Archive for the ‘New York Harbor’ Category
unfortunate lunatic
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Selected for your perusal today are scenes from the hoary desolation of Brooklyn’s Bushwick Inlet.
This little bay, where the USS Monitor was launched some 150 years ago, was the river outlet for Continental Iron Works. In addition to the Monitor, countless steam boats, and the manufacture of all manner of cast iron building supplies- the caissons for the Brooklyn Bridge were assembled and launched here.
The Brooklyn street grid indicates Calyer and Clay streets as being the nearest geographic indicators, but there’s something else missing.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Bushwick Creek once flowed into and mingled with the East River at this spot after finishing its journey from upland. The city of Williamsburg listed this body of water as its border with the town of Greenpoint, which itself was defined and named for a promontory bluff overgrown with hemlock that existed between the Newtown and Bushwick Creeks.
The hemlock was what originally attracted shipwrights here, as the straight growing evergreens produced wood that had several uses onboard ships.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The inlet is owned by Motiva Enterprises, a company with several locations in the area which employs itself as a fuel distributor. Accordingly, access to the area is severely limited due to security and safety issues. These shots were acquired during the Greenpoint Monitor Museum‘s recent parade event. The northern side of the site is in a state of disuse and relict decay, while the southern houses several enormous fuel tanks.
There is some buzz that the Museum is attempting to site themselves here, a welcome addition, IMHO.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Scatterings of artifacts, a brick marked “Manhattan Fire Brick Co.”, or a rust stained concrete foundation peek out of the mud here and there. The very surface you stand on is crumbling, and at waters edge all sorts of uncommented masonry sits in a tumbledown arrangement as the languid waters of the East River nibble away at the shoreline.
The muddy soil is a greasy particulate, more sticky sand than dirt, oddly irridescent and stained with “the colour” which distinguishes the nearby Newtown Creek.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Across the river in Manhattan, which today hosts the Stuyvesant Town housing development and a power plant, there were shipyards. Novelty Iron Works as well as hundreds of smaller shops were spread out between 14th street and Corlears Hook (just below the modern day Williamsburg Bridge). In the late 19th century, Stuyvesant Town’s site was occupied by shanty tenements and the enormous “works” of the gas system which lit Manhattan streets and homes- I’ve seen references to it as the “gas light district”.
As one got closer to 23rd street, stone masons and other artisan businesses began to appear.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
When a large business concern like Continental Iron Works or Novelty sited somewhere, it created a halo of smaller businesses springing up around it. Coopers to make barrels, carpenters to supply barrel wood, blacksmiths to make carpentry tools. Rope makers, lunch wagons, carting companies- all surrounded these large plants. Greenpoint was no different, with enormous numbers of storefront and stable based craftsmen supplying everything from pencils to livestock to the larger concerns.
Additionally, ferries and streetcar lines were required to transport workers and raw materials from place to place.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Disuse, changing economies, and the unusual indifference which the 20th century displayed toward the waterfront of New York City have left this historic patch of land a wasteland. Indigenous species or a mollusca invader from foreign shores, all have claimed a rightful place here, planting strong roots which slither into and spread apart the forgotten brick foundations of long ago and way back when.
Who can guess, all there is, that might be buried down there?
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Here in the foundry of the American Industrial Revolution, all we manufacture these days are Red Velvet Cupcakes and other items of fashionable taste.
Stronger men, born in an age of sail, forged a world of steel and iron in this place. A vibrating hum of industry lit the smoky sky with coal fired avarice, forging the great fortunes of some and the prosperity of most. Where are these titans today, with their great and satanic mills, and what happened to “Coketown“?
Also:
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the “Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
feasible means
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Don’t tell Newtown Creek, as I wouldn’t want her to think that I’m cheating on her- but occasionally, I visit the Gowanus Canal.
It’s no tryst I’ll confess to- I’m a one superfund site kind of guy- but I’ve always enjoyed harmless flirting.
Witness the Loujaine, therefore, one of the Gowanus Canals permanent guests.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Once upon a time, Loujaine was the proud property of “Arabian Bulk Trade” or ABT, and served as a cement and dry cargo ship for the Saudi Arabia based company. That green and white funnel (smokestack) with the running critter in it is their logo.
The ship was built in the Nagoya, Japan of 1966, and lost its certification in 1985.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Reliable sources indicate that the ship was originally rigged as a bulk carrier, and that its original name was Bahma.
Arabian Bulk Trade was formed in 1977, acquired Bahma in the early 1980′s, and converted the ship for cement handling. They renamed it the “Abu Loujaine”.
ABT, incidentally, is part of a larger Saudi company which is called Xenel.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Xenel is an enormous conglomerate which dominates several Saudi markets, and is one of the companies operated by the House of Alireza.
A mercantile clan, the Alireza are somewhat analogous to the Rockefellers, or so I am told. The fellow who runs Xenel is an accomplished businessman and international statesman.
He went to Berkeley.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
It arrived in Brooklyn (I am told) in 1985. Ownership has changed hands a couple of times since the ABT days, but according to the maritime websites it is currently owned by a local cement company of sizable reputation.
My understanding is that the ship was “decommissioned” and serves as a so called “floating discharge terminal”, warehouse, and barge for concrete products.
Now promise me, if the Newtown Creek asks, tell her I was with you- ok?
crooked boughs
- photo by Mitch Waxman
This Tug, the Gramma Lee T. Moran, was mentioned in a Newtown Pentacle posting of November 26- “loose and displaced“. As it’s one of my favorite tugs in New York Harbor to shoot, I felt a little bad that the starring role in that posting had gone to a cargo ship- and that Gramma Lee T. Moran had to share the second banana position with another Moran Tug- the estimable Marion Moran.
Can’t tell you why I like the esthetics of this ship so much, nor can I say why exactly it always reminds me of the Millennium Falcon (from the Star Wars movies) as it slides along the Kill Van Kull.
from wikipedia
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1,000 feet (305 m) wide separating Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. The name kill comes from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning “riverbed” or “water channel.”
Kill Van Kull connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end. Historically it has been one of the most important channels for the commerce of the region, providing a passage for marine traffic between Manhattan and the industrial towns of New Jersey. Since the final third of the 20th century, it has provided the principal access for ocean-going container ships to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the busiest port facility in the eastern United States and the principal marine terminal for New York Harbor.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
These two shots are from just a few months ago, captured in the fall of 2011. It’s always odd seeing a tugboat operating without a barge, or tending a larger vessel which can be hundreds of times larger than itself. The majesty of these ships, and their crews, come alive when they are tasked with bearing such sisyphean burdens.
Can you imagine what it must be like guiding a fuel tanker into the narrow Kill Van Kull or down the East River? It must take nerves of steel to muster the confidence needed to Captain such tasks.
from tugboatenthusiastsociety.org
Tugs are “displacement” hull vessels, the hull is designed so water flows around it, there is no consideration for having the vessel “plane”. Because of this the hull form is limited to a maximum speed when running “free” that is about 1.5 times the square root of the waterline length. As the tug approaches this speed when running “free” it is perched between the bow wave and the stern wave. Since the hull cannot plane, application of additional power when approaching maximum hull speed only results in a larger bow wave, with the tug “squatting” further into the trough.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above, and the one below are from earlier in 2011- April to be exact.
Moran is a well established company which operates tugs all over North America. A century and a half old, the company’s fleet can be found on the USA’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts and within the Great Lakes, both along the west coast of- and in the Gulf of- Mexico, and within the inland waters of the eastern United States. They’ve been known to operate periodically as far away as the Caribbean Sea and South American waters.
from morantug.com
The LEE T. MORAN is an expression of brute power and utility that belies the refinements of technical engineering below her waterline. There, twin ports are cut into the steel hull to make room for the tug’s Z-drive units. On the floor of the shop they look like the lower units of giant outboard engines. Made by Ulstein, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce, the Z-drive functions much like an outboard. Imagine two outboards extending straight down through the hull, each having the ability to rotate 360 degrees. That makes even a heavy, 92-foot tug with a 450-ton displacement very maneuverable. “It can turn on a dime,” says Doughty. “The hull bottom is slightly flatter to adjust to the two drive units. By turning each drive out 90 degrees, the captain can go from full-ahead (14 knots) to a dead stop in no time.”
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Perhaps it’s the low slung aspect of the wheelhouse, or the gentle curves observed in its hull… I can’t say, but there is just something pleasing about the design of this boat. A big toot goes out from this, your Newtown Pentacle, to one of my favorite citizens of the NY Harbor- the Gramma Lee T. Moran.
Moran Towing began operations in 1860 when founder Michael Moran opened a towing brokerage, Moran Towing and Transportation Company, in New York Harbor. In 1863, the company was transformed from a brokerage into an owner-operator of tugboats when it purchased a one-half interest in the tugboat Ida Miller for $2,700. Over time Moran acquires a fleet of tugboats. It was Michael Moran who painted the first white “M” on a Moran tugboat stack, in 1880.
loose and displaced
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent activities had carried your humble narrator to… Staten Island… A friend’s photography was included in a gallery exhibit at the venerable Snug Harbor, and wishing to both show support for another photographer and to witness his work in print form- I began the long journey from Astoria in Queens to the outermost of boroughs. After exiting the ferry, I was titillated by the sudden appearance of the gargantuan “Hanjin Lisbon” being guided toward the Kill Van Kull by two Moran tugs.
from marinetraffic.com
- Hanjin Lisbon Vessel’s Details
- Ship Type: Cargo
- Year Built: 2003
- Length x Breadth: 278 m X 40 m
- DeadWeight: 67979 t
- Speed recorded (Max / Average): 21 / 20.6 knots (20.6 knots = 23.7060566 mph)
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Like all the ocean going vessels of its type, the Lisbon is a lumbering monster of a ship. Nearly 1,000 feet in length, the cargo ship was most likely headed to the Port facilities at Newark Bay, and requires the use of tender boats to navigate the relatively narrow and hazard fraught coastal leg of its journey to New York harbor from some impossibly foreign port. It’s titan engines and onboard electronics can propel the ship through open ocean with great accuracy, of course, but the giant cargo ship can’t exactly “stop on a dime”.
from marinetraffic.com
MARION MORAN Vessel’s Details
- Ship Type: Tug
- Year Built: 1982
- Length x Breadth: 39 m X 12 m
- DeadWeight: 10 t
- Speed recorded (Max / Average): 14.5 / 8.9 knots
- Flag: USA [US]
- Call Sign: WRS2924
- IMO: 8121812, MMSI: 366941020
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Tugboat and towing services of the modern era, like Moran towing, are inheritors of centuried wisdom passed down from generations of mariners. The complex currents, mores, and eddies of the harbor are well known to the crews of these vessels and their job includes guiding such massive visitors to the port into safe harborage. Two tugs were observed at work, the Marion Moran and the Gramma Lee T. Moran.
Moran Towing began operations in 1860 when founder Michael Moran opened a towing brokerage, Moran Towing and Transportation Company, in New York Harbor. In 1863, the company was transformed from a brokerage into an owner-operator of tugboats when it purchased a one-half interest in the tugboat Ida Miller for $2,700. Over time Moran acquires a fleet of tugboats. It was Michael Moran who painted the first white “M” on a Moran tugboat stack, in 1880.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Iconic, Moran tugs are distinguished their large white “M” logo and the white and maroon “color way” which allows them to be identified at great distances across the harbor. Like all tugs, they are built with highly reinforced steel superstructures and powerful engines that allow them to pursue an occupation which requires the ability to precisely handle tonnages which are clumsy and thousands of times their own weight.
from morantug.com
The LEE T. MORAN is an expression of brute power and utility that belies the refinements of technical engineering below her waterline. There, twin ports are cut into the steel hull to make room for the tug’s Z-drive units. On the floor of the shop they look like the lower units of giant outboard engines. Made by Ulstein, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce, the Z-drive functions much like an outboard. Imagine two outboards extending straight down through the hull, each having the ability to rotate 360 degrees. That makes even a heavy, 92-foot tug with a 450-ton displacement very maneuverable. “It can turn on a dime,” says Doughty. “The hull bottom is slightly flatter to adjust to the two drive units. By turning each drive out 90 degrees, the captain can go from full-ahead (14 knots) to a dead stop in no time.”
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Containerized shipping is what makes the modern world tick, of course, and has enabled the business model of “just in time delivery” to take hold. The steel boxes which adorn the Lisbon’s decks will be unloaded by Gantry Crane at the dock and will find their way onto either rail or truck for delivery to the final consignee. What isn’t commonly known about these cargo ships is that ordinary people can book passage onboard, finding accommodation in a variety of staterooms, and cruise the world on a proverbial “slow boat to china”.
from hanjin.com
Hanjin Shipping (http://www.hanjin.com President& CEO Young Min Kim) is Korea’s largest and one of the world’s top ten container carriers that operates some 60 liner and tramper services around the globe transporting over 100 million tons of cargo annually. Its fleet consists of some 200 containerships, bulk and LNG carriers.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
The mind reels at such suggestions, and your humble narrator is both titillated at the notion of meeting and interacting with the sailors onboard (undoubtedly Koreans, Tagalog, and Chinese- citizens from all over the manufacturing hubs of the Pacific) and terrified by the lore and knowledge they must carry with them about the true nature of the world. Often these cargo ships will encounter pirates, terrorists, and other malingering forces on both the open sea and in coastal waters. Perhaps they have other experiences, of the sort which sailors do not discuss with outsiders, which only a hip pocket flask of raw whiskey might pry out of them.
from wikipedia
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was formed in 1921 and the Newark Bay Channels were authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Acts in 1922. Shipping operations languished after the war, and in 1927, the City of Newark started construction of Newark Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) on the northwest quadrant of the wetlands which lay between Port Newark and the edge of the developed city. Port Authority took over the operations of Port Newark and Newark Airport in 1948 and began modernizing and expanding both facilities southward. In 1958, the Port Authority dredged another shipping channel which straightened the course of Bound Brook, the tidal inlet forming the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth. Dredged materials was used to create new upland south of the new Elizabeth Channel, where the Port Authority constructed the Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The first shipping facility to open upon the Elizabeth Channel was the new 90-acre (36 ha) Sea-Land Container Terminal, which was the prototype for virtually every other container terminal constructed thereafter.
The building of the port facility antiquated most of the traditional waterfront port facilities in New York Harbor, leading to a steep decline in such areas as Manhattan, Hoboken, and Brooklyn. The automated nature of the facility requires far fewer workers and does not require the opening of containers before onward shipping.
The Second… Welcome to Newtown Creek…
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Join me on two Newtown Creek boat tours, both on October 23rd, 2011. I’ll be your tour guide, narrating humbly.
These tours are the co production of the Working Harbor Committee and the Newtown Creek Alliance made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation. Accordingly, the tours will be heavily discounted, and tickets will cost only $10.
Made possible by funding from the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund of the Hudson River Foundation
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Two tours are scheduled, both are two hours in length. The first will leave LIC at 10am sharp (returns at noon), the second is at 1pm (returns at 3). A constellation of speakers will be onboard, including your humble narrator, who will be serving as Tour Chairman and MC. We will be onboard vessels provided by NY Water Taxi, which are comfortable and climate controlled boats with great sound systems.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
Our anticipated itinerary will carry you from Hunters Point, and visit nearly all the communities of the Newtown Creek Watershed as we proceed east through Greenpoint, LIC, Blissville, Maspeth, Ridgewood, and finally East Williamsburg when we proceed all the way back to the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge.
Literally a once in a lifetime opportunity, you are invited to come and experience Newtown Creek (for an insubstantial fee- only ten bucks) and I’m hoping to see you onboard.
- photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’d imagine, tickets are going to sell out fast at this price, so please order your tickets expeditiously. An incredible amount of planning has gone into this endeavor, and your ticket price includes a free 8 page booklet describing certain facts and facets of what you will be experiencing onboard. Newtown Creek, from the water, is one of the most incredible sights in New York City and you have never seen anything like it.
