Thanks to Tony A 35

Many thanks to Tony for keeping me current on vessels in the boro.  Most of these are transients, like Capt Richard of Norfolk Dredging.  Other equipment of the dredging

company was towed through in recent months as well, likely returning from a dredging project somewhere.

Stadt Amsterdam was in town, in fact at Pier 17, about a month ago.  From the sixth boro she headed east, with her itinerary listed here.  Pier 17 is also where I caught Capitán Miranda–after being tipped off by Tony.  Danmark was there too as well as the vessels of the beer run. Has any beer been delivered there by boat since?

With LCS Cleveland just launched with a splash and a douse over in Marinette, USS Cooperstown was recently commissioned in a location relatively close to  . . . Cooperstown.. I believe she overwintered in Escanaba, where we we welcomed recently as the first passenger vessel to call since the Americans.

Hidden away, Tony caught Rachel Marie and more.  Here’s a blast from the way past featuring her exploits tugging on whole islands!

Shelby Rose may be a fleet mate.

Jimmy, recently spoiled by spa treatment, stands forward of a whole line of boats and countless stories.

Mr Connor was ashore getting spiffy.

 

I’ve often seen Manhasset Bay on AIS, but thanks to Tony, here’s

my first time to see her in the boro.

And rounding things out, behold Joanne Marie, following her makeover after I got these photos over her coming into town the other month . . .  wow!! that was February.  Time does pass quickly!

Much appreciation to Tony A for keeping an eye on sixth boro traffic while I get lost elsewhere.

Other Peoples Photos 109

One enjoyable thing about this tugster “business” is that you all send me photos, some of which I’ve shared 108 times before this post.

First, from a Mississippi River vantage point that I only recently left, some photos from Lew, who previously contributed these photos.  

I’ll consult tugboatinformation.com for the low down on this vessel.

 

 

Thanks, Lew, and I’d left New Orleans just the day before;  sorry to have missed you.  I did, however, serendipitously cross paths with Bjoern of New York Media Boat while I was there.  That’s another story.

Tony A sent along these photos of George Holland, ex-Sassafras!

 

How about this photo from May 1946, sent along by William Lafferty.

William writes:  “St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Company was very proud of its post-war towboats, and with good reason.  Merlin Banta was christened Havana Zephyr at St. Louis on 15 May 1946 by Mrs. Kenneth Baker, wife of a co-owner of Streett Towing Company of St. Louis.  Streett had it built to tow petroleum barges from Baton Rouge to Bettendorf, Iowa, where Socony Vacuum Oil Company had a large refinery.  Originally with twin Superior turbo-charged 80-MX-6 Diesels, 1980-bhp total, replaced in 1973 by twin EMD 12-567Es, 2800-bhp when it ran as H. F. Leonard for Huffman Towing Company, St. Louis.  It now has 3200-bhp EMDs since 2010.  Streett had SLSB&SCo build a couple more, but nothing that looked like this.  “C C” on it today stands for Chemical Carriers, Inc., of Plaquemine.”  Gone are the days of “streamlined” tugboats, which in 1936 led to a streamlined tugboat called David here, which is still around although with a changed appearance.

And finally, how about this from Sea Bart . . .  Loke Viking

a huge 279′ x 75′.

Sea Bart writes that he saw the actual vessel off Scotland, and in the local pilot’s station, there’s a model

 

made with Legos.  The the size of the model!

Many thanks to Lew, Tony A, William Lafferty, and Sea Bart for passing along these photos. 

Here are photos of my encounter with Merlin Banta back in 2014.

 

Other Peoples Photos 106

Many thanks to my friend Lew who sent along the next two photos of MNI (Mohawk Northeast Inc.) boats. Michael is a 2004 Bayou La Batre build, 71′ x 28′ and bringing 2100 hp to the job.  Previously, I’d seen MNI tug Swift, with its unique yellow livery, in the sixth boro. 

Lew also got this photo of Judy M (57′ x 22′ and 1200 hp) and Bridgeport (82′ x 28′ and 2400 hp).  Tug Bridgeport used to be a regular in the boro as a Gateway boat, but this is the only the second time I see her in MNI yellow. Before the Bridgeport moniker, she was known as Dragon Lady.

I saw Copper Mountain in Tampa Bay this summer, and got photos, but they must be among ones OBE (overcome by events) and I’ve not posted them yet;  Tony A caught her light.  Note she’s a triple engined boat and large:  116′ x 38′ and 6000 hp.

Tony also sends this next batch along.  Name the tug below?

Here’s context . . .  lots more boats:  Vulcan III (I think), Iron Salvor, HJ Reinauer, Caspian Dawn, and Shelby Rose to the right. 

Here, with Diane B in the background, is a better profile of Caspian Dawn, which with her 73′ x 26′ dimensions and 2380 hp spent most of her life on the west coast.  To me, her lines say west coast, not unlike Lynx.

Many thanks to Lew and Tony for sending along these photos.  Any errors, WVD.

 

Newest Hull in the Sixth Boro 13

This is another case of thinking to do one post, seeing something, and choosing an entirely different post instead.

It’s also Tony A and I tag-teaming.  He saw what appeared to be a new name and face, grabbed some shots,

and emailed them to me.  What he didn’t know at the time is that I was seeing this same sunrise

from a different perspective.

I waited for my path and Shiloh Amon‘s to meet, and later that morning, when I’d just about called it a day, this new boat appeared.  

Other than the lion on the barge house, Shiloh Amon was a blank white canvas.  This fact held most of my attention, but I also noticed her design was more inland waterways than harbor or near-coastal tug.

Note the glass “doors” and squared off “windows”.

A narrow passageway allows passage around the stern, but it’s not much workspace. 

A quick check showed this new boat is bigger, more powerful, and newer than the recently arrived Thunder and earlier Lightning, two boats identical to each other.

Shiloh Amon is 80.6′ x 34′ and has 2400 hp, 400 hp more than Thunder and Lightning. I wonder how long it’ll take for this new boat to get her Centerline markings.

Thx for the first two, Tony A.  The others, WVD.

Here‘s my Halloween post from 12 years ago.  If you’re interested in watching some –if not exactly scary then challenging–videos about sea voyages, how about these:

a 2022 trip on a cargo ship across the Caspian Sea or a 2021 trip across the Black Sea. Knowing the local language is always helpful.

Other Peoples Photos 103

Thanks to Tony A, behold Patriot Marine’s Mulberry, still in the USAV livery from when she was ST-914. 

Photos are from New Haven, a port I’ve not visited, and with those raked masts . . . that appears to be Amistad along the shore in the distance.

I’ve looked unsuccessfully online for a list of USAV ST-900 series tugboats.  Anyone help?

Also, McCormack Boys has worked locally, ie, in the sixth boro, recently.

Here Boys tows some dredge equipment out of the KVK, as seen from a different angle.

Still another from Tony, Crosby Trojan appears to have done some assist work while in the sixth boro on its way to Maine. Trojan is currently enroute between Maine and Narragansett Bay.

 

I’m not sure which Genesis energy unit she is assisting.

And to close out this post, here’s an extraordinary set: USS Yorktown ( CG-48), a Ticonderoga-class cruiser being towed in the direction of the breakers in Brownsville by Miss Rui, which folks in the sixth boro might recognize as the former Norwegian Sea, and tailed by Annabelle Dorothy Moran, appears to be delayed.  As of this writing, she might be heading back to Philly.

Photos thanks to M’r Polychrome, who just happened to be transiting the area.

Miss Rui had been laid up herself near the Philadelphia Navy yard for some time before being purchased and rehabbed by Smith Maritime Ocean Towing & Salvage.

Many thanks to Tony a and M’r Polychrome for sending along these photos, extraordinary all.

Other Peoples Photos 102

I’m always so grateful when folks send me photos, especially like all of these.  Tony A catches all kinds of boats I miss, like

Anne-Sofie earlier this month in Albany.  I’m not sure what the cargo in and/or out was, but these SAL vessels get around.   Does anyone know if that “float” center just under the crane hook serves as an outrigger for loading/unloading crane movement?  As of this posting, she’s already in Genoa.

Here’s more from Tony . . . Dimuro Clark had been Turecamo Girls for over half a century and appeared on this blog many times. 

 

I like their logo.

And finally, long-time reader and sometimes contributor, Tommy Bryceland sends these photos of a local boat–which appeared in yesterday’s post–far from homewaters,

with guided missile frigate and ex USS Boone on the hip in Campbeltown Loch in Scotland last week.  Atlantic Salvor towed it there from the Philadelphia Navy Yard.  The ship is expected to be used as a target in an upcoming live fire exercise out in the Atlantic Ocean.  Would the frigate be anchored during such an exercise?  I’m imagining it’s expected to sink upon termination of the firing.

Many thanks to Tony A and Tommy for sharing these photos.

Thanks to Tony A 34

I’ve previously cited the line about eight million stories in the naked city, a reference to a 1948 movie and subsequent TV show.  More on all that at the end of this post, but for now, with the sixth boro added in, I’d double that number . . .  16 million stories in the naked city, considering all six boros.   And thanks to Tony, here are a bunch of stories from the past few days that I’d otherwise have missed entirely.

An Italian destroyer visited the sixth boro, D-554 Caio Duilio.

A Maine purse seiner Ocean Venture came through.  I caught her coming through the boro here two years ago. 

More on Ocean Venture can be found here on pp. 20-23 of March 2021 of National Fisherman.

And there’s more . .  all from the past week, name that tall ship with the flag of República Dominicana?

That’s Weeks James K in the foreground. 

So here it gets confusing;  it appears this DR training ship barquentine is called Cambiaso.  She was acquired from Bulgaria in August 2018.  However, it’s possible that for a short and unrecorded period of time, the same barquentine carried the name Maria Trinidad Sanchez.  What happened?  Was that simply a delivery name, or am I still showing effects of my time in the heat with the alligators while the robots attempted a coup?

That being said, along with a DR training ship, there was also another DR naval vessel.  Do her lines look familiar?

Vintage?  Where launched?

Today she’s known as DR’s Almirante Didiez Burgos.  But at launch in Duluth in 1943, she was USCGC Buttonwood, a WW2 veteran and now flagship of the DR Navy.  She reminds me of USCGC Bramble, which I saw way back when on the St. Clair River. After an epic journey from Michigan to Mississippi for refitting by a private individual, she might now be scrapped.

All photos by Tony A and shared with WVD, who feels privileged by this collaboration. 

I also think, given the reference to Naked City, that moving pictures producers should revisit the concept of a Route 66 series, incorporating Charles Kuralt’s influences.   Want the season 1 episode 1 of Route 66?  Click on the image below and prepare to go back in time for good or ill!  It’s disturbing watching.  Season 1 episode 1 provides some backstory about how a “broke” Manhattan kid came to be driving a 1960 Corvette.  Hint:  Hells Kitchen, the East River, barges, and bankruptcy are all involved.  A luminary of the series was screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, a name I should have known earlier. 

And to give equal time to Charles Kuralt, watch this 8-minute segment on wooden replica vessel building in Wisconsin.  Watch highlights as the boat builder, Ferd Nimphius, works on his 113th build.

 

 

Other Peoples Photos 101

Quick, name that boat.

It’s appeared on this blog before. 

She appeared here before as Charles Burton, but now . . .  meet Helen!

Cape Hatteras (1967) and Eugenie Moran (1966) have recently appeared over by Prall’s Island, regular spot for tugboats being prepared for reefing.   I caught Eugenie in Portsmouth NH over a decade ago here. 

Now over to the coast 3000 miles away, it’s C-tractor 22.  Thanks to JED, I rode out to sea with a previous generation C-tractor here over a decade ago. 

Many thanks to Tony A for all but the last photo, which was sent along by George Schneider.  Thanks to you both. 

And I’ll keep the lights on in tugster tower to keep juicing up the robots.

 

Other Peoples Photos 100

Let’s start with a photo by John “Jed” Jedrlinic, one of Alp Forward, currently off the eastern Scottish coast. She’s a 213′ x 61′ anchor handling tug from 2007  with over 200 tons bollard pull.

From there, let’s go to the Connecticut in US coast and some local boats with 

some Seakite by PanGeo Subsea gear aboard. I’d love to see what this package projects onto a screen. 

Both Berto L. and Josephine K Miller were up at Lew’s port earlier this spring.

GO Pursuit, fleet mate of GO America, called in there also. “GO” expands to Guice Offshore. 

The reminder of photos here come in the past days from Tony A, starting here with Deborah Quinn. 

He caught her several times in the East River, and here  

with an unidentified covered barge.   In the photo above, the Taco Cina sign intrigues me. 

In roughly the same stretch he passed Brinn Courtney, whom I’ve yet to see.

And finally, he noticed Nicholas Vinik doing the do si do with Sea Monster, moving her over near the Sandy Hook Pilots station.  I’m not sure what that means about Sea Monster.  Anyone know?  

Many thanks to Jed, Lew, and Tony A for sending along these photos. 

Meanwhile, the robots are still doing their unmonitored best at tugster tower while WVD is in the lowland of alligators, shrimp, sugar, fleur de lis and beaucoup de plus for an unspecified time.

 

Exotics 30

aka “thanks to Tony A 34” is the best title for this, and I’m sure you’ll agree. 

If you’ve lost track, “exotic” is my term for unusual vessels calling in the sixth boro.  Although the series started with a workboat repurposed as a live aboard, in the past few years the term has evolved to categorize mostly vessels coming here in conjunction with special projects, many of which recently have been related to offshore wind farms.

I’m not sure why this boat is in town, and I believe the location is the CME Co. terminal (excuse me if I’m mistaken), but it truly fits the exotic category.

She’s a 300 class member of the Hornbeck Offshore (HOS) Mexico fleet, and not a new boat. A member the the 250 class was in the boro just over a half year ago here. 

I’m not sure how the naming convention for HOS works, but say hello to HOS Browning.

Many thanks to Tony A who sent this along by the robotic system some since 1990 have called the World Wide Web. 

Thanks to the robots in tugster tower who reconfigured the queue of scheduled posts.  WVD is sweating away in the land of alligators, shrimp, sugar, and beaucoup de plus.  Tony A is likely sweating away in the sixth boro; thanks to him for this reminder that in the boro which never really stops running, flooding , and ebbing, there truly are a million stories we never notice.  And let’s hear it for the robots who  . . . I don’t even know if they have sweat glands, or glands of any sort.