Retro Sixth Boro 40 A

Happy August 2021.  And “Wow!”  That is almost always my reaction when I jump back a decade into the archives.  This riveted tug  was 83 years old when I took this photo, and I looked at that deep rounded icebreaker hull and imagined it would go on working forever.  Now it’s 93 years old, and mortality is nipping at the heels of this Canal tug and all the Canal tugs.  It and they may not be around 10 years from now.  Of course, neither might I.  She was built by Buffalo Marine Shipbuilding in 1927-28, and originally equipped with a John W. Sullivan steam engine.  Her stack was hinged so that it could be lowered for bridges. She’s 77′ by 19.5′.  If I read the archives right, Governor Cleveland is three feet shorter;  I’d always assumed they were twins.

The 1958 Blount-built green tug in the foreground has changed hands several times in the past decade;  it may be Bay Star of Port Washington now, but I’ve not seen it in more than half a decade.

The 1998 container ship was last recorded as in Aliaga Turkey in 2017, which leads me to suppose this 3802 teu has been scrapped. 

I’ve seen these East River based float planes several times recently, but I’ve not been back to their “field” in the East River in a while.   It is pricey but no doubt memorable . . . fun to travel somewhere in one of these. Anyone report having done it?  I don’t know which company then flew the red planes.

NYK Constellation, a 2007 4900 teu vessel, is currently at anchor off Vancouver, but has been renamed Tell T (Erase some of the letters of “constellation”).  That “erasure renaming” suggests it’s bound for the scrappers.

Here’s Chandra B‘s predecessor, doing then what Chandra B does now.  It even has the same crew.

I’ve heard that Ace was being converted into something . . . . what it a floating cocktail dispenser?  Seriously . . . I have some such recollection due to a query I got a few years back.  Well . . . there are orange juice tankers, so why not a floating frozen margarita or daiquiri truck boat? Can anyone provide an update on this project?  What paint scheme/name would immediately scream out “slushy float”.

 

I’ve not seen Iron Wolf out in the harbor, although I might have seen it tied up over at Claremont.

Pegasus then had no upper wheelhouse, and here it was pushing the elusive Michael Cosgrove, a 1960 Blount vessel that Charon drives for some on a one-way trip to a Potter’s Field.  

The 2000 4500 hp Vernon C has recently gotten new life as Mackenzie Rose. 

And finally . . . 2011 saw this combo do quite the tour . . . the 1907 Pegasus with the 1914 Lehigh Valley 79 alongside.  If you’ve never visited the 79, make an effort to get to it and be prepared for a treat.  Pegasus met the scrapper this past spring.

All photos, first half of August 2011, WVD.

I hope you enjoy these monthly journeys to the past as much as I do.   And to satisfy my own curiosity, I looked up the first post in the Retro Sixth Boro series. . . .

Time Warp

A search for a photo assignment sent me to the August 2009 section of the universe, and these photos served as a cold water shock . . . how much stuff has changed in under five years.  Crow of course is as “good” as gone, but do you know which tugs are attached to Freedom and RTC 28?

How about Vernon C on Freedom and

Janice Ann Reinauer?  In 2009 there was as much demolition happening on the Brooklyn side as is now crumbling on Manhattan side.

And from the same week . . . K-Sea was still in full force here.  Where is Greenland Sea today?

And this classic . . . Kristin Poling along with fleet mate . . .

John B. Caddell, which as recently as last week was still awaiting the torches and jaws of repurposing.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

Oh . . . this could be the first of many time warps.

Rust Never Sleeps 2

Big event this week:  Wednesday, Oct 21 . . . Rust/River:   Jessica Dulong reads from My River Chronicles amid Pamela Talese’s painting, juxtaposed below with my fotos.  Here’s Pamela’s Matthew Tibbetts and

mine . . . in the 2008 Tugboat Race.

Her Marcus Hanna and my

Katherine Walker.  Hmmm . . . wonder if any other blogs have renderings of 175′ buoy tenders . .  or plan to?  Here maybe?

Pamela’s Baltic Sea low and dry  and

and mine high and wet.

The subtitle for Pamela’s show is “Corrosion and Renewal.”  Will the corroded Freddy K

be renewed . . .  or forbid the thought . . . will Freddy K ride out on

a barge like Crow is pulling here.  I know you can’t save them all, but

but . . . .

I can’t make Wednesday’s event, but Pamela will also be at the gallery all afternoon Friday, Oct 23, which is when I’ll drop by.

Cheers.