Retro Piscataqua Mouth

Yes . . . I’ve been off wifi and away from the sixth boro, sometimes admiring images like the one below.  I’m back now and have more photos from July 2010 to revisit the Piscataqua, and a watershed where I canoed, kayaked, and just generally roamed from 1986 until 2000, along with some hiatuses out of the country.

A fixture in Portsmouth NH is the Moran fleet on Ceres Street.

L to R back in July 2010 are Mary M Coppedge, Carly A. Turecamo, and Eugenia Moran.  Mary M Coppedge, 1975 and 95′ x 30′ and 3200 hp is still in service.  Eugenia Moran 1966 and 102′ x 28′ and single screw 2875 hp and built at Jakobson  is “laid up.”   Carly A. Turecamo, 1966 and 98′ x 30′ and single screw at 2200 hp is now Marjorie Winsow.

Sakonnet . . . based in Gosport  . . . is a mystery to me.  This photo was taken in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Navy Yard (PSNY) in the Picataqua has been active since 1800, the presidency of John Adams, making it the oldest continuously operated USN shipyard.   YTB 771 aka Keokuk, 109′ x 31′ was commissioned in 1964. Some other YTBs that have been featured on this blog can be found here.  The sixth boro’s staple ex-YTB is Ellen McAllister.

YTL 602 aka Cocheco was commissioned in 1945.

Nose-to nose with YTL 602 is a tug I can’t identify.  It’s much newer and has lots of fendering below the waterline, an adaptation for working with submarines, which is PNSH’s specialty.

By this article, the mystery tug and the one below are both LT-65 tugs, although that seems impossible to me.

Sir William Pepperell appears to be a launch named for a Colonial merchant from Kittery ME, right across the Piscataqua.  Click here to read a 1924 published book about  Pepperell and two friends written by John Francis Sprague.

Two USCG cutters in the harbor that day were Reliance and

Campbell.

And of course . . . there were lobster boats galore.

 

I have not been back in since 2017, when I went to see the new Moran tug San Jose. It’s high time for a revisit.  A memorable canoe trip I took there was  . . . early 1990s on the Great Bay, starting in Newmarket and eventually losing the tide.

Here‘s a bit more.

All photos, WVD.