Whatzit 50

What made this stand out was the mostly horizontal member quite high off the water.  So I started snapping.

I’d noticed a few days back that Pelham had headed unusually far east in the Sound, and had run

sometimes tandem with Captain Willie Landers.  So this must be the tow.  

Any guesses?  

Names are always a clue. 

McInnis is a name that has appeared on this blog previously.  Here’s their network;  in that link, click on the map enlarger.  Below that, Van Aalst is another clue, given what they do.  So if you looked up both links in this paragraph, you can identify what this is. 

Put them altogether, and you’ve solved this whatzit puzzle:  it’s a dry bulk ship unloader built for McInnis.

Where it is headed and why . . .  

now I’ve no clue. A decade ago, I saw an antique specialized barge like this on the Maas (or Meuse) River;  the barge was named “graanzuiger no. 19,” which is pretty explicit Dutch for what it was designed to do:  graanzuiger translates literally as “grain sucker.”  This barge Resolute might be called a cementzuiger. A similar vessel called a floating grain elevator incorporating some of the same principles used to be quite common in the sixth boro, back when our watery boro was a major grain transshipment point. 

All photos, WVD.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 43

I hope you enjoy looking back 10 years as much as I do, although some might say I live in the past a little too much.  Here’s some dense traffic, l to r, Twisted Sisters, Lucinda Smith, Maurania III, and Petrozavosk. 

Up in Lyons NY at the drydock, Governor Roosevelt shows her deep 8′ 6″ belly. Rosie will turn 100 in summer 2027.

Greenland Sea . . . one of my favorites is likely on her terminal lay up.

Does Duty still do duty on the Delaware?

Maria J is now Nicholas Vinik.

Charles D. is still working hard  in the boro, as she was here helping Zim Virginia around Bergen Point.  I do miss the walkway on the WEST side of the Bayonne Bridge.

This Peter is now Long Island . . . or Long Peter if you like.

Resolute assists Maersk Kentucky around that same point.

Amberjack is now Kirby Dann Ocean white and blue, and some of the Bouchard boats are now this Penn Maritime gray. 

Giulio Verne was in town for some submarine cabling, and I’ve heard tell there was a fabulous Italian chef on board.  She’s now docked in Naples IT.

I went to Detroit for Thanksgiving, and made a stop at Mariner’s Church, alluded to in “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” [In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed.  In the maritime sailors’ cathedral.  The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine time…]  .  I’m told the pastor at the church objected to the word musty and now Lightfoot sings it as “In a rustic old hall in Detroit …”  In fact, you can confirm that here.

And let me throw two more in.  I took this photo seven years ago from Rhinecliff as I headed south the day I completed my season on tugboat Urger.  This was my way of reconnecting with the sixth boro. Maryland is now Liz Vinik.

And finally, a photo from Jason LaDue . . .  it’s Grouper as she looked in 2000.  A week ago her second auction concluded with a winning bid of $4850, but I don’t know who tendered that bid.  According to my source, no movement has happened since the auction concluded. 

Happy November.  All photos except Jason’s by WVD.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 42 B

The bridge photo at the end of part A was of Kristin Poling, right after she’d been taken out of service.  In her long life from 1934 until 2011, she carried the nameplates of Poughkeepsie Socony, Mobil New York, and Captain Sam, before taking on her last name. 

Here’s a shot from the bow, and

here from near the stern looking forward along the catwalk.

This is one of my all-time favorite photos.  I wonder where this Coastie is today.

A decade ago, Maurania III worked in the harbor, here alongside the venerable Chemical Pioneer and

here muscling Suez Canal Bridge around Bergen Point.

APL Coral was scrapped in 2017, I believe.  Anyone know what those bolts of green fabric are?  By their location, I’d guess an anti-piracy measure.  Nicole Leigh continues to work.

DEP’s Newtown Creek was in her last days;  currently she’s a dive destination in Pompano Beach, FL known as Lady Luck.

Lygra (1979) went to Alang in 2018, after carrying that name as well as Centro America, Nornews Service, and Transfjord. 

Does anyone know where Captain Zeke has gone to?  I don’t.   If I ever did, I’ve forgotten.

Catherine Turecamo assists SN Azzurra away from a dock. The tanker seems still to be working as Augusta;  she’s also carried the names Blue Dolphin and Stena Commander.  In 2014, Catherine T. went to fresh water and, the last I knew,  became a Chicago area based John Marshall.

If you click on no links in this post except this one, you will be pleased;  it’s the legendary 1937 commuter yacht Aphrodite.  HERE is the link.  Those all-caps are intentional.

Note the raked forward portion of Maersk Murotsu, getting an assist from Kimberly Turecamo. The tanker is currently known as Ardmore Seafarer, which I have seen but not photographed in the boro.  It’s impossible to keep up . . .  hang on to that thought until the end of the post.

And let’s close out  with some busy photos, here Barbara McAllister moves a barge, East Coast follows light, and Gramma Lee T Moran assists a tanker.  Barbara is now Patsy K.

And finally, the waters here are churned up by James Turecamo, Resolute, and Laura K Moran, as well as a few tankers off to the left.

All photos, WVD, who’s astonished how much changes if not daily or monthly but surely by decade.

And about that thought I asked you hang onto:  I’m considering taking a break, a sabbatical, or as Chapter 17 of Moby Dick explains . . .  a ramadan, a term used with respect. I say this as a solicitation of advice.

 

Retro Sixth Boro 35 C

March 25, 2011 was a busy day.  L to r, Maurania III, USNS Yano, Resolute, McAllister Responder, McAllister Girls, Amy Moran . . . with a K-Sea barge at the mooring, and some iconic structures.  None of these vessels in currently in the sixth boro.  Amy Moran is now John Joseph.

Let’s follow the USNS vessel first, as it’s assisted into the graving dock.  Yano is in Newport News at this time, 2021. 

Yano is an example of a US-flagged non-Jones Act vessel.

A bit later, more to the west, Davis Sea stands by to assist Taurus

and DBL 25 into a dock.  Taurus recently came to the boro from Philly as Joker.  Davis Sea is now Defender. 

The following day, Maurania III and

McAllister Girls sail British Serenity off the dock. Maurania III is now in Wilmington, and British Serenity is now Champion Timur and is in the Black Sea on a voyage that began in Indonesia.  Girls is laid up.

An hour later, Jennifer Turecamo assisted the big OSG 350 moved by

OSG Vision westbound.  Jennifer is in Tampa, and Vision runs in and out of Delaware Bay.

All photos and any errors, WVD, who notices the old Bayonne Bridge profile above.

For an update on Ever Given, click here.

And the answer to yesterday’s what and where:  Jay Michael off Bridgeport, CT….

Random Tugs 325

Note the line boat off B. Franklin‘s starboard.  Also, faintly to her port and beyond the green buoy hull down is a Kirby tug, probably one of the Cape-class boats. 

Actually part of the same scene panning to the left–note the line boat on the extreme right side of the photo–it’s Joyce D. Brown with a crane barge off to do a salvage job.

Not long afterward, Caitlin Ann heads west past Treasure Coast on the blue-and-yellow cement carrier.

Brendan Turecamo and Margaret Moran bring a ship in.

Kirby Moran follows a ship in with a Reinauer barge right behind.

And again, a few minutes later, Paul Andrew follows the Reinauer unit and the ship westbound.

Resolute, back in the sixth boro, heads out to assist a USN vessel into Earle.

Genesis Victory passes Doris Moran alongside the Apex Oil barge,

Another day, l to r, it’s Barry Silverton, Saint Emilion, and the A87 barge again. Barry‘s sister vessel–Emery Zidell--was in the sixth boro recently, but I got just 

a very distant photo.

 I can’t put names on these vessels, but it’s the Wittich Brothers fleet, formerly (I think) known as Sea Wolf Marine.  And I see Sarah Ann in the extreme left. 

And let’s end on a puzzle . . .  William Brewster with a new paint job.  Last time I saw her, those dark green stripes were red. 

All photos, WVD.

 

 

Retro Sixth Boro NYC Tugboat Races 3

Let’s do 2013 and 2014, or redo them, same conditions as I stated yesterday. But first let’s look at the 2013 crowd, packing in like you wouldn’t with covid.  Here was the crowd at 1010 and

by 1035 they had grown significantly.

The compulsory muster takes place, irrigated by fireboat John J. Harvey.

Once the race begins, a front-runner like Decker

might soon get left in the wake.

The fire boat slices up from behind and

propels itself between two Miller boats.

Pushoffs happen next, sometimes quite equally matched like here, with 3900 hp countering 4200.

Let’s jump ahead to 2014, with the arrivals on the watery carpet,

the processing to the starting line,

and get straight to racing without all the preening and posturing.

Someone seems a bit oversize in that gray livery.

This is a fairly mis-matched pair:  Wayne at 5100 hp, and Ellen at 4000.  Maybe a re-match is in order Wayne v. Ava.

Thanks to Jeff Anzevino for this shot, the Media Boat has military background in common with Wayne.

After Wayne has strutted its stuff in the push-offs, some of the boats lined up for the roping the bollard.

Let’s hold it up here.  All photos, WVD.

 

Random Tugs 252

Resolute rotates into the sixth boro now and again;  her truly best and bushiest fendering make her a welcome sight whenever.  I believe this is the last time I saw her here almost two years ago.

Janet D first appeared on this blog here, three years ago.  And here’s something I never realized (or if I did, I’ve forgotten) . . .  she comes out of the same yard the same approximate time as James E. Brown, a slight larger hull but with less horsepower.

Labrador Sea Brooklyn  is a Warren, RI-built tug that I’ve seen wearing four different liveries and initially had no upper wheelhouse. 

Mister T was built at the same yard at roughly the same time as Brooklyn above. Mister T is older by a year and less broad by a foot.  Both 2400hp, a difference is that Brooklyn has pins.

Quenames has worked here for over a decade…

and was more recently joined by Pinuccia.

Unlike Brooklyn above, Elizabeth appears to have carried Weeks ownership and livery for about 35 years now!!  Here’s what her bow looks like out of the water.

All photos and other observations by Will Van Dorp, who has to leave the never-ending story here today and attend to other duties on tugster tower.

 

Lake Loop 4: Archipelagos

This photo I took from the Manitou Passage.  To the west, South Manitou Light is located on an island by the same name.  Sleeping Bear Dunes to the east.

The photo below is not very good, but it serves to hint at the the existence of a shipwreck.  SS Francisco Morazon ended her service on a sand bar just south of South Manitou Island during the winds of November 1960.

Beaver Island registered tug Wendy Anne was headed for the Manitou Islands, likely to do some shoreline reinforcement.  Wendy Ann was purchased in Boston, and delivered here via the Erie Canal and other waterways.

The Manitous have certainly made their way onto my list of places to visit soon. 

I believe this is North Manitou Shoal Light. 

Southbound along the Passage, it’s Karen Andrie pushing Endeavor.

Emerald Isle–the name a tip of the hat to the Irish who settled Beaver Island–is a 1997 Washburn & Doughty built RORO ferry. 

Once approaching the Beaver Island dock, I spotted some fish tugs.  The first was Ruby Ann, a 1945 Sturgeon Bay product that now needs a bit of TLC.

 

In the water nearby was Waabi-Maang, in Ojibwe White Loon. 

Odawa Research headed out of the bay.

Also along the shore were Resolute and

Angus, the latter being a 1939 product of Burger Boat.

I need some help here, since I know nothing about Elizabeth, other than that it seems to be an ST.

The classy 1950 Cisco is Sturgeon Bay built.

The green trap boat is a mystery to me also, here next to Bob S in the shed.  Bob S requires its own post.

Shamrock is a 1933 tug that may still tow oil barges, including

Tanker II and

Petroqueen.  Shamrock alludes to the Irish settlement on the island. 

All photos here by Will Van Dorp.

 

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.

 

 

Meeting the Fleet 2017 a

Here are the posts I did each of the past two years.  I’ll call this the beginning of the processional.  How many government vessels do you count in the photo below?

Carefully screened support vessels--Rana Miller, Elizabeth McAllister, and Resolute— lead the procession, here past Ellis Island,

while small craft of the NYC Navy and Air Force and others patrol.

Other McAllister boats include Alex McAllister . . . and

Eric.

CG-56 USS San Jacinto leads the larger vessel contingent.  She was here as well in 2012.   Know the import of that location in April 1836?  

Tomorrow will feature close-ups of the rest of the fleet, but for now we’ll leave it here.

 

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who counts eight government craft in the first photo.  Here’s a post-fleet week photo set from 2009.