Spinning Seriana

Turning or spinning . . . and there may be a technical term for “sailing” as vessel by rotating it away from the dock, into the current and making a 180 degree turn.  It’s an evolution I enjoy photographing.

Seriana was launched in Japan in 2015, but it’s not as big as it seems, given the current scale of vessels I know:  it’s 770′ by almost 138′ but from the deck to the water . . . over 50′ I’d wager.  That’s a lot of tank.

Imagine climbing the companionway from Julia Miller.  Next on the scene were (l to r) Kirby Moran and Jonathan C Moran.

Water began to sluice through the hawse.

After lots of traffic had cleared,

the rotation began.  Seemingly she had enough headway on so that she didn’t drift astern and into the dock there Petali Lady lay on the far side.

 

This is my favorite in the series .  .  . a foreshortened tanker.

 

I like this a lot also: a plumb bow and just enough detail to ID the tugboat company.

Jonathan C heads back to the barn–or the next job–and

Kirby stands by as it anchors in Stapleton, were she remains as of this morning.  Can anyone ID the red tug on the far side of the tanker?  Delta maybe?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Random Tugs 167

Given the history and range of projects of Elsbeth II, you might imagine how thrilled I was to see her for the first time yesterday.  And she has to be among a small set of working vessels based in North America with brightwork!  She truly fits under the category exotic.

 

I saw this tugboat six years ago in the Delaware River, but Sarah D looks spanking new  in NYS Marine Highway colors.

Happy flag day.  Do you know the significance of this date?

OSG Courageous, she’s one large tugboat and an infrequent

visitor in this port.  I can’t quite make out the barge name. Of course, she’s not as colossal as her big sister –OSG Vision–who spent some time here . . . four (!!) years ago.

Sassafras is a fixture in the sixth boro, but she rarely looks as good as she does when many shore dwellers in the other boros are just waking up.  Here she

lies alongside Petali Lady.

Mister Jim here is lightering (?) bulker Antigoni B, who seems to have since headed upriver.

 

And since this is called random tugs, let me throw in two photos from the Digital collections of the New york State archives . . . SS Brazil entering the sixth boro on May 31, 1951.  What the photo makes very clear to me is how much traffic in the harbor has changed in 65 years.   Can anyone identify the six tugboats from at least three different companies here?  I can’t.

Here the party passes a quite different looking Governors Island.

All photos except for the last two by Will Van Dorp.  These last two come from a treasure trove aka Digital Collections of the New York State Archives. 

Unrelated:  If you’re free Saturday, it’s the annual mermaid migration on Coney Island.