Tale of Two Tugboats 2

Here from 2013 was the first in the series. Since then I’ve done another series called “tale of the tape,” borrowing from boxing analysis or automotive competitions.  Consider today’s and tomorrow’s post as something similar to what you’d see and read if a car magazine compared a 2020 C8 Corvette with a Tesla Cybertruck, or a 1969 Karmann Ghia convertible, or even a 1948 Willys Overland Jeepster . . .  more on that later.

The photo below I use with permission from Fred Miller.   It carries Oneida name boards;  Oneida is the same vessel as Grouper, the 1912 boat I’ve posted so much about over the years.

Ruth M. Reinauer dates from almost a century later and could not be a more different boat, built for an entirely different mission.  They are apples and oranges, you might say, dogs and cats.  I’ll let you enumerate the differences and similarities for yourself.

Thanks to Fred for the top photo;  the bottom one I took.

Random Tugs 269

Here’s a calendar’s worth of harbor tugboat shots, starting with Sarah D., looking brand new although built in 1975, her colors matching the shades of Manhattan building materials in the background.

Brian Nicholas (1966) moves into the Upper Bay, her blue repeated in the sky and water and more.

Buchanan 12 (1972) heads down bound and then

back upbound, day after day and year after year.  It’d be interesting to quantify the tons of aggregates she’s moved out of Hudson Valley quarries.

A Blount-Barker product from 2002, Brooklyn moves from Brooklyn over to Bayonne.

HMS Justice is one of the newer boats in this post, launched in 2012.

Kristy Ann is the newest boat in this post, having arrived here last year to replace the nameplate of a boat from 1962.

James E. Brown,  here assisted by Janet D, both 2015 products of Rodriguez Shipyard, brings a daily load of rail cars across the harbor.

Ruth M.Reinauer (2008) heads back to her barge.

The 1979 CMT Pike  . . . I can’t not think of Odin when I see her.

JRT Moran (2015) rounds the KV buoy with Kristy Ann in the distance.

We started with Sarah D and we’ll end with her.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Old Year 2018

I’ve mentioned before about my people the Dutch celebrating “old years day” on December 31.   As the child of immigrants, I’m blessed by this one of many ways they see the world differently, a perspective I’m happy to share.  So here is a retrospective of the year, the result of a process of scanning through photos in the blog library, not overthinking it.

January.  Gunhilde Maersk with James, Kirby, and JRT plus Miriam Moran.  the year of the 1200-footers aka ULCVs becoming commonplace in the sixth boro.

February.  Ocean Henry Bain serves as a safety boat during  the ice canoe race I documented in my Carnavalons posts.

March. Cerro Grande here escorted a Caribbean-bound LNG ship, one of all the Panama Tugs posts

April. When I saw this section of drained canal bed between O-6 to O-7 in Oswego, I thought the work’d never get done before the season began, but I was wrong.  Of all my 2018 NYS Canals posts, this and this posted with the greatest urgency.

May.  Reliable pushed seaward by Lucy H.  As of today, Reliable lies under the sea gathering fishes and entertaining Davy Jones near Shinnecock.

June.  Jay Bee V headed out on a high-profile mission.  Has she returned to the sixth boro yet?

July.  I missed Rosemary‘s christening because that’s what happens when you don’t look at your calendar. First come first serve for a few tugster lighthouse calendars.  Send me an email with your mailing address.   As I said, I ran a few extra when I made up my Christmas gifts.

August.  Kimberly Selvick with AEP barges was one of the treats I saw in Calumet.  This day south of Chicago planted a seed of curiosity about the Lake Michigan/Mississippi River link I hope to be able to explore in 2019.  Many thanks to Christine Douglas.

September.  J. W.  Cooper delivers a pilot in Port Colborne at the Lake Erie end of the Welland Canal.  Because I hadn’t a satisfying enough fix from the canal earlier, I returned there in October.

October.  One Stork, a pink ULCV,  came into town.  It wasn’t her first visit/delivery, but it was the first that I caught.  She’s currently in the sixth boro.

November.  Morton S. Bouchard IV rounds Shooters Island light, Bouchard celebrated a big anniversary this year.

December.  Ruth M. Reinauer heads west into the Kills in December, the start of heating oil season.

And that’s it for the year, time for me to securely lock up Tugster Tower and prepare myself to meet 2019.  The older I get, the more profound is my awareness that although I make many plans for a new year, I might not see the end of it.  It’s just how it is.  Every day is a blessing.  Last year had my own personal ultima thule; I pray that 2019 brings its new ones.

Thanks to everyone who read, commented, and assisted me in 2018.  Happy and constructive new year day by day to you all.

Random Tugs 242

I sometimes refer to a golden hour, but recently I heard someone talk about the “blue” hour, when the sun is still or already below the horizon.  The light is dramatic in both, or through that whole continuum, as seen here.

Fort McHenry heads east . . .

as does Amy Moran, who technically is moving later than the blue to gold but still enjoys the subdued light.

RTC 80 is pushed westbound by

Dace Reinauer.

Treasure Coast waits with its barge amidst the industrial landscape of IMTT.

Viking (sometimes pronounced “vikin“) moves toward the AK with DBL 134.

Buchanan 12 heads for the fuel dock.

Ruth M. Reinauer  takes her barge to the AK as well.

Evelyn Cutler moves her barge to the west, and

fleet mate Kimberly Poling crosses the strait to tie up at Caddells.

x

x

xx

 

Sheesh . . . someone forgot to sweep all the leftover letters from the garage floor after work.

 

All photos and lack of sweeping by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 191

I love the clear air of winter days, better to see details, like the horizontally mounted ladder and all the trucks in the background moving containers at the Global Terminal.  See how many trucks, i.e., tractors,  you count in this post.

And more trucks, as Erin McAllister stands by.

Again, see the trucks, as Scott Turecamo passes.  And you wonder why I don’t do even more truckster posts.

I happened to be down by South Street Seaport’s row of ships the other day and noticed W. O. Decker there alongside Wavertree.

And then lots more traffic passed on the East River, like Ruth and

Helen and 

James.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.  I counted around 18–20.

 

Random Tugs 186

And then it was a sunny but cold day, the coldest so far in the sixth boro.  ut the light was great.

B.Franklin Reinauer headed for the fuel stop,

followed by a group that included

Zachery Reinauer,

Arabian Sea,

and Doubleskin 40 pushed by a mostly self-effacing Fort McHenry.  

 

Later Tarpon raced past, as

did Mister T and

Chesapeake moved her barge eastward.

Out in Gravesend Bay, Ruth M. Reinauer and Linda Lee Bouchard swung on the hook.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Facet Tug Evolution

Bear with me here.  Let’s go back to 1999.  Nicole Leigh Reinauer was built in Alabama Shipyard to push a 135,000 brl barge.  Look at the lines of this 118′ x 40 tug working with 7200 hp.

Ruth M. Reinauer is Senesco hull # 202, 112′ x 35′ and 4000 hp. She is the first of the “facet tugs.”  As you can read in the link in the previous sentence, the design change was driven by easing the construction process of both tugs and double-skin barges.   If the shape of the reminder of tugboats in this post seem odd to you, read this interesting article by Casey Conley with a title that alludes to the (now retired) F-117 fighter.

Laurie Ann Reinauer followed, same dimensions and power and hull # 203.

Reinauer Twins came out in September 2011, same basic dimensions by greater horsepower . .  4720.

I’m not sure what happened with hull#205, but #206 is B. Franklin Reinauer, 110′ x 33′ and 4000 hp.

By the way, there’s a LOT going on in the background of this photo, including what appears to be dredge Atchafalaya in dry dock.

Curtis is hull# 207, same numbers.

 

 

Haggerty Girls is hull# 208, same numbers.

 

 

Dean Reinauer is hull# 210, 112.2′ x 35′ and 4720 hp.

 

 

And that brings us up to date with respect to Reinauer facet tugs . ..  it’s Dylan Cooper, operating less than a full year now, with the same numbers as Dean Reinauer.

 

 

Note that it was exactly five years ago that we were following the trials and tribulations of loading the previous Curtis and Dean Reinauer  onto the heavy lift ship for West African waters.   I’d love to see photos of those tugs five years on and working out of Nigeria.  Does anyone out there have access to such?

For extensive documentation of many of these facet tugs during the building process, click here for the bulging albums created by Rod Smith at Narragansett Bay Shipping.

All photos of the handsome set of workhorses by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Random Tugs 159

If you have a lot of free time, you can trace this back to the first installment.

These photos are all from the past week, starting out with Bouchard Boys, 1975.

Pelham, 1960.  Behind her is USNS Red Cloud.

Barney Turecamo (1995) and

 

Scott Turecamo (1998).

Eric R. Thornton (1960)

Jill Reinauer (1967) and Dace Reinauer (1968) with RTC 61.

Add Stephen-Scott (1967) and Ruth M. Reinauer (2008) pushing RTC 102.

 

Margaret Moran (1979) starting a backing-down of Heina with

James D. Moran (2015).  More on this backing down later this week.

Captain D (1974) with CVA-604.

Meagan Ann (1975)

Houma (1970).

Frances (1957) and I think I know the crewman forward of the house.

And finally, I put this photo here because of a boat in the background.  Is that Kristy Ann Reinauer (1962)?  I thought she was scrapped half a year ago already.  Hmm.

Other boats here are L. to r.) Realist, Kristy Ann, Hubert Bays, Long Splice, Samantha Miller, Stephen B, and Hunt Girls, which has been in the yard there for (?) two years now?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Random Tugs 155

First, my take on the identification of the tug from the film in yesterday’s post, it’s a model and filmed in New Deal Studios in LA.    That would explain the logistics.

So, for today, let’s start with Miss Katie . . . outbound last Thursday.

Miss Katie, 1998

 

Mister T, 2001

 

Ruth M. Reinauer, 2008, pushing RTC 102

 

Discovery Coast, 2012

 

Kirby Moran, 2015, assisting STI Fulham

 

JRT Moran, 2015

 

McAllister Girls, 1968, moving B. No. 231

 

Amy C McAllister, 1975, also assisting B. No. 231

 

Brian Nicholas, 1966.   Sturgeon Bay, 1987

 

Eric McAllister, 2014, passing NYK Nebula

 

Irish Sea, 1969

 

James D. Moran, 2015, assisting NYK Nebula

And finally, we return to Miss Katie because two days later, she caught some unwanted attention.  Details here.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Fog 16

When Walter’s building looks like this in the center of the island,

the sixth boro looks like this.   Here Ava Jude pushes a Hughes barge past Ruth M. Reinauer wedded to RTC 102.

Eastern Welder fishes as Emma Miller services Asphalt Star.

Wolf River does hydrographic work while

Chesapeake Coast lighters Elixir, and just beyond

Amazon Brilliance belies her name.

Awaiting orders or favorable tide and each with a barge, it’s McAllister Sisters and McKinley Sea.

Here’s to hoping for fog to dissipate.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.