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I had a notice, so when the LCM came around the bend, I was waiting. This LCM I knew well from Jake Van Reenen operated it for barging in the Seaway areas of the 1000 Islands and Lake Ontario.
The 1000 Islands is a very different environment than this, the East River headed into Hell Gate, or at the time I took the photos, Hell Gate water running west.
Right now, it’s headed to a new home in Maine. Note the crewman looking back along Roosevelt Island and getting a photo.
The background is Mill Rock, entirely Mill Rock Park. Read much more about Mill Rock here. See the travel home and pickup inside the LCM? That is exactly the raison d’etre of landing crafts. I know somewhat out there who’d appreciate knowing that it was once LCM 8219.
The land mass to the right is Randalls/Wards Island. Remember . . . the five boros comprise many islands.
The two bridges here, for outatowners, are the Triborough (now RFK) Bridge and the Hell Gate (RR) Bridge.
Randalls is home to an enormous sewage treatment operation, i.e., it’s home to NYC DEP, those good folks with fine boats who deal with what I call the “gross universal product,” or GUP.
But I digress, Seaway Supplier heads for the Sound and eventually downeast Maine.
All photos, WVD. Many thanks to Jake for the heads up.
Here was the previous installment. And here were the cargos and places of summer. And if you missed it previously, here’s an article about Seaway Supplier I published in Professional Mariner last year. The first six photos are used with permission from Seaway Marine Group.
Trucks like the ones with the white tanks transport stocks of fish from hatcheries to water bodies, in this case Lake Ontario. Here’s the first time I noticed one of these trucks on the highway.
Off Oswego, it’s ready, aim,
swim!
Elsewhere at sites determined by the DEC . . . fish are brought in.
and the truck returns to shore for the next load.
The photos below all come thanks to Cathy Contant, who
works in the inlet and bay where I learned to swim almost 60 years ago. Back then, when a coal ship came in here, everyone had to get out of the water. But I digress.
How could I not recognize the lighthouse AND Chimney Bluffs way in the distance.
Here’s what Seaway Marine writes on their FB page: “We have transported 40 trucks, via 6 port locations stocking over 500,000 fish into Lake Ontario aboard our USCG certified landing craft, Seaway Supplier.”
Many thanks to Jake and Cathy for use of these photos.
Here was “springtime.” All the following photos taken by Jake Van Reenen this past summer show the variety of cargoes moved.
Many thanks to Jake for use of these photos.
If you haven’t read it yet, here’s my Professional Mariner article on “barging” in the area of the St. Lawrence River called the Thousand Islands. Since there’s plenty of reading there, I’ll just make this mostly a photo post. LCM owner Jake Van Reenen took all but the last three photos in this post.
In February, the LCM and everything else “afloat” is actually ice-trapped. Folks who live year-round on the islands travel by snow machine.
By late March, the ice has turned to liquid, and navigation starts to resume on the Seaway.
It’s April and houses on the islands need a visit from the fuel truck.
In May, folks from “away” begin to return, sometimes bringing their own supplies.
All manner of vehicles travel to the Islands in early June, when
I visited. The photos below I took . . .
As we traveled with an empty fuel truck back to Clayton, we took the stern of
Vikingbank, headed upbound for Duluth!! for grain.
Captain Jake and deckhand Patsy Parker.
Summer and early fall photos from Seaway Marine Group will follow.
If you’re interested in reading a great book on Andrew J. Higgins, the developer of these boats, try this one by Jerry E. Strahan.
For my post on another LCM cleaning up Sandy debris, click here. For my post on repurposed LSTs, one I’ll be traveling on tomorrow, click here.
Back to the jaunt in the St Lawrence watershed, specifically my itinerary was from Clayton mainland to Grindstone Island, then return to the mainland, then southwest to Cape Vincent, and then to Kingston, Ontario. To get to Kingston from Cape Vincent involves two ferries: one from Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island in Canada and then after a 20-minute drive across Wolfe, another ferry from Marysville to Kingston. Here’s a map.
In an archipelago like the Thousand Islands (actually I read there are over 1800 islands fitting the parameters that an “island” remains above the water all year round AND has at least one tree), boats are ubiquitous and landing craft like these two are invaluable. Summer populations swell the numbers of residents. Historically, a lot of the wealthy from centers like NYC came up here and built big. The island out beyond the two LCM-8s here is Calumet Island, and that tower is the only significant remnant of Calumet Castle, built by Charles Emery, a tobacco entrepreneur from Brooklyn. Click here and here for more info about Emery, just one of the players here during the Gilded Age.
photo taken from Grindstone Island, looking toward Calumet Island and Clayton
In this watershed, pilotage is provided by a total of five providers. The pilot boat below is at the Cape Vincent station of the St Lawrence Seaway Pilot Association. Notice how clear the water is.
M/V William Darrell has operated as ferry between Cape Vincent and Wolfe Island since 1952! Its dimensions are 60′ x 28,’ and later in this post you’ll understand why I’m telling you that. Scroll through here and you’ll learn that the H on the stack stands for Horne; the Horne family has been operating the ferry since the 1820s, . . . almost 200 years. Click here and scroll to see this ferry with a Winnebago on it a few years ago.
M/V William Darrell entered service as a 12-car ferry.
The Wolfe Island wind farm has operated since 2009.
Wolfe Island as seen from the ferry Frontenac II to Kingston
Frontenac II, 1962 built, has dimensions of 180′ x 45′.
as seen from onboard
as seen from the Kingston land’s edge
Island Queen and other vessels take passengers through parts of the archipelago.
Of course I found one, although there was no name.
On leg 1 of my return to Cape Vincent aboard Frontenac II, I saw four vessels like this with . . . lunker? rig.
When I got back to M/V William Darrell, there was just me, until this bus pulled up. But the ferry crew took in stride what would have me worried.
We crossed, and all went without incident.
The only downside was that the bus drove off first, straight to the immigration both, and I spent a good 20 minutes as the passengers’ documents were checked. Had the immigration waved me through first, I could have been halfway to Watertown before the bus cleared.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who might not post for a few days because the gallivant work trip downstream goes on.
Here, here, and here are north country posts from a few years back.
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