Posts Tagged ‘Maritime Sunday’
cunning mask
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, a college student contacted me and asked if she might tag along on one of my walks around Newtown Creek. After enduring my usual admonishment toward the wearing of sandals, we met in Greenpoint and engaged In a generalized saunter around certain points of interest in what I refer to as “The Lower Creek,” specifically the area contained on both north and south banks between the Greenpoint Avenue and Pulaski Bridges. At the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant Nature Walk in Greenpoint, we encountered the Captain Zeke tug.
Welcome back to Maritime Sunday at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Captain Zeke has been discussed before, in the posting “average specimens” from February of 2012. The barges Captain Zeke was handling seemed to be headed for the Allocco dock whose street address is on Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint. That would indicate that these barges are for moving bulk materials such as rock, gravel, or even scrap metals. From my vantage, I could not see any cargo in the barges, and they were sitting quite high in the water so they were likely empty.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After maneuvering their charge into place, the tug crew began moving around the boat, coiling rope and stowing away equipment. The tug reversed itself away form the barges and proceeded eastwards up the Creek to unknown destinations. In this case, the hearty Maritime Sunday shout out was offered in person, as the tug was less than 100 yards away from where my collegiate friend and I stood and the sailors onboard waved back.
As always, the thing in the Megalith watched on.
hovering expectantly
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
A lone tug plies the stormy harbor in this shot from 2012, and is our singular image for this Maritime Sunday. In the distance are the gargantuan cargo cranes of Port Elizabeth Newark.
enervated experience
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apologies for the mid day update, lords and ladies. Today’s Maritime Sunday post focuses in on an event which occurred several years ago. Mundane and ordinary, it all started when I saw the Carnival Miracle cruise ship maneuvered up the Hudson by the tug Miriam Moran.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cruise ship piers on the Hudson, which are analogous to the West 40’s street grid in Manhattan, offer berthing opportunity to the gargantuan vessels of the modern cruise industry. Like a game of horizontal Tetris, however, these ships have to be rotated into position before they can lock into place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Functionally, this is not unlike wrestling a floating Chrysler Building into place, while fighting not just wind but river current as well. Such is the life of a tug captain and harbor pilot, of course, and their long experience in such matters make it seem commonplace.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the Miriam Moran post facto on the Hudson, after having accomplished its task.
later developments
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a quick one for Maritime Sunday this week, of the Marjorie B. McAllister tug steaming out of the Kill Van Kull. Iconic backgrounds notwithstanding, this is a pretty cool little boat, and deserving of a hearty “Hi.”
shaking encumbrances
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently spotted, the tug Nanticoke, plying NY Harbor. Upon reading the name “Nanticoke,” your humble narrator grasped for some meaning behind this enigmatic arrangement of ordinary vowels and consonants. Knowing that the Vane company often names its vessels after inland and coastal waterways, a certain river came to mind.
from wikipedia
The Nanticoke River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It rises in southern Kent County, Delaware, flows through Sussex County, Delaware, and forms the boundary between Dorchester County, Maryland and Wicomico County, Maryland. The river course proceeds southwest and it empties into the Chesapeake at Nanticoke, Maryland. The river is 64.3 miles (103.5 km) long.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nanticoke was on duty with a barge, heading south toward Staten Island from some origin point northwards on either the Hudson or East Rivers. A fuel barge, who can guess what sort of volatile cargo might have lurked within it, vouchsafed by Nanticoke?
from vanebrothers.com
The Nanticoke is 95’ long, with a 34’ beam, and a 15’ draft. Her gross tonnage is 99 tons. She is powered by two CAT 3516, 2100 horsepower engines with Kort nozzles, and maintains running speeds of better than 12 knots. Featuring a model bow and square stern, her fuel capacity is approximately 90,000 gallons. Potable water capacity is approximately 9,000 gallons. With accommodations for seven crew members, the Nanticoke is dedicated to 50-class tank barges on the coastwide trade.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Maritime Sunday staff here at Newtown Pentacle HQ offer a wave of the hand and official shout out to the Vane Brothers Nanticoke cast and crew. Huzzah!
also from vanebrothers.com
The Vane Brothers Company has served the maritime industry in the Port of Baltimore and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard for more than 100 years. Today, we are comprised of five divisions operating out of the ports of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and Charleston.
The Newtown Pentacle 