Her new owner is Ocean Guardian Holdings of Seattle, and her name and other features about her indicate she [may be] owned by Stabbert Marine, who buys ships on speculation in hopes of paying for them with charters-of-convenience.”

George got a photo of her underway in a different season, actually January 2022. 

HOS Dominator was moored nearby.  Both the HOS and the Ocean boat remind me of the views from a half decade back along Bayou Lafourche. 

An intriguing aspect of San Diego’s “bay walk” is the commercial fishing fleet.  I did not find that much about it, given my short stay, but I did stay long enough and walk far enough to learn about the tuna clipper work during WW2. See more here. 

 

Coyote, Lydorein, Cachalot, and Ebbco all seem they might have interesting histories. 

 

 

Hodor, a “game of thrones” name, would be a terrifying vessel to see if it pulled into a secluded cove somewhere along an unpopulated coastline.   

 

It’s 200+ feet of floating toy box, however, no matter how lethal it all looks. 

The 1970 Admiral Hornblower‘s styling gave me the impression it was much older than its 52 years. 

Finally, it started as an Eisenstaedt [or was it the Jorgensen one?] photo taken in the Manhattan boro.  nonetheless, it has morphed into a 25′ tall controversial statue to mimic, as was happening as it sauntered up. How could I resist a photo??!  That’s the USS Midway in the background. 

All photos, WVD, who managed to get the photos while waiting for an airplane connection.  I realized on this trip how good an impromptu gallivant is for the soul, and I need to do it more.  San Diego . .  I gotta get back.

Separate from that, given my itinerary, the establishment of missions in Baja California shows the progression of settlement early to late in Las Californias from south northward to Alta California. 

 

Random Tugs 328

Justine has been back in the sixth boro awhile now after quite some time away.

She’s a 1982 product of Jakobson, one of the last half dozen built there.  From this angle she reminds me of Siberian Sea, now Mike Azzolino.  She works with 4000 hp.

Recent days have seen a convergence of the Cape-class,

Cape Lookout,

Cape Henry,

and Cape Canaveral, here pushing DBL 101.

They are attractive 5000 hp boats.

Also pushing an oil barge, Patriot, in fact, was Robert IV.

Usually that barge has Mary H as power.

Nicole Leigh finished fueling, brought down the red flag, and spun around to rejoin her barge.

Her Caterpillars deliver a total of 7200 hp to her wheels.

And closing, it’s the 6770 hp Capt. Brian A. escorting Zim Tarragona out to sea.

All photos, WVD.

 

Random Tugs 312

It’s the season.

I wonder if the Kimberly crew has marked other holidays and I missed it.  I did catch the red-clad guy almost a year ago.

Mary H and her barge Patriot is likely headed for Newtown Creek.  The 1981 build, such a clean looking tug, has been working in the sixth boro for 33 years.

We’ve had a spate of foggy days.  Beyond Franklin here, notice the bright lights at Bayonne Shipyard where work proceeds on Mendonca even at night.

The mechanical dredge J. P. Boisseau here gets moved to a new worksite by Sarah Ann, with Brian Nicholas standing by.

A Maersk ship came in recently with a gaggle of assist boats:  l to r, Ava, Ellen, and Matthew. Not visible is Charles D. McAllister, and the visible Thomas J. Brown is not assisting.Yes, Matthew Tibbetts is doing a fair amount of ship assist work these days, and why not. 

Here are two more photos of Matthew Tibbetts doing ship assist.

Helen Laraway passed through with a load of scrap.

Poling & Cutler’s Crystal and Evelyn pass in opposite directions.

HMS Justice has eluded my eyes for quite a while, but here she is, with the Centerline Logistics feline on the superstructure.

All photos, WVD.

Random Tugs 283

How’s this as an unusual perspective, East Coast coming through the Narrows and under the VZ Bridge, barely visible at top of photo,  with a sugar barge, not sure which one. I believe that’s a Sandy Hook antenna and West Bank Romer Shoal Light off starboard.

Kimberly Poling heads into the Kills past Robbins Reef Light.

James William has been moving garbage containers these days.

The intriguingly named Iron Wolf passes the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

Mary Alice moves Columbia New York.

A few hundred yards ahead of Iron Wolf is Sea Fox.

Andrea departs the Kills to pick up a fuel barge.

Mary H returns from a run with barge Patriot.

And finally, Fox3 heads southbound;  that’s the southern tip of Manhattan behind her.

All photos, WVD.

Creek: Newtown 2

All photos in this post come from Paul Strubeck, who has started a blog here called vintagedieseldesign.

Mary H is the right size to serve the fuel storage in Newtown Creek, a renowned location in the sixth boro. Here are previous posts I’ve done there.

The first oil refinery in the US was sited here, and that industry fouled it, given attitudes at that time toward the environment and disposal of chemical waste.

Today a lot of commerce happens there from oil storage to scrap metal processing.

 

 

 

 

The creek has its advocates, these folks and others. At its headwaters lies Bushwick, not for everyone but vibrant in its own way.  Here’s a post I did last fall after a tour on land and on the water of Bushwick.

Again, thanks to Paul for these photos.

 

Raised Metal

Delta Mule was Grand Eagle before that.  Today it’s better known around the sixth boro as Eastern Dawn.

Sea Ox was the second name of this vessel, after Lief S.  Since Inland Sea it moved on to Brooklyn and now is known as Charlotte V.  If raised letters were changed each time, all that heat would make for enough of a ceremony, a necessary requirement to avoid Poseidon’s penalty. 

Thanks to Lisa Kolibabek, here’s a view of the step by step erasure and replacement, which reminds me of tattoo removal.

Chesapeake needs to come off along with the place of registry before Kristin Poling comes on.

The final result looks shipyard-launch new.

Some tired old vessels might beg for a renaming in steel;  Resolute today is called Ocean King.

This one puzzles me, because I found that the current ARC Patriot used to be Aida.  Why the F and the O, Fidelio?

Here’s another puzzle . . . Iron Salvor has been in Tottenville for a few weeks, but

in raised letters, she was Ocean Raider 17.  Anyone know what she’s doing it the bro?  Was she US built?

Thanks to Lisa for the photos of Chesapeake–Kristin Poling.  All others by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Three Minutes in Eerie Light

I’ve done posts with titles like 15 minutes or 18 . . . but here’s a set shot in just three minutes, just after that strange cloud–comet’s tail?–passed the day the temps went up to 65 midday for a few hours, setting a NYC record for that day.

Here’s Jonathan C from head-on, with Shooters Island off the stern.

Zooming out shows Pegasus and Kimberly Poling using Edwin A. Poling, and the cranes at Howland Hook.

 

 

It looks like some refinishing is happening on Pegasus.

Mary H pushes Patriot heading the other direction.

That church in a lot of photos is Immaculate Heart in Elizabeth NJ.

 

 

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 170

Here’s a seldom-seen tugboat, delivered in 1977 by Gladding Hearn, who builds everything from rowboats to pilot boats to tugboats . . .   it’s Tappan Zee II, 

dedicated to serving the bridges  (for now, plural) and waters called the Tappan Zee.  In the distance is the renowned Left Coast Lifter.

Here’s a photo of Patriot, which had a mishap the next day from when I took the photo.

 

Here’s Fred Johannsen, formerly known as Marco Island.

 

Here comes Kimberly Poling with Edwin A. Poling, rounding the bend between West Point and Garrison.   Can anyone identify the yellow/tan house on the ridge line?

 

In roughly the same location, it’s Mister Jim with some very deep stone scows.

 

And I’ll end today’s post with an unidentified tugboat near Newburgh.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who’s back in the sixth boro but recapitulating the trip west . . . a task which could take a month.

I hope to see some of you at the screening of Graves of Arthur Kill at the the Staten Island ferry terminal on August 13.

 

 

Thanks to Barrel 1

All photos in this series came via “Barrel,” a 30+ year employee of USACE, and they’ve raised a handful of questions, launched a clutch of searches.

Stacy McAllister, previously Houma . . .  I don’t know the year this photo was taken, but since YTL-811 came into McAllister hands in 2003, that fact narrows the date.  By my count, McAllister has over a dozen–13 by my count–of these similarly remodeled tugs acquired through the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service.  How many can you name?  My answer follows.

This photo of triple-screw Patriot, in a previous Vane Brothers livery, had to have been taken between 2001 and 2009, after which date Vane sold it to Mexico. See the last photo in this link.

Here’s a mystery . . .  Which company’s logo is that on the stack of Anne, towing the Loveland 22 barge with the 260 rocket motor.  And what type of antenna is that on the after portion of Anne‘s deckhouse?

Nearer is Connor A. Gisclair, now possibly known as Mr. Connor.  Anyone identify the smaller farther-away tug with the barge alongside?

USACE tug Deland was built in 1919, and if my info is correct, it has been transformed into a commercial fishing vessel called Pursuit, operated out of Panama City FL.  I’ve tried unsuccessfully to find a photo of Pursuit. Can anyone help?

This photo looks quite similar.  Six of these vessels were built by Johnson Iron Works in 1919, one of which was called Degrey and sank off Atlantic City in 1976 then known as Patrice McAllister.  Now forty years later, she’s still there and a popular diving spot in 55 feet of water.  Click here for a story on how hurricane Sandy modified the Patrice wreck.

That’s it for today.  All photos have been provided by Barrel.

And the 13 McAllister ex-YTBs are as follows:  Kaleen ( Pontiac ), Stephen ( Okumulgee ), Jeffrey (Dahlonega), Margaret (Tonkawa), Donal G. (Antigo), Ellen (Piqua), Robert E. (Nanticoke), Beth M. (Ocala), Missy (Anoka), Dorothy (Tontocany), Patrick (Wathena), and Daniel —not the one in Montreal—( Shabonee ). There may in fact be others, given that Timothy McAllister (Wapato) is not listed on this site.

 

Random Ships 12

Here was RS 11.  This one might be called two hours on the Narrows, as that was the time I could linger there before feeling pressed to get elsewhere . . . like to earn a living.  First, let the record show that Sichem Defiance remains as of early January 28, nearly three weeks after the incident.   Alongside her is tanker Ben, which itself has ABC-1, McAllister Responder, and Defiance, all tied up to starboard.

The light is all wrong on this shot, but the starboard bow of Ben seems quite rusted or discolored.

Torm Gunhild offloads to barge Patriot, tended by Donald C.

Sun Road heads for Newark Bay.

Cosco Melbourne races a pilot boat in as

crew prepare for docking.

An OOCL container vessel suddenly looms around Norton Point, revealing

itself as OOCL Hong Kong, here cruising past SCF Pechora.

And as she passed, a member of the crew watched from a hatch.

Finally, Atlantic Concert headed in as tugboat Virginia (ex-Bayou Babe)  headed out, and I headed off to work.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  I just got a comment from one of the kayakers I fotoed a few days back;  in his comment, Vlad sent a link to the fotos HE took from the kayak.  See them here.  I wish I had seen the container ship OOCL Verrazano Bridge.