Archive for the ‘Bayonne Bridge’ Category
flashed before
New York Harbor, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, my chums at the Working Harbor Committee conducted one of the group’s Education Tours for students. We had a gaggle of ninth graders onboard, as well as some rather top shelf speakers from the NYC EDC, Maritime Association, and Port Authority. The goal of the trip is to encourage the kids to consider a career in the Maritime industry, and teach them a little bit about the harbor. Most of the kids onboard were from inland neighborhoods in Manhattan and the Bronx, so visiting the sixth borough was a real treat for them. Me? I was there to take pictures, and frankly, I was just happy to be out on a boat again after the insane winter we’ve all just suffered through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trip was conducted on a NY Waterways Ferry, and proceeded from Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan first to Erie Basin in Red Hook and then up the Kill Van Kull (a tidal strait found betwixt Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey) to Port Elizabeth Newark in Newark Bay. Pretty familiar turf to me, as long time readers of this, your Newtown Pentacle, will attest – but it was fantastic watching the faces of the kids who were seeing it for the first time. Education about the harbor of New York and New Jersey, after all, is ultimately what Working Harbor Committee’s mission is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In between getting shots of the kids and dignitaries on the mike, one managed to crack out a few shots of passing maritime traffic, as evinced by the shots in today’s post. I’m going to be on the mike for a trip down Newtown Creek on the 31st of May (leaving at 11 a.m. from Pier 11), which will be directly followed by a second journey down the Gowanus Canal. My pals and I at WHC are currently forming up a summer tour schedule which will visit locations both familiar and novel, btw, and will shortly be announcing our 2015 schedule.
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Upcoming Tours –
May 16, 2015 –
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills with Atlas Obscura
with Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for details and tickets.
May 31, 2015 –
Newtown Creek Boat Tour
with Working Harbor Committee and Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman, click here for tickets.
these assertions
Boats, and a ship, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent trip to the Kill Van Kull, the busy waterway that defines the border betwixt New Jersey and… Staten Island… happened to coincide with a small burst of shipping activity. DonJon’s Emily Ann is pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A cargo ship was emerging form the Port Elizabeth Newark complex after having crossed under the Bayonne Bridge. She was riding pretty high in the water, destination unknown. The rail tracks are all that’s left of this branch of the Staten Island Railroad.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Moran tugs are iconic, especially when posing against the newest NYC icon, the so called Freedom Tower. Sorry for the “softball” post today, it’s been a heck of a week. More on that in a future posting.
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definite utterance
Maritime Sunday bobs to the surface.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Joan Turecamo, IMO number 7902025, is a 392 ton Tug which was built in 1981 at the Matton Shipyard in Cohoes, NY. She’s owned and operated by the Moran Company, and was recently spotted while onboard a Working Harbor Committee “Beyond Sandy” tour. In the background is the ill fated Bayonne Bridge spanning the Kill Van Kull, a structure whom modernity has labeled “an impediment to navigation.” Maritime Sunday shout outs to the Moran tug and her crew.
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Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
seldom alone
Its tugboat Morgan Reinauer in today’s Maritime Sunday post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Weighing in at 184 tons, Morgan Reinauer was built in Louisiana in 1981, and is enjoying its third incarnation. It was built and launched as “Elise M” for its original owner, was the “Exxon Garden State” for an interval, and became jacketed in the Reinauer color way during the early 1990’s. She’s towing the RTC 101, a hundred thousand bbl double hulled fuel barge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Local boy status notwithstanding, Reinauer is based on Staten Island, the company which operates this boat was founded in 1923 and enjoys a service area which stretches from Maine to the Caribbean Sea. Their roster of tugs is fairly enormous, and these shots are the first time that your humble narrator has encountered this particular vessel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The “articulated” tug and barge combo, a term which indicates that there is an electronic interface tethering the two together, was headed for the Kill Van Kull. Presumptively, since the barge was riding high in the water and was likely empty, they were headed toward one of the distribution facilities on the waterway’s New Jersey side which is referred to as the “chemical coast.”
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
sizable rift
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
This Maritime Sunday posting presents the crossing of the Kill Van Kull by two tugs of the Coastline Marine Towing Corporation. They are moving a crane barge from points unknown to some destination at the Port Elizabeth Newark complex. Said shots were captured while onboard a Working Harbor Committee expedition during the summer of 2012. As you can see, it was a dark and stormy night.
from coastlinemarinetowing.com
Coastline Marine Towing has been serving the New York-Metro Harbors and US Eastern Seaboard for 20 years. We provide experienced crew and vessels that are ready to accommodate the logistics of your marine project.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Little information is available on the tug Ireland, although a friend of mine asserts that it’s a 1940 vintage vessel. It did not display radio call sign information on its hull, which would have aided me in discerning its past and capabilities. The radio call sign, for maritime vessels, performs the same function which a license plate does for motor vehicles.
from workingharbor.com
Whether it’s a single barge, a group of barges made up as a single unit, or a vessel, when being moved by a tugboat, it’s called the “tow” (singular). A tug can move a tow in one of three different ways:
- Astern – The tug pulls the tow via a tow line from the stern of the tug. This is common for ocean towing but less used in confined harbors as it may be difficult to keep the tow from swinging side to side.
- Pushing – The tug ties off behind the tow, and pushes it forward. This provides a greater deal of control compared to towing astern.
- Alongside (on the hip) – The tug ties up alongside the tow, typically aft of the midpoint of the tow. This method also provides a good deal of control.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The capabilities of google are confounded when a search term like “Tug Ireland” is offered to it. Lacking syntax, the algorithms of the search giant deliver a cogent result describing the coastal towing capabilities of a European nation state rather than those which would define and encapsulate the history of a single tugboat. Nevertheless, a hearty Maritime Sunday shout out is sent to both the faraway coast of an Emerald Island and to the crew of a singular tugboat alike.
also from workingharbor.com
Port refers to the left hand side of a vessel as you face forward and starboard refers to the right hand side. Before the rudder was invented (by the Chinese), boats and ships were steered by means of a steering board. Since most people are right handed, it was customary to mount the steering board on the right hand side of the ship. This, the right hand side became know as the “steering board” side, which was eventually shortened to “starboard” side, and this term is still in use today.
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