Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 17

Thanks to Justin Zizes for correcting an error about this.  The current claim to the “newest hull” goes to a NYC DEP vessel.

But it’s not Red Hook, which has been in the sixth boro almost exactly 14 years already, as evidenced here.

Nor is it the class of low slung sludge tankers, which have been here almost a decade.

Here was an article I did on these back then.  Nor was it HSV Osprey or Oyster Catcher. . . .

Here it is . . . meet HSV Piping Plover.  The HSV expands to harbor survey vessel, which in this case is a floating lab to test water quality.  

Thanks to Justin for reminding me of this vessel’s recent arrival.  Thanks to Gregory Hanchrow for the photo above.  Gregory writes: “The Harbor Survey Vessel (HSV) PIPING PLOVER just arrived ]mid-January to NYC after delivery on its own bottom by the shipyard who built it (Aluma Marine Corp), eight days portal to portal from Harvey, LA to NYC.  This boat was intended to be a replacement for the current HSV OSPREY, which has been in service since 1993 (Gladding Hearn). But, as fate would have it, we wound up needing to re-power and perform substantial structural work to the hull over the past three years ,resulting in a pretty much renewed boat.  Bottom line is we now have will continue to operate two HSVs so you’ll be seeing them buzzing around for a while!”

Thanks for the updates.

Astrand

All photos today come thanks to John Huntington.  Check out his new site here, one which I mentioned a week and a half ago here.

Here are the basics on what you are looking at, mostly from John’s caption:  “FAR ROCKAWAY, QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY, NY/USA – FEBRUARY 25, 2016: The 24 meter (78 foot) scallop fishing vessel the Carolina Queen III, rests in surf in the Atlantic Ocean off Far Rockaway on the Rockaway peninsula of the borough of Queens in New York City. The boat ran aground at about 2am and all the crew were safely evacuated by the US Coast Guard.”   Of course, there are also the related stories about the USCG 25′ RIB attempting a rescue and capsizing in the 10-12′ seas, and its crew, trained and geared up for such a possibility, safely swimming to shore;  and the rescue of Carolina Queen III crew by helicopter.  Photos here.  A number of the RIBs can be seen here.

Salvage plans are underway.  The fishing vessel–to my untrained eye–seems to have held up well, a tribute to its builders as well as to the fact of coming ashore on the sand.  Those builders are responsible for two of the newest tugboats in the sixth boro as well.

I’m sure the owners and crew of the vessel feel sick right now.

 

But looking at John’s remarkable photos, I’m struck by their allure.  The calm water, patches of blue sky, reflection of a beautiful machine misplaced on soft sand  . . .  contrast sharply with how the scene must have appeared to the crews Wednesday night when the wind and spray made the decks feel like hell, a time of uncertainty and fear.

I’ve previously done a set of posts on a vessel ashore here.  And from South Africa four years ago, these photos from Colin Syndercombe and another fishing boat astrand.

Thanks again to John Huntington for use of these photos.

For a photo of Rodriguez Boatbuilders’ 2015 James E. Brown, click here and scroll.

For a sense of how shipwreck has attracted photographers of four generations of a British family, click here.

 

Tis the Season

Tis the season . . .  to keep your eyes and ears on the weather.  In 1938 . . . before hurricanes had names or we had satellites to track them thousands of miles off, a big one came ashore on Long Island, a once-a-century-or-longer storm.   Do you know this structure below?

Here’s the ocean side view . . .

 

and the inland side.  To the right and up the Acushnet River are the ports of

New Bedford and Fairhaven.  Click here for info and photos on the building of the barrier.

The benchmark storm for the sixth boro is Sandy, and an event this past weekend happened on a location wiped out by the storm, Rockaway Beach at 106th Street.  Click here for posts/photos from my friend Barbara that chronicle the before/after in that part of NYC.  Welcome to the first annual Poseidon parade.

 

and a temporary replacement for Whalemina, the glacial erratic rolled away by Sandy.

 

Of the 10 worst hurricanes of the 20th century (judged by impact on the US), almost all happened  in September.  Since that link leaves off Katrina (??), I add this one.

Thanks to Barbara Barnard for the Poseidon Parade photos;  the ones from the Achushnet are by Will Van Dorp, who will have photos from up the Acushnet soon.   Technically, this fits into my “other watersheds” series.

GUP 4

Here was GUP 3, and here was one GUP-related post since then, about the sale of a peer of the vessel below.  In case you don’t check the links and are wondering what GUP is, it’s my neologism for “gross universal product,” AKA sewage.  I’m doing this post now as a complement to my article in PM magazine.    North River is currently high and dry and getting some paint.  More on that later.

For now, let’s have a look at the fleet carrying the load . . . or loads.

The most recently arrival is Rockaway, in service now nearly a year.

Coming right up on a one-year anniversary of start of service is Port Richmond.  If you are wondering about the names, all three  new boats are named for sewage facilities serving NYC.  Here’s an article about the Port Richmond facility.

And the original of this class is Hunts Point, in service now about 15 months.

Now if you conclude that Rockaway, Port Richmond, and Hunts Point look alike . . . well, they’re virtually identical.

Not true for Red Hook, which has been in service now for over six years.

I compared bows of the current generation with that of Red Hook here about a year ago.

Here’s the most recent photo I’ve taken of North River.  How much service–even back–she has left in her I can’t tell you.

Meanwhile, all hats off to this fleet which keeps sixth boro waters smelling as sweet as they do to us and feeling as hospitable as they do to all the other critters that depend on this habitat.

GUP 3

Here were 1 and 2 of this series, and here was a much earlier post about NYC DEP’s essential service.

Below is North River and Hunts Point as seen from Rockaway.

Port Richmond heads into Hell’s Gate,

Red Hook in the distance and Port Richmond passing by,

and finally all three new boats with Red Hook in the distance.  Here are some photos of Red Hook as she appeared when first in service in early 2009.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

GUP 2

For photos of all the previous generations of sludge carriers–aka carriers of Gross Universal Product–click here for the first in this series.  Rockaway makes the second of NYCDEP’s latest vessels I’ve seen.  Look her over well.

She’s only slightly less loaded than  . . .

Hunt’s Point, which I saw about a half hour later.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.