Whole Lotta Dredgin’ 15

At least two other dredging projects are happening in the sixth boro simultaneously.  The one in the Buttermilk Channel  came to my attention because of the following two photos taken by Captain Malcolm of  schooner Pioneer.

Neither this tug–Miss Gloria— nor the dredge were ones I was familiar with. Miss Gloria is a 2003 Rodriguez Brothers tug operated by Marquette, and plenty of other Rodriguez boats work the sixth boro, and Marquette boats have been here before as well, mostly involved in dredging projects.

Malcolm’s photos intrigued me enough that I decided to come out for a night sail on Pioneer;  it had been far too long since I last had done that, especially given Pioneer‘s role in my starting this blog to begin with:  I’d been volunteer crew on the schooner before I started the blog, had taken lots of harbor activity photos, and then created this blog as a means to share those photos. 

Here’s a one-photo digression then for a photo I took more than 16 years ago from another vessel of Pioneer–black hull–and Adirondack sailing together in the Upper Bay at dusk. Although both are schooners, over a century of age and shipbuilding materials development and some very different history separate them.

To return from this digression, the following photos I took of the Great Lakes D & D dredging in the Buttermilk, photos i took after Malcolm suggested I put my feet back on Pioneer‘s deck. More photos of that lovely evening to follow.

I also have not shared photos I took of outstanding GLDD equipment I took in March. Click here for a January 2022 preview. 

Miss Gloria was elsewhere, but Smith Predator, who’s been doing dredge spoils runs the past few weeks, was standing by as a dump scow was being filled. I’d seen Smith Predator on AIS, and with a name like that, it had attracted my attention, but to date, I’d not gotten a good clear photo, only very distant ones.

 

Thanks to Captain Malcolm for the first two photos and the suggestion to come sailing;  all others, WVD.

More photos from the Pioneer sail to follow.

Autumn Sail 9

Pioneer headed southwest,  then

west.

and Clipper City taking her stern.

Laura K Moran takes the stern of an Offshore Sailing School boat.

A small sloop appears to go head-t0-head with Meriom Topaz and does the same with

Americas Spirit, as the tanker is lightered and provisioned.

And finally .  . is the green cata-schooner passing off the stern of Comet really Heron, which I last saw in Puerto Rico here (last foto)?

Here she tacks to the east just north of the Verrazano.  And Saturday night I spotted her again passing southbound through Hell Gate.

I hope to have more exciting autumn sail soon.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Autumn Sail 8

Here was 7.

There are figureheads, and then there are figures on the head rig.

Or dancers on the jibboom?

Whatever part of a sail evolution this was, it looked

like fun on Shearwater.

Pioneer too seemed to relish playing in the Upper Bay the other evening,

tacking off Ellis Island.

I saw another too after dark, a non-sixth-boro schooner, but I couldn’t make the ID.  All fotos here by Will Van Dorp, who imagines  thrilling autumn schooner sails in his near future.

Sum of the Parts 3

Here was 2, nearly three years ago.  I could also call this “some of the parts,” which is what I show . . . and you guess the rest.

We start with an easy one;  answer will be clear once you get through a half dozen or so.

The ladders are distinctive.

I airbrushed out the first name.

If you were out on the sixth boro today, you might know these next ones.

The gray one is Newtown Creek.

Not the same vessel as above.  Note the light at the Narrows far right.

Purrty sail!  And then the answers.

Top one was the schooner Pioneer.

Meredith C. Reinauer

Joan Turecamo

BW Hudson

Han Jin Chittagong

Basuto     Now I want to know what the relationship is between Stolt and Unicorn . . .   And Basuto is a South African word.

Stolt Efficiency

“Gunboat” catamaran Tiger Lily

And here’s the prize for putting up with my format:  America 2.0 heeling over in the stiff breeze of the Upper Bay this afternoon.

All fotos taken today by Will Van Dorp, who didn’t even expect to be here today.

 

 

Convergence 4

Here’s  some of my May 2010 coverage of Fleet Week’s arrival.  So Fleet Week and OpSail 2012 have converged, commingling state-of-the-art with traditional vessels.   Now add  into the mix F/A-18s and Hudson river water pumped through the system of  1931 John J. Harvey.  Doubleclick enlarges fotos.

Leading the fleet is Eagle.

And leading the tall ships is J. S. de Elcano (1927).

The day was blessed with atmospheric light

…and acrobatic and disciplined sailors.

Not as common a name to our ears as Magellan, Elcano was Magellan’s second-in-command and the one who completed “Magellan’s circumnavigation” more than a year after Magellan was killed in 1521.

Vessels included destroyer USS Roosevelt (commissioned 2000),

Gazela (1901), (Get tickets to this weekend’s Gazela theater here.)

USS San Jacinto (commissioned 1988),

and Dewaruci (launched 1953, keel laid 1932).

I wondered what these crew would do if the ominous sky sent thunder and lightning.

Etoile, I believe, was there as were

La Belle Poule (1932),

and Cisne Branco  (2000) and   HCMS Iroquois (1970, 1992).

Crew rode high in the rigging of Cisne Branco.

Cuauhtemoc (commissioned 1982) passed in review with

more crew in the rigging.

Emily Miller made the parade and in the distance, it’s  USS Gonzalez (commissioned 1996).

Click here for info on the namesake for DDG-66.

Appledore 5 crosses JS Shirane (commissioned 1980).

The sailing vessel heeled over is Summerwind (1929) and approaching is James Turecamo  (1969), prepared to handle white hulls.

Pride of Baltimore II is especially significant, given that the rationale for an OpSail event this year is the bicentennial of the war of 1812.   This fact also makes significant the participation by a Canadian and a British vessel in Fleet Week.

And huge flag . . . says it’s Gloria  (commissioned 1968), passing

RFA Argus, container ship turned floating hospital.

Colombian crew –men and women–in the rigging

and on the jibbom put on a colorful show.

Guayas (commissioned 1976)

had skyscraper crew at the very top of the mast.

And finally . .  a return for USS Wasp.   Notice the tug midships port side.  Know it?

I was surprised to learned it was neither Charles D. nor Responder but Roderick (1967) !  Generally, Roderick is not a sixth boro tug.

And here’s another unusual sight, commingling the power of a McAllister and a Moran  assisting Wasp into the berth.

Parade over, Catherine heads back to the dock, as does Pioneer (commissioned 1885!!)

And a final shot for today, TWO French handiworks, Belle Poule and the Statue of Liberty.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Crowleys in the Sixth Boro

I offer these as fotos in search of a story . . .  midday yesterday it was Bruce A. McAllister who appeared first on the ConHook Range with an unmistakeable

Crowley boat.

It was Mars

I could then read.  But the story . . . I’m still confuzzled.

Might there be another sale of old boats in the offing?    Some dimensions on Mars:  1970 built at McDermott in the state of LA, 136′ x 37,’ 5750 hp.  How long ago did she traverse the Panama Canal?

As I pondered that, I noticed a follower . . . a McAllister tug I’ve not seen before . . . Michael J. McAllister, built at Halter in the state of LA as well in 1971, 109′ and 4100 hp . . .  with another

Crowley on the hip.

Pioneer . . . 127′ x 37′ and 7200, McDermott built in 1975, and formerly operating out of Jacksonville . . . I believe.    So I’m wondering, where did these tows begin and what happens next . . .

As to that other Pioneer . . . the one I was waiting for, here’s another foto.

If you wish to help the Museum get its landlegs back . . . click on the graphic below.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.   For a foto of Crowley Pathfinder I took a few years back near Seattle, click here . . .  8th foto down.

Pioneers in the Sixth Boro 2 and More

Here was the first one, two years ago.  Actually . . . this post should be called “waiting for Pioneer, ”  one 1885 steel and iron schooner, said to be transiting through the Kills back to South Street Seaport.

But in the unpredictable ways of the sixth boro, this is the first Pioneer that showed up, stern first and

made securely to a McAllister–Michael J.–one I’ve never seen before.

Anyone know from whence?  Actually Crowley Mars also arrived that way midday today . . . stern by bow of Bruce A. McAllister.   More fotos of the Crowley visitors tomorrow.  Anyone know what the plans are?

About an hour after Mars and Pioneer transited to the west, I saw the unmistakeable lines of a schooner . . .

the Pioneer I was expecting.

In the next month, volunteers will sweat and tie spars and sails onto the poles and

this vessel–so absent all throughout 2011–will again gallop or wallow across the Upper Bay.

This Pioneer had an Anacostia-escort for a few minutes before the schooner took the tug’s stern and

made for Manhattan.   Meanwhile . . .

this vessel, Katherine G, a liftboat–not a tug–whose foto I took about a year ago here–had

a mishap over on the north side of Liberty Island and ended up like this.  This foto was taken at 10:16 this morning.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.   Thanks much to eastriver for the heads up . . .  .

For more on Katherine G, see what Newyorkology has to report.

And this Halifax-centric tugboat blog to check out . . .

More Pioneer: Request

A bit of chain . . . and the onboard scenes like the ones I posted the past two days . . . these are the only views of Pioneer I got.  Simple request:  if you shot any good scenes of Pioneer heeled over or otherwise playing tag in the 20-30 mph winds on Thursday, could you get in touch.  Please.

I’d be happy to exchange fotos, high-res ones.

Especially if you were on the water on another of the chase boats or welcome boats,

let’s exchange

fotos.  Obviously Reid and Anne were the

center of attention . . . royalty of the ball, and again congratulations to them.  See Brian’s (Moveable Bridge) posting from the pier here.

And now . . . faintly, I hear the merfolk and all their kin drumming.  They’re soon to come ashore.    See you at Coney.

Erin Wadder

. . . er “air” and “water.”       But with the Earth & Fire post last week, this had to appear, right?

Thanks to the tentatively definitive compendium on “schooner identification in the sixth boro,” I can without a doubt call the leftmost vessel Imagine and the rightmost Adirondack.  And for outatowners, that’s Hoboken in the background.

Just a glimpse of the spoon-bowed, yellow-sailed schooner raises my spirits from dragging along May’s rocks to June’s breeziness.

Notice how the profile of Escape Plan gets echoed here in the upper reaches of North Sea.

With the June breezes and right attention, even if just for a few moments, all my cares take wing and fly away . . .  propelling my spirit like a little sloop dallying about the start of the North River.

Seeing a yellow hulled sailboat, like Mamzel, powering upriver, one of many migrating mostly northward at season’s start conjures up one thought . . .  sailing . . . you’re doing it wrong.

Clipper City . . . sailing, almost doing it right, but

these ones got it:  Pride of Baltimore, Imagine, and Adirondack . . . back in 2008, air moving them through the water.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Here’s an “erin wadder” post from last fall;  more soon.

And don’t forget the caption contest here . . . I’ve got some good entries but want some more.  Send’em in, please.