Posts Tagged ‘ny harbor’
blind alleys
You never know what might float by.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, while onboard the Staten Island Ferry, I noticed the gargantuan DonJon tug Atlantic Salvor towing an interesting rig. Atlantic Salvor is a 151 foot long “ocean going anchor handling tugboat” whose engines operate at about 6,480 HP. The rig she’s towing is a crane barge, which is called “Newark Bay.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The crane barge is being towed in an “on the hip” fashion. This means that the starboard side of the tug is tied off to the port side of the barge at roughly the center mass point of the tug. Your humble narrator has little understanding of why one chooses the various methods of attachment that are available to tug captains, but I’m sure there is some utterly prosaic reason governing the choice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What caught my interest wasn’t really the crane barge, a bit of kit we will be seeing a lot of on Newtown Creek in the coming years as the Kosciuszko Bridge rebuild kicks into gear, instead it was the smaller towing vessel (which might be a work boat, just to be nit picky) which was being towed along with the crane.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The vast majority of towing observed in the harbor is fuel, garbage, or cargo related. You’ll notice the occasional crane or dredge barge, of course, but they are witnessed with far less frequency. Atlantic Salvor was built in 1977 and is operated by DonJon towing.
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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.
silent tongue
Maritime Sunday floats in with today’s tide.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Evening Mist tug, owned by the redoubtable Bouchard company, motoring its way down the East River and past the iconic and abandoned Domino Sugar Plant. Just a short one today, carrying a heartfelt shout out to the cast and crew of the Evening Mist.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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.
vast and inscrutable
…stand beside her, and guide her…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A joke those of involved with New York Harbor throw readily around is that there is a coast guard regulation which states that every harbor tour has to stop at the Statue of Liberty. Its become such a ubiquitous part of the “experience” that I barely shoot the thing anymore, which is a huge mistake.
Never, never, ignore an icon. That is, unless you are jaded idiot like me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Many of the tourists on the Staten Island Ferry- did you know that the Staten Island Ferry is NYC’s #1 tourist destination- come out just for their statue shot. At the mid point of the 30 minute trip, port or starboard (depending) gets mobbed with visitors taking “selfies” and family shots. When your humble narrator is onboard the big orange boat, I’m usually looking for unusual harbor traffic and treat the statue as little more than background.
Liberty is not just part of the landscape, nor should it ever be taken for granted.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given the events of the last decade or so, with the beating of war drums and other dire portents omnipresent, even one such as myself has begun to look toward this ubiquitous icon with new eyes. She was the product of a brutal era, the symbol of a comparatively innocent time, and meant to serve as a beacon. According to Teddy Roosevelt, she was useless as a light house.
Its a complicated concept- this “liberty,” as embodied by a 111 and a half foot tall French chick with a four and half foot long nose and a thirty five foot waistband who is well over a hundred years old.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Modern Corridor– Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
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.
boisterous sort
Who wouldn’t want to live in a yellow submarine?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent occasion brought your humble narrator to Pier 11 in Manhattan for an experimental excursion whose execution was meant to demonstrate the efficacy of a proposed ferry route between the Shining City and far off Coney Island. The organizers of the trip hired the fellow above to entertain whilst boarding. Personally, I prefer bagpipes to accordions- but that’s me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Friends of Coney Island Creek Ferry Landing + Park” was the group which sponsored and promoted this run, and onboard were NY Harbor luminaries such as Dr. Roberta Weisbrod from Working Harbor Committee, and Metropolitan Water Alliance’s Roland Lewis (and MWA’s irascible and tireless Louis Kleinman) as well a host of others. The trip left from Pier 11 in Manhattan and proceeded to the infinity of Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
City Hall would like to turn this Creek into a swampy wetland, but others wish to establish a route to Coney Island for tourists and Manhattanites to provide a notoriously moribund local economy with a financial shot in the arm. “Big Picture” stuff and above my pay grade, I came along mainly because I was curious if the Yellow Submarine had survived Sandy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Built by a fellow named Jerry Bianco as the Quester 1 and launched in 1970, the sub is discussed in some detail in this nytimes.com article, and our friends at Forgotten-NY have explored the subject in some depth as well. Mr. Bianco was interested in salvage operations on the sunken Andrea Doria wreck, but things didn’t work out.
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.
gnaw and glut
It’s Maritime Sunday at Newtown Creek!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While hanging around Newtown Creek recently, specifically the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant’s Nature Walk, the Kimberly Poling tug was spotted towing a seemingly empty fuel barge. The tug is a regular visitor to the Creek, carrying refined product to the BP Amoco yard in Greenpoint at Norman Avenue and Apollo Street. Also, its always called towing, even if the tug seems to be pushing the barge from behind- don’t know why, it just is.
Note: in an interesting coincidence, this year’s April Fool’s day posting, “outward course,” depicted this same tug and barge from the Queens side of the Newtown Creek. It discusses both the towing company and the vessel herself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That 9.98 acre BP Amoco yard, (see the great fires of 1919 and 1882) is a distribution center which feeds bulk supplies to delivery trucks which handle end user customers. Kimberly Poling and her barge are equivalent to nearly 40 of these trucks, I am told.
Oil refining ceased at Newtown Creek by the middle of the 1960’s, and today its all about distribution around here. One doesn’t think of New York City as a refinery town, but this is where Mobil was born, when it was called the Standard Oil Company of New York.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The expression “bringing coal to Newcastle” would be apt, were it offered to someone whose frame of reference was Greenpoint in the 1920’s. A hypothetical time traveller would probably be dumbfounded at the notion of bringing oil to Newtown Creek, and sending an empty barge back out into the harbor.
Maritime Sunday shout outs to the crew of Kimberly Poling, which is a nice looking boat, abound.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 