Retro Sixth Boro 5

Since W. O. Decker may soon be seen albeit briefly in the sixth boro, let’s start with this photo from July 2008, as she chugs past the waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge, thanks to an Icelandic-Danish artist named Olafur Eliasson.

Reinauer had some of the same names as now assigned to different boats here a decade ago but now no more on this side of the Atlantic, like Dean.

Some names have not (yet) been reassigned like John.

Now for some that are still here, though some have different paint and names:  Juliet is now Big Jake.  Matthew Tibbetts is still all the same, externally at least.

Stena Poseidon–a great name– is now Espada Desgagnes, and Donald C may still be laid up as Mediterranean Sea.

The long-lived, many-named Dorothy Elizabeth has been scrapped.

Rowan M. McAllister is still around, but the Jones Act tanker S/R Wilmington has succumbed to scrappers’ tools in Brownsville TX.

Falcon has left the sixth boro for Philly and Vane, and Grand Orion, as of today, is headed for Belgium.

And finally . . . June K here assisting with Bouchard B. No. 295 . . .    she’s still around and hard  at work as Sarah Ann.

All photos by Will Van Dorp in July 2008.

 

People on the Boro 6

I’m keeping a lookout for Christopher Bell, the Erie Canal folk singer who travels from gig to gig by canoe, according to this NYTimes story earlier this week. There’s even a myspace link there where you can hear his music. Bell explains it as a reaction to fuel prices, but certainly an enhancement to his inspiration, too. Meanwhile, here’s who I’ve seen:

a solitary puffin . . . must transform when it made its way “upwest” to arrive here. Link shows puffins’ appearance as they congregate downeast…

and my foto-evidence of the tug44 command center, making its way up to greater Champlain. Notice the Rondout Light off Fred’s bow.

Summertime brings all sorts out; here sits a historian on the bow of a pilot boat with a legendary name.

Notice the pilot high on the bow of S/R Wilmington?

Now? He’s even got a sunshade rigged.

Now if Bell caught a ride to his next gig up here, how might that influence his sound? It’d also give new meaning to “ship’s bell.”

More people on the boro soon, maybe even Bell.

Photos,WVD.

Twin Tube

Here’s a post that’s languished in draft for nearly a month, as I’ve been too distracted. I must have been sleeping not to have noticed this unusual Twin Tube before this April.

I’d love to see Twin Tube at the dock if it ever stops working.

Below she delivers supplies to S/R Wilmington, a former Exxon vessel, as featured in this post some time ago. As I understand it, this former tanker has turned freight ship.

And . . . unrelated except in that Twin Tube and Rosemary Ruth are both unusual small vessels, check out this post by my friend Bonnie of frogma, who writes Richard’s exploits.  Rosemary Ruth, featured here almost a dozen times, is still for sale.

Photos, WVD.

Second Lives 2

The vessel shown below, a regular in the harbor, is truly unique: it’s registered in the United States and was built in the United States, at Avondale Industries on the Mississippi.

 

What makes this a “second lives” post is this vessel’s history: somewhere under many coats of paint is the original name: Exxon Wilmington. At 48000 dwt, though, it has about 1/5 the capacity of the Exxon Valdez. By the way, have any idea what happened to the Exxon Valdez made infamous by Capt. Hazelwood? Well, it had a second life as SeaRiver (S/R) Mediterranean (see her here) and by now . . . may be scrap. The future may bring surprising new uses for leaky oil tankers. I wonder about the current second life for Capt. Hazelwood aka “patron saint of the ‘smokers’ ” in the movie Waterworld.

Here’s a Netherlands-flagged oil products tanker lightering off some of its cargo. I’m not sure why a Swedish ship is flagged in the Netherlands. Guess who Bro Promotion transports for? Click here, scroll down, and read the right side. So we might choose to fill our cars with fuel from one station rather than another, but the fuel at all the stations along the strip might arrive on the same tanker.

This reminds me of working in an corn processing factory while in college: while operating the filling/labelling machine, I’d periodically shut down the line, switch labels from those of one food chain to those of its competition, and restart the line. Buy one brand or another, even choose “no frills,” it was the same corm going into those cans.

Oh, second lives: Bro Promotion was previously called Iver Example.

Alice Has One

One what? A tattoo, an unusual piercing, an implant? a “tres bon ami” up the St. Croix River? About the “ami,” well . . . as I post this, she’s up in Canadian now for the fourth time since Thanksgiving, so . . . who knows who she’s got up there? Maybe we could be talking about different Alices. The one I’m talking about has an orange thing that’s on rails ready to leave sternwise in the case she takes too long offloading at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

It’s called a covered lifeboat. When you’re out of sight of land in frightenly heavy seas in midwinter and the forecast just keeps getting worse, it’s a thing of utilitarian beauty and an amulet you can crawl inside of. Particularly mounted as Alice‘s, it strikes me as an object for recreation like a streamlined roller coaster car or a saltflats racer. Below is another type that doesn’t evoke nearly the same fancy.

Above is a closeup of the lifeboat of Atlantic Action, taking on containers in Red Hook.

A little farther south along the Buttermilk Channel in Red Hook is this view of the multiple lifeboats on Crown Princess, by the way the passenger vessel that made the unintended “tack” last July. Atlantic Action is off the stern.

Wilmington has one, but what’s your estimate of the distance to the water? I’d say at least 40 feet here. I need to trust that the davits will release correctly.

Pioneer has a rudimentary one, and crew does safety drills periodically, even in these cold April waters.

Actually, I have different lifeboats for various aspects of my life. I just wouldn’t feel safe otherwise. Do you have one? Oh, about Canadian waters, I’m thinking to head up that way soon myself.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.