Random Ships 62

An unlikely duo, and now separated . . .

Feng Huang Ao had no intention of being here . . . .

but it experienced an engine room fire over a month ago and was towed here for repairs.  Don’t those look like scorch marks?

LSD-51 aka Oak Hill has since left for missions unadvertised.

Ypapanti is a fairly new crude tanker . . .  .

Read this in case you wondered about the name . . .   “presentation of Christ.”  This angle here reminds me of the sentry boxes in San Juan.

Here’s a satellite grab of vessels waiting to be scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey.  See the three self-unloaders?

Ocean Delta is soon to arrive in Aliaga with a soon-to-be scrapped laker . . .

in tow, Manitoba, launched in 1966 in Collingwood ON, seen here a year ago at the Molson plant in Montreal. We in the US associate Molson with beer, but John Molson was the Robert Fulton of Canada.

I wonder if Ocean Delta herself will return . . . from Turkey, given that she flies the Jamaican flag.

At this same moment, Stephen B. Roman is heading under her own power to the breaking yards,

in Spain.  Later today she’ll be passing Gaspe.  What must this last ride be like?

A year ago I got this photo of the 1965-launch entering Oswego NY to discharge cement.

I always loved that logo!!  Here are previous Roman posts.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

Port of Oswego 2

The previous post in this series shows the port in  the late 19th century, so I’d say it’s high time to update.  This lighthouse dates to 1934, and I’ve long wondered why the buildings have not received a much-needed re-painting.

Oceanis appears not to be a commercial vessel, at least not now, but the hull was surely inspired by something large and seaworthy.

 

Stephen B. Roman, however, carries her weight among all the hard working vessels on the Lakes.  Any guesses what the B. stands for?    Answer follows.

 

Essroc is one of two cement companies delivering to the port of Oswego.

And these ingots regularly delivered by Wilf Seymour and Alouette Spirit?  You may see them next as Ford F-series parts stamped out by Novelis Oswego.

x

The B. is for Boleslav.  Stephen Boleslav Roman was a mining engineer.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Random Ships *8

We continue along the Great Coast, now on Lake Erie, a place of

dramatic early morning skies.

And lakers against the canary daybreak.

Calumet has just left the Cuyahoga,

Italcementi Essroc has the very best logo . . .

and Stephen B. Roman has worn it for some time now, as it also has the distinction of being the first vessel to break out of the Toronto winter ice most years.

The engineering department catches some air and ambience entering Cleveland on a late summer evening.

See the hatch in the hull of Buffalo directly below the ladder on the port side?

J. S. St John (1945!) is a sand dredge I’d love to see under way.  I caught these two slightly different angles in Erie PA.

 

And finally, American Mariner–possibly transporting grain to ADM in Buffalo–makes her way into port and up the ship canal after dark sans assistance.  Two details not captured by these photos include the sound of crew opening hatches and the effect of three spotlights picking up a variety of landmarks along its path in.

Here’s the scoop (pun intended!) on the purple lights on the Connecting Terminal elevator.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

More Fishing Tugs 6

Happy fall equinox.  This seems as good a time as any to honor Poseidon with a photo parade of more fish tugs, to really challenge a segue. . .

as is grouping Lady Kate with fishing tugs.  It appears she was built as passenger vessel G. A. Buckling II back in 1952, and is wearing her fourth name now, but

she certainly has the lines of a fish tug despite possibly never having worked as such.  I’m sure someone will weigh in on this.

Doris M is a fish tug built in Erie in 1947, and given the flags,

she appears to still work.

Real Glory is a real deal:  a Lake Erie fishing boat that sells the catch right from the pier, according to this news article.

If I lived nearby, here’s where I’d get my fish dinner.

Environaut (1950) is a 48′ science platform for Gannon University.   

Big Bertha is a 1945 Stadium Boat Works fish tug, built as Gloria Mae.

I love how shore power plugs in here.

Thanks to this site, I can confirm that ASI Clipper, which I’ve wondered about before, began its life as a 1938 Port Colborne-built fish tug.  Here’s a photo from that earlier incarnation.

And finally, we end here, it’s Eleanor D, a 1946 Stadium Boat Works fish tug about to be eclipsed by Stephen B. Roman.  Here’s a closer-up photo of Eleanor D I took almost a decade ago.  Like me, Stephen B Roman has been roaming a lot.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who is honored to have been interviewed on WBAI’s Talk Back–New York, We and Thee show.  To hear the interview, click here and start listening at about the 1 hour 38 minute mark on the Sept 20 show.

And if you haven’t seen this yet on PBS, stream Erie: The Canal that Made America here.

And finally, click here for the “fishing tugs” tugster archive.

 

Canal Craft 3

Oswego is one terminus in the NYS Canal system that sees regular calls from non-US ships, like Stephen B. Roman, named for this mining engineer.   I wish a shiptrafficwatcher would start an Oswego-focused blog.

A joy of traveling the Canal system is seeing the craftsmanship  . . . of all sorts;  this building and its neighbor

date to one of the first families of the Oswego area.

Innovative solutions intrigue me.  Look closely at this dock . . .

Here’s a whole new opportunity for recycling  . . . Gypsum Express style. For updates on the ways in which the Canal corridor is attempting to rediscover the spirit it once had–that’s a whole ‘nother subject–check this site.

This boathouse near the west end of Oneida Lake conjures up a past age . . .

Roman Holiday, a 1939 Elco built in Bayonne (ex-Unicorn and Nancy) is an example of the surprises that may pass you on the Canal.

Nietverdient . . . in Dutch the name means “un earned”  . . . at this point has traveled from Minnesota.

Here’s another classic . . . a 1969 Trumpy named Angelus, ex-Showtime, I think.

A different form of craft . . . markers along the Canal to ease resetting of navigation buoys.

A row of trawlers set out westward across Oneida . . . from near to far, it’s Don Mariner, Symmetry II, and Deju Vu.

Here’s a totally homebuilt interpretation of a cruising barge . . . Eriecuse.

And finally . . . since most of these photos were taken in the vicinity of Oneida Lake, there is the craftsmanship hidden and disintegrating beneath its waters . . . like Thomas H, whose existence I learned about from a passing stranger to whom I am grateful.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.