Retro Sixth Boro (and beyond) 30

In fall 2010, deepening dredging was happening in the sixth boro to prepare for the ULCVs now so commonplace here,  after Panama Canal enlargement and Bayonne Bridge raising. These operations afforded me the chance to see a cutterhead close up.  The crewman wielding the hammer was trying to loosen a worn tooth.   By the way, those teeth weigh 35 pounds each.  Teeth . . .  dentist?

Then as now, Layla Renee was in the dredge support trade.  Right now she’s in Charleston.  She was only two years old at the time of the photo.

It looks that way, but W. O. Decker is NOT a dredge tender in this photo.  Here five people on Decker are catching the stare of the one dredge worker in work vest.

The entire K-Sea fleet has disappeared.  As of 2020, Falcon has become Carol and I’ve not yet seen her latest livery.  Houma was scrapped in 2017 in Baltimore.

Here are two of the McAllister tugs involved in easing MSC’s USNS Sisler (T-AKR 311)into Bayonne drydock as then-John P. Brown manages the door.  For many more photos of the event, check out “floating the door,” where you also see Allied’s Sea Raven, unlabelled.

I caught Growler at Mystic Seaport that fall.  Rumor has it that Growler has returned to the sixth boro under a new name and sans teeth, but is under wraps.

Also in Mystic at that time, 1885 steam/sail vessel Amazon (has nothing to do with Bezos), the 2000 Amistad, and the 1908 steamer Sabino.  Does anyone know the whereabouts of Amazon today?

My reason to be in Mystic that October was to work on Pegasus, seen here with Araminta and Cangarda.  What works of beauty all three are!

Deborah Quinn here is docked near where Jakobson Shipyard used to be located.  I believe that’s her location as of this writing.

Under the old Bayonne bridge, Maurania III assumes position to ease the 1997 Maersk Kokura around Bergen Point.  Maurania III is currently in Wilmington NC.

Back a decade ago, Day Peckinpaugh had some good paint on her, and Frances was like a cocoon in Turecamo livery.  There’s scuttlebutt of a new lease on life for Day Peckinpaugh.

Let’s end with dredging, as we began.  Terrapin Island was one of the regulars in the navigation dredging effort.  Terrapin Island is currently in Norfolk.

All photos, October 2010, by WVD.

Big announcement soon.

 

Whole Lotta Dredgin’ 13

Here was 12.

Terrapin Island was in the sixth boro during parts of 2012 and 2014, the KVK above and Raritan Bay immediately below.

I’d wondered what the helm looked like, especially given the shape of the glass

directly behind that exhaust stack.  Well . . .

our good fortune is that my friend JED, a frequent commenter on this blog, was invited aboard last week.  Although extreme weather might stop the  dredging process up north, it continues apace down his way . . .

So –thanks to JED, here is that bulge in the glass from inside.  Note the upper and lower seat.  Upper seat controls the vessel movement through the water, whereas the lower seat controls the dredging operations.

Click here for a great time-lapse youtube shot on Terrapin Island a few years ago in the Lower Bay;  trailing suction arms lower to sculpt the seabed, and at about the one minute mark, you see the hull split at the “hinge” to discharge the spoils.

Note the port side trailing arm–looks like a vacuum cleaner– in the raised position here.

Here’s one of the huge pumps that provide suction.  How huge?  Some hint of the diameter of this pump can be gleaned by scrolling through this post I did on another dredge.  Clearly the pump in my photo was disassembled at the time.

When it’s time to discharge, the

hull “splits,”

and then recloses, maintaining a level of water

at all times.

According to JED, Terrapin Island operates with a crew of around 20, one of whom is an eco-observer whose role is to record any large marine life caught in cages like the one you see starboard side inside the hopper in the photo above.  Here’s more on that job.

Any errors in reporting are mine.  Many thanks to JED for sharing the photos.  I took the top four photos.

Dredging Environment

Bear with me here . . . you’ll understand the title in a bit.  But first, any sense of the difference between these first two fotos A and

B?

It turns out that the person who sent these fotos to me has since also used them . . . and put them first in his post, just as I had chosen to before seeing his post.

Nearer vessel below is Terrapin Island, taken just outside the Narrows in May 2012.  Vessel in the distance is Ellen McAllister.

Here are more closeups of Terrapin Island.

At some point since May, she headed down south to southern Georgia . . . northern Florida coast.

Next fotos come from JED.  That’s Terrapin Island in the background.

To see what JED does with the above fotos and many more, click here.

Many thanks to JED for the first two and last fotos.  The difference between A and B is eight knots v.  twelve.

Memorial Day on the Sixth Boro

So what happens in the rest of the sixth boro during Fleet Week?  Works goes on.  Ellen goes past the Statue to the next job, possibly to move USCGC Eagle out.

As is McKinley Sea, with its Kirby livery.

Terrapin Island continues its 24/7 sand moving.

Tankers transfer fluids and container vessels come and go.

Susquehanna follows Quantico Creek to the east.

Holiday jetskiers race off bow waves, abandoning prudence and caution.

Gulf Service awaits an appointment at the tanks.

Ice-bowed Ice Hawk, newly painted and

maybe newly-named, awaits its call.

And (in town for OpSail, Bay City, Michigan registered Appledore V, enjoys the late Monday sun and breeze.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated from Lake Michigan:  1907 SS Keewatin moves.