Whatzit 9

I could have called this “other peoples fotos,” but these are also quite unusual.  Foto below comes many thanks to John Watson.  According to John, it anchored off Bay Ridge for less than 12 hours yesterday to bunker.   The last time this blog touched on livestock of the bovine sort was the post Cows in CATS.  What I know about the vessel follows at the end of this post.

Foto below comes thanks to Capt. Stig Samuelsson.  Take your guesses and locate the info below.  I cropped Stig’s foto slightly to obscure a giveaway.

Finally, I put in this foto that I took on Sunday:  this is a classy little cabin cruiser out of New Jersey.  I posted a foto of it last year as well . ..   I have no idea about the name or manufacturer, but my guess is that it was built within a 30ish mile radius of the sixth boro.

Answers:  John’s foto shows Shorthorn Express;  as of this writing, it’s headed up Delaware Bay, probably to Wilmington.  And it’ll load cows for Turkey.  Anyone get fotos along the way to Wilmington?  Shipspotting offers a dozen fotos, including several showing the vessel–scrapped 20 years ago–that previously bore this name.  What’s clear on those fotos is the elaborate ventilation system needed to keep the “shorthorns” happy during the passage.

Stig’s foto shows Harry, a tug built in 1887 as steam tug Stora Korsnäs 1.  According to Stig, Stora Korsnäs 1 was typical of tugs used to tow lumber along the coasts of northern Sweden.   She currently runs as a museum with a volunteer crew.  If you can’t read this, you can at least look at fotos.  It’s based halfway between Oslo and Goteborg and right across the water from the northern tip of Denmark.  Click here for a youtube of Harry underway.

Sad news:  Lady Jane MAY be not long for this world.

 Lady Jane is 1963-Belgium built North Sea trawler looking a lot like Wanderbird and Cape Race.  Tim Zim (whom I met when he visited the sixth boro a half year ago … see seventh foto here)  has been restoring her  for seven years, but recently hauled her and learned the hull was more corroded than he had thought.    He wants to give up . . . he says in the post.  But, I’m wondering if you could get a second opinion.   A friend who read Tim’s July 25, 2011 post recalled that LV-118 aka Lightship Overfalls was in worse condition and was brought back.   Details in that link about the “restoration miracle.”  Please drop Tim an email with encouragement and (even better) technical advice.

Cows in CATS

No, I’m not switching over to other folks’ fotos, but I just read a story that I can’t pass up on.  I can’t wait until I find time to gallivant up to Eastport, Maine, for the next shipment of cows in CATS.  Eastport has suddenly called me, really loud.  Like MOO!  Pregnant Moo at that.  Let me explain.

Marcel and Ruud Coster took this foto of Artisgracht and put  it on Shipspotting.

During the second half of July 2010 Artisgracht transported 472 pregnant cows from Eastport, Maine, to Turkey.  All arrived safely thanks to “Comfort Animal Transport Suites,” aka CATS.   Pregnant Maine cattle have the additional distinction of being “bluetongue-free.” Further, thanks to a company called Sexing Technologies, 80% of the cows are guaranteed to be carrying females.   Read the story here.  Artisgracht is a particularly apt name for this vessel, since Artis is the common name of a zoo in Amsterdam, near a gracht (“canal”).

Excuse the brevity of the post, but I must get up to Eastport to see this.  I rest my case.  It also reminds me of some friends who worked for Livestock Air . . .  can’t make that up.

CATS . . . I’ve not located a description or foto of a CATS, but we can play with this a bit . . .  a lot . ..  til the  …. cows come home, in fact.

Imagine a shipping line offering to transport cars in DOGS (Dry Overseas Garaging Solutions).  Or local produce, brews, christmas trees, and milk products (SSS) coming down the Hudson on RABBITS ( Riverine Area Barged Box Initiatives for Transportation Sustainability).  Finally, oil on river TRUCKS (Transportation Remedation to Undo Congestion Kinks).

Unrelated to this post, but relevant to “Anatomy…,”  Kyran Clune from Michigan calls attention to “truckable tug” Nipigon, outa Toronto.  Click here and here.