Something Different 73

A cryptotectonic shift?

An unidentified source within US Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, suggests that two of the four stainless steel cable moorings that keep Staten Island in place may have severed at some point this past month. The previously undocumented moorings, which were installed in the early 20^th century, are tethered to Cambro-Ordovician serpentinite and Jurassic diabase and are designed to keep the island from shifting to the southeast. “In infinitesimal increments, the island, as if on its very own tectonic plate, has moved out the Ambrose,” said the USACE source.

A source close to USCG Sector NY but who refused to be identified reported that since the middle of last month vessel traffic service has had to recalibrate their station GPS settings, all to no permanent effect. “Investigations have been ongoing, but the southeast drift is undeniable,” this source opined, continuing,  “The USACE findings were entirely plausible, although officially we had never previously heard of these moorings.  This is disconcerting because these sub-channel bonds were never taken into account in the decade of dredging leading up to the arrival of the first Neo-Panamax vessel in the port.”

Further investigations by NOAA are said to be studying connections between recent fatal saltwater mammal groundings and this tectonic creep. Two of  13 operational NASA satellites in Sun-synchronous orbit and three of 4 in geostationary orbit have become involved using remote sensing satellites, and confirmed that Todt Hill’s summit of 401’ has subsided dramatically to 396’. Should this slide and subsidence accelerate, a possibility exists that the Island could settle, the equivalent of losing a geological version of hull integrity. NYC DOT bridge inspectors have been regularly tightening turnbuckles on the Outerbridge, Goethals, and Bayonne Bridges to attempt mitigation of this glissade to the southeast.  Leaked reports from the Lamont Geological Observatory suggest that Staten Island’s movement is an isolated drift, not happening with other islands of NYC’s archipelago.

Joey Gould, a reclusive independent scholar, had this to say on remediation:   “We put ourselves on this slippery slope; with the demise of the NYWheel project, we lost our last best chance to bolster those cables.” A flamboyant man-on-the-street, Commodore Belge, had this to say, “Despite assurances that sufficient towing power exists locally to reverse this slide, if arrayed in the vicinity of Port Ivory, hire me and I’ll fix the issue by getting waivers to the Jones Act, and bring in tugboats from Canada and overseas, and the Isle of Staten’s location will be right as rain once again.” 

If these unsubstantiated claims are in fact true, the worst option is to do nothing.  Inaction will lead to who knows where.  We need to end it.

Hat tip to Jason St. Onge for inspiration.   Thanks to Joseph Mitchell for his memorable characters. 

All reports here vetted and rejected by the tugster tower conspitheo department.

Click here for a 2019 version.  Here’s a 2010.  And this may have been a clever fake. 

Eyes on Staten Island

If you ever drive eastbound on Staten Island’s northern “land edge” route aka Richmond Terrace, you’ve probably seen this mural by Ian Kelleher.   The other day I stopped for a closer look and noticed

a delightful additional spoke on Bayonne’s windmill–harkening back about 400 years–and a huge upside-down unicycle just west of the ferry racks.

When I approached the ferry terminal, I noticed some wheel hardware beginning to accumulate.

Parking racks?

Keep your eyes on this location . . .  things could be happening soon.  By the way, notice there are details of ships hidden in the background of the three previous photos, speaking to the proximity of the Eye . . . or Wheel . . . to shipping channels.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Salt 10

Just before 0700, Medi Osaka rounded the bend, low in the water as a galleon from the Andean mines.  Only two hours before, under darkness, Medi Osaka‘s soon-to-be berth was still occupied by Global Success, which had just completed discharging its payload of road salt, at least the part of the load gong to Atlantic Salt.

Many media reports notwithstanding, there is road salt around.  Not all suppliers have been out.

This clam shell has been steadily emptying out holds.

Granted the salt has been leaving almost as quickly as it has arrived, but

count the trucks . . .  a dozen and a half waiting  here . .  and more.

For JS and others who know the place, yes, I’m atop the salt pile looking down on Leidy’s .  .  . not far from Sailor’s Snug Harbor.

The trucks are there loading salt from Global Success even before Medi Osaka docks.

There’s 36 feet of water here and then some.

Note the crew watch the vessel inch up to the docking barge.

The next post will show the linemen ferrying the lines to shore crews running them up to the bollards.

Meanwhile, temperatures were almost to 50 F by the time I left here.

Government Boats 28

I took all fotos in this post last week on Staten Island.  Check out these 40-footers, and if I read the numbers right, these three all date from just over 60 years ago.   Somewhere in the past seven years  I posted  a foto of two of these three in the Arthur Kill.

But this is an impressive adaption project, not restoration.  And I’ve finally gotten a close-up look. Fred tug44 got these fotos some years back, but for a vessel that dates from 1929 . . . not that long ago.   I wonder what her USCG-service name was.

I’m curious about the horizontal tab on the rudder.    Enjoy the rest of these.

All fotos taken recently by Will Van Dorp, who’s still in the wilds of northwest Georgia, hoping though to get back to the sixth boro in time to see Miss Lis.

Whatzit 17

What would a name like Ecology Queen lead you to expect?

The Bayonne Bridge in upper right side of the foto should suggestion the location.   Also, just beyond the yellow crane with the red unit marked 450, you can see the upper house of Lincoln Sea.

Ecology Queen is seriously boxy and equipped with a telescoping crane.

I’m guessing she started like as a government boat . . . DEP –by the name– or Corps of Engineers by the functionality, but

I don’t know.

Notice the sheltered wheel and rudder.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, a few days ago at MHYC.  Click on that link for lots of fotos.

Bertha’s Present

Sunsets can gild and indemnify the efforts of the day.  A lightship can help safely navigate the impending darkness.

but sunsets can also torment.  Although it’s the last day of September and progress has been very slow in trying to raise the $$ to save Bertha,

there is still time.  Someone must know someone who

can help so that this hull gets completed, surfaces get gets sandblasted and repainted, and all the rest so that

this handiwork will be complemented with

clear views out these lights, and

celebration.

So that these D13000 speak again.

And splash gurgle back out to sea

Anchors lowered

get raised.

Help.

Final foto by Allen Baker.  All others by Will Van Dorp, whose previous Bertha posts were here and here.

Here’s Bertha‘s blog.

Stormy Aftermath 6

(Doubleclick enlarges these again!! I’ll go back when I can and correct the “display setting” for the past few days.)

Thirty-six or so days after surging sixth boro waters tossed this “mothballed” tanker onto the shoreline at Clifton, Staten Island, efforts appear to be preparing to move it off. Crews have been assessing the condition of John B Caddell for some time, but as of nightfall today, tug Sarah Ann had barge Raritan Bay

in position.

I can’t say what this beach will look like tomorrow, so

I took advantage of the 65-degree foggy evening to get

what fotos I could.  It’s only an illusion caused by flood lighting that John B no longer has a bow, but come . . . a month from now,

who knows.  This press release about a unified approach to removing the wreck made the rounds in my email yesterday.  Thanks to all who passed it along.

All fotos fresh from the camera and the dark room of Will Van Dorp.

John B. Caddell Follow-up 1

John B.   three weeks after coming ashore.  Tethered . . . like an rogue beast.

Tagged . . . like a common railroad boxcar.

Examined by a scissor lift.

Quarantined and sequestered by yellow boom in her element and

orange pole and police tape ashore . . .

Her cavities and ducts probed, cathetered, and pumped out . . .

Prospects do indeed look grim for John B.  . . .  

her fate watched from the deep side.

All fotos today by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  Since Ft Wadsworth’s still closed to the public, I’ve no news about the ‘scapegoats there. Anyone have word?

Sailors Snug Harbor

If you read Latin, you get it, this statement of Snug Harbor’s motto.  Otherwise, I’ll translate a bit farther down.  If you’ve never been, it’s worth a visit.

Here’s what KVK traffic looks like from the Minard Lafever-designed buildings of Snug Harbor, and

here’s what the waterside entrance to Snug Harbor looks like from the KVK . . . just between IMTT Bayonne and the “salt pile.”

The current feature exhibit is called “Treasures of Sailors’ Snug Harbor.”   The bust here is Robert Richard Randall, the sea captain whose charity established what became a home for thousands of aging seafarers.

The will establishing the institution was drawn up by Alexander Hamilton.

The Latin in this John LaFarge stained glass window translates as “We who are exhausted seek a harbor.”

If you’ve never been to SSH, you’ll enjoy three floors of exhibits, which include ship models like Massapequa and

Benjamin Brewster and

and Japan Ambrose.    And of course much much more,  such as

the entire John Noble collection, which I just scratched the surface on earlier this year here.  There’s even a Herman Melville connection here.

For directions to SSH, click here.

DEWARUCI Closeup

If you live near NYC , a great way to mark Memorial Day aka Decoration Day, visit any of the open piers.  Check out the “early history” in this wikipedia link.  I seized the morning out here, on DDG 57 USS Mitscher.

Here’s the view forward from the starboard bridge wing,

to port were CG-56 USS San Jacinto and DDG-56 USS Donald Cook.

and starboard aft toward DDG-66 USS Gonzalez.   On the tour I saw a wide range of specialists.

I had been assigned to Dewaruci, and went incognito, wanting to check some rumors . . .  like  . . as the US Navy has SEALS, but the Indonesians have

walruses!!  And it turns out they do!  Although, seriously, masks of different sorts are worn in traditional dances–reorgs–and the walrus represents strength.

Although Dewaruci was built at Stulken Sohn in Hamburg, begun in 1932 (pre-WW2 and therefore commssioned by the Dutch??) , it was completed in 1953, year four of Indonesian independence from the Dutch.  The design, then, dates from a time that commercial sail still existed.  But the detail on this vessel, currently on its last voyage, is phenomenal.  I haven’t seen so much wood carving on a vessel since I visited the schooner Anne.

Here’s the namesake hero aft

and forward.  The rest of the weekend I will be figurehead comparing, but this is hard to top.

Three main islands of Indonesia west to east are Sumatra, Java, and Irian Jaya;  so the three masts–fore to mizzen–of the vessel are decorated in those styles.  Here’s Sumatran.

and Javanese

with Garuda and

Irian Jayan, actually the western end of the island of New Guinea.

Here’s the wheel and

and the engine order telegraph.

A poster onboard shows the itinerary for this last voyage.  A replacement vessel is on order;  I’m curious whether it will

carry the same figurehead and wood carving.

An intriguing poster on deck also shows all the commanding officers from 1953 to present, from Majoor A. F. H. Rosenow to Haris Bima B. Letkol Laut.

Meanwhile, I have confirmed that the Indonsian Navy has walruses, which I was unable to interview, and

flies the jolly roger.

Tomorrow I head over to Brooklyn.

All fotos and story by Will Van Dorp.