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You’ll excuse this poor quality lede photo once you realize who/what took it: the Statue of Liberty has functioning eyes and watches everything that passes through this sector of the sixth boro. Think about that: she’s big and she witnesses! And yesterday it was raining here, so those are water droplets on the lens.
But the point of this post is the tug with an unusual tow just entering from the right. I know it’s not very clear, but bear with me . . or us. It gets better.
A bit later, Phil Little was at the ready from the cliff across from the Manhattan passenger terminal, but who knew which side of the tow to watch until this point.
A bit later, Luis Melendez, NYC Parks dock master at Dyckman Marina, was on the optimal albeit rainy side of the tow to see schooner Pioneer well defined against the scow.
Here’s a little bit of history if you’re not familiar with Pioneer: she was built in Marcus Hook PA in 1885 as a sand sloop, operating between Delaware Bay and the Delaware River. So think of the photo this way, and I’m paraphrasing someone else here: she was a sand sloop converted to a sand schooner (and other configurations) now made to a sand or aggregate scow and headed upriver pushed by the mighty 1957 Frances. Pioneer was hitching a ride to Albany for engine work.
A few dozen miles later, Kevin Oldenburg was ready to get even clearer pics. It was still rainy but not yet dark.
After she rounded Jones Point,
she was soon visible from the Bear Mountain Overlook along Hwy 202.
That’s Iona Island off the port side and
sand sloop/schooner that Pioneer was, she had clearly a small fraction of capacity when compared to her 21st century scow descendants.
Many thanks to Justin Zizes, Jonathan Boulware, Phil Little, Luis Melendez, Kevin Oldenburg, and the Lady of the Harbor for their contributions–made in rainy December conditions–to this post. By the way, did anyone get photos from W. O. Decker? Anyone else from any other vantage point?
A previous time we had this many collaborators watching traffic was just over a decade ago and involved sailing barges and a mothership named Flinterborg.
Getting back to the Statue of Liberty cam, “girl with no eyes” made a great song, but it could certainly not be said to refer to our Lady of the sixth boro.
Since I mentioned Dyckman Marina, whatever became of Mon Lei, the Chinese junk formerly owned by Robert “believe it or not” Ripley and recently docked up there at the now defunct-La Marina for a few years?
Lady Liberty called me up last night to apologize for the poor quality of photo she delivered and asked why Pioneer had not hitched a ride on a nicer day. I was speechless, because what does one say when the Lady calls you up on your personal number??!@#?
No need for much language here. I started these photos around 0830. Despite some rain, conditions were ideal for this loading . . . or engulfing.
Here Dorothy J gently moves the antique barque foot by foot closer to Hamburg.
Combo-Dock III, the engulfer, lies in wait.
Robert IV assists when needed.
Without the zoom, I imagined the gentleman with the yellow helmet to stand by on the helm.
We have 20 meters and closing . . .
With big power on minuscule tolerances, Dorothy J eases her in.
The barque floats gently forward in the hold.
Lines to capstans on the heavy lift ship are doing the work, as the tugs stand by until released from service.
Peking is now engulfed. Time is about 1130. Operations to make fast and secure now begin before they head out into the Atlantic for Germany.
Many thanks to Jonathan Kabak and Jonathan Boulware for the floating platform.
All photos here by Will Van Dorp, who is thrilled to have seen this today.
Ken came up with additional photos of his overnight in the transient slip at South Street Seaport Museum many years ago . . . so here they are. Note the Twin Towers in the background. To the right side of the photo, I’m guessing that’s a mastless Lettie G. Howard and Major General William H. Hart, now languishing along the Arthur Kill.
Here’s a close up of the stick lighter, identified by eastriver as Vernie S.
Russell Grinell, among other things, was an owner of schooner Pioneer before she came to SSSM.
Here’s Black Pearl in the foreground, with a respectable looking eagle’s figurehead.
And finally, this might be the stern of Anna Christina, which sank in the “perfect storm” as mentioned in this NYTimes article.
Again, many thanks to Ken Deeley for bringing these photos he took from the transient dock several decades ago to the light. One of my tugster goals is to publish photos like these, bringing them into the “creative commons.”
Who else greeted Wavertree on the rest of the way home? John J. Harvey is always in on celebrations.
Lettie G. Howard was there,
as was the helicopter. Feehan presented herself on the far side of Rae.
Pioneer accounted for
herself with crew in the crosstrees.
Pioneer and Lettie teamed up at times.
Wire showed up.
New York Harbor School had two boats there, including Privateer and their
newest vessel Virginia Maitland Sachs, about which I’ll post soon.
Melvillian throngs came down to the “extremest limit of land” on Pier 15 and 16, for one reason or another, but who were about to be treated to some excellent ship handling.
Rae took the lead, showing the need for tugboats of all sizes.
The larger tugs pushed and pulled as needed to ease into the slip
until all lines were fast and
and the shoreside work needed doing.
Bravo to all involved. If you want to take part in a toast to Wavertree, you can buy tickets here for the September 29 evening.
If you haven’t read the NYTimes article by James Barron yet, click here.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who hopes I left no one out and who as before is grateful to the South Street Seaport Museum and the photographers’ boat provided by US Merchant Marine Academy and crewed by a set of dedicated cadets.
Often folks ask how one can learn about the harbor or is there a book about the sixth boro. Volunteering at South Street Seaport Museum is a great way available to all to get access to the water, to learn from like-minded folks, and to start on a journey of reading the harbor and its traffic for yourself. Each volunteer’s journey will be unique, and willing hands make institutions like this museum survive and thrive.
Almost exactly 16 months ago, Wavertree left Pier 16 for a lot of work at Caddell Dry Dock. Here was my set of photos from that day, and here, subsequent ones at several month intervals. Yesterday she made way, back to Pier 16.
Here’s looking back west. Compare the photo below with the third one here to see how much work has been accomplished on the Bayonne Bridge during the same 16 months.
Yesterday, Rae helped, as did
Dorothy J and Robert IV.
The combined age of Rae, Robert IV, and Dorothy J is 139 years, whereas the beautifully restored flagship they escorted in is 131 years old.
And as the tow approached the Statue, John J. Harvey joined in.
These photos all by Will Van Dorp, who is grateful to the South Street Seaport Museum and the photographers’ boat provided by US Merchant Marine Academy and crewed by a set of dedicated cadets.
For some interesting history on Wavertree and info on a fundraiser on board on September 29, 2016, click here. For the story of how Wavertree came from Argentina to New York, read Peter & Norma Stanford’s A Dream of Tall Ships, which I reviewed here some time ago.
More photos of the return tomorrow.
Here are some posts about Lettie G. Howard.
Want to join the crew for a sail to Gloucester for the 2016 schooner race, be part of the race crew, or help sail the 1893 schooner back to NYC’s sixth boro?
You’d be crew in training, integrated into watch-standing along with her professional crew.
On the return, she stops in New London for the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival. And all the while, you’d be supporting the good work of South Street Seaport Museum, which has many other unparalleled events coming up in the next few weeks.
Here are the specifics on ticket prices, dates, and itineraries:
NYC to Gloucester | 8/29-9/2: $800.00*
Gloucester Schooner Race | 9/4: $160.00
Gloucester to New London | 9/5-9/9: $800.00
New London to NYC | 9/11-9/13: $480.00
*Sail the first leg and join the race at no additional cost!
To reserve your spot, email: lettieghoward@seany.org
The first and last photos here come from Hannah Basch-Gould; all the other have been taken by Will Van Dorp, who on these dates will be gallivanting to francophone Canada in search of Champlain’s dream.
I suppose I could call this RT 163b, since the photos in both were taken the same day, same conditions of light and moisture.
Let’s start with Charles D. McAllister with Lettie G. Howard bare poles in the distance.
Evelyn Cutler with Noelle Cutler is tied up alongside a barge with Wavertree‘s still horizontal poles. Click here to see Evelyn as I first saw her.
Viking is high and dry, post the winter work.
Timothy L. Reinauer is back in town after a very long hiatus, at least from my POV. This may have been the last time I saw her.
Mary Gellatly gets some TLC as well; click here for the previous time she was in a “random” post.
Beyond Mister Jim, a pile of sand is growing in the yard just west of the Bayonne Bridge on the Staten Island side.
Elizabeth and Marjorie B. McAllister head out for a job.
Tasman Sea heads for the yard as
Amberjack departs.
And for closure, it’s Marjorie B passing in front of a relatively ship-free Port Elizabeth. Click here for a photo of Marjorie B high and dry a few years ago.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
And in contrast to all that, in Niigata earlier today, here’s some great vessel christening photos from Maasmondmaritime.
As a review, here and here were the posts I did on Wavertree going TO Caddell 11 months ago, and here is the series 1 through 4 focusing on Wavertree AT Caddell’s.
Below was she on March 10. While I was away, she was refloated.
Below is March 19. To my surprise, the masts had been unstepped.
And below was yesterday, April 17, the day when Executive Director of South Street Seaport Museum, Jonathan Boulware, conducted a tour of the work in progress. Any errors in this reportage are due to my having forgotten my pen and pad.
Since the masts–at up to 20 tons each, if I heard that right–were unstepped, their cleanup and refurbishment has begun.
A house has been built over the whaleback stern to protect the interior spaces. There is some beautiful birdseye maple panelling in there.
The underside of the whaleback shows the details of work already completed.
This is the interior of the upper stern, looking to starboard.
Access to the cargo areas during the tour was forward.
I’m eager to see what work gets done to the bowsprit. Check out this post (and scroll) from many years ago when Frank Hanavan and I put fresh paint on that bowsprit.
This is a new deck . . . the tweendeck. If you’ve ever eaten on Moshulu in Philadelphia, the restaurant is in this space.
Wavertree had a tweendeck back in 1895, when she called briefly in the sixth boro, which you can read about here (scroll). In the photo below, you are looking through a hatch in the tweendeck down into the main cargo hold.
And here is the main payload space, the cathedral of cargo, looking toward the stern. On a modern vessel, this would be divided into watertight compartments.
I can’t say this is the manufacturer, but this is the concept–as I understand it–for this ballast.
Mainmast will be restepped here.
Here Jonathan explains the spar work.
When the project is completed, all these spars will be aloft and potentially functional.
This cross section of a spar shows the lamination of the wood. Some of these products are provided–I believe–by Unalam.
Here are some of the finer spars, along
with the directions for re-assembly.
Work going on in the rigging shed included stripping off the old coatings and recovering the high quality old wire of the standing rigging.
Worming, parcelling, and serving protects the wire and produces such sweet smells of pine tar.
Many thanks to South Street Seaport Museum for offering this work progress tour. Any errors here are unintentional and mine.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who thinks anyone who hasn’t read A Dream of Tall Ships by the late great Peter Stanford would really enjoy the saga of Wavertree‘s arrival in the sixth boro as told in that book.
Know this water, more of a waterway than a harbor? The distant buildings are a clue. See the one just left of the center of bridge center, needle thin?
Here’s another clue . . . the structure near the right side of the photo, like an old time gas station pump?
Or this one left of the crane, looking like the business end of a blue crab whose pincers are down?
Or this wreck? What WAS this boat? I’ve asked a million people who all say they also asked a million people. Anyone know?
And seriously, the first photo showed the Throgs Neck Bridge, the second the LaGuardia airport traffic tower, and the third . . . Arthur Ashe stadium. The photo above with the mystery wreck in the Whitestone Bridge . .. the second one in when you travel from Long Island Sound into . . . the East River
And that needle thin tower in 432 Park, said to be the tallest residential building in the hemisphere. Click here for views from the tallest bathtub in that building. And in the foreground of the photo below, truly a place of superlatives . . . . Rikers Island, i.e., one of the largest incarceration places in the world. No gunk holing is tolerated anywhere near this place.
Rikers has literally overflowed its banks. This is the off-Rikers portion of NYC Corrections, the Vernon C. Bain Center.
Click here for a tugster photo of part of the Rikers fleet. And here for Bain’s NYC floating prison predecessor.
By now, most of you know this is the East River and we’re traveling west. Here the DEP sludge tanker Red Hook prepares to depart the Hunt’s Point wastewater treatment plant. Click here for some tugster posts on treating waste and keeping sixth boro waters as clean as possible despite the teeming millions that live along the banks of these waters. And if you’ve never read my Professional Mariner story on the latest generation of these tankers, you can do so here.
Between Rikers and Hunts Point, there are the North and South Brother Islands; see my post from South Brother here from a long time ago. The safer channel goes around the north of North Brother, but in daylight, most vessels can shoot between the two.
I’ve never set foot on North Brother, but I imagine it a terrestrial version of the “graveyard” on the Arthur Kill.
A “night wharf” on Wards Island for the sludge tankers lies here just east of the Hell Gate and RFK bridges there.
This strait–between Roosevelt Island and the upper east side of Manhattan–in the tidal strait that’s known as the East River can see some fast currents. Somewhere off to the right is the vantage point Jonathan Steinman takes his East river pics from.
This is not a cargo pier. These vessels are repairing the bulk heading.
Anyone know the identity of these two “houses” nestled up there in the eastisde of Manhattan cliffs?
These barges called the Water Club . . . I’ve never been there. Any personal reviews?
Newtown Creek awaits its fate here at a dock in Wallabout Bay right across
from the rock wharf where Alice Oldendorff has discharged millions of tons of crushed rock over the years.
After we duck under the Brooklyn Bridge, we near the end of the East River,
where South Street Seaport Museum has been fighting the noble fight to
preserve ships and the upland including the wharves.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
Here are previous posts in this series. All photos below come compliments of Mike Weiss and were taken on September 24, i.e., about a month after Wavertree rose out of the water on Caddell Dry Dock No. 6.
Rather than a very satisfying sifting through the index above, you can read a short history of Wavertree here.
Many thanks, Mike.
Time to renew your South Street Seaport Museum membership?
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