Posts Tagged ‘Tugboat’
feverish digging
Today’s Maritime Sunday post, from Port Newark.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 2013 Working Harbor Schedule is underway, and while attending one of Captain Doswell’s intriguing “Beyond Sandy” Hidden Harbor tours, the Elizabeth McAllister emerged from the rain and mist. The evening was distinguished by the difficult atmospheric conditions, which obliterated the lighting effects of the setting of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself in the western sky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather was actually ridiculous, with heavy fog and rain lashing through it, accompanying unseasonably low temperatures. Hardship for land lubbers, that is, because NY Harbor keeps working no matter what nature throws at it. Sailors are used to this sort of thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Elizabeth McAllister was launched the same yeur that I was, in 1967, but unlike me- she has changed her name a few times. The always brilliant tugboatinformation.com site has a great work up on her that details her birth, a 1988 calamity, and chronicles the tugs career.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The tug was headed over to the RORO cargo ship Freedom Ace to assist the larger vessel’s transit through the narrow Kill Van Kull. The Maritime Sunday shout out this week is sent to the cast and crew of Elizabeth McAllister, and mention should be made that if you too would like to see scenes like this one- get onboard with the Working Harbor Committee.
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Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
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.
another phenomenon
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the estimable Sea Wolf towing a barge of recyclables down the East River, captured on a foggy day in the spring. The barge likely emanates from the SimsMetal Queens Terminal, which we will be discussing in some detail this coming week. If, presumptively, the material being transported is from the aforementioned waste transfer station- this would be the “separated” plastic and glass trash collected by the DSNY which we New Yorkers leave on the curb once a week. This week’s Maritime Sunday shout out goes to Sea Wolf and her crew, plying the waters of NY Harbor, and taking out the trash.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Accusations of environmentalist activism dog your humble narrator, due to my ongoing fascination with both the Newtown Creek and its 19 Waste Transfer stations and the “flow” of unwanted byproducts produced by the great human hive- whether it be sewage, garbage, or “recyclables.” The truth is that one such as myself cannot understand how the average person cannot be interested in improving the health of their surroundings, if for no other reason than the selfish desire to maintain a wholesome and sanitary state of affairs in their own homes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When the current Mayor retires, he will be remembered for many things- both good and bad. The obvious stamp left upon the City of Greater New York by the “Bloomberg team” will be the series of residential buildings which have inextricably altered the skyline of both “the City” and especially Brooklyn and Queens. Additionally, we will all remember the restrictive “Nanny State” laws and regulations, but I fear that their greatest accomplishment- the codifying and modernization of New York’s waste processing and disposal system will be forgotten or overlooked.
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
lifelong seclusion
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Welcome, once again to Maritime Sunday at this, your Newtown Pentacle. With the return of agreeable weather, a humble narrator has been making up for lost time, and found himself on… Staten Island… last week. The vessel you see is a Bouchard tug, called Evening Tide.
Evening Tide was built in Louisiana, in 1970, and was originally called the “Captain George Edwards.” She measures 127′ x 31′ x 15′ and Evening tide is a powered by a 3,900 HP engine. Recently spotted transiting away the Kill Van Kull towing a fuel barge, the otherwise wholesome seeming Tug was involved in an accident just ten years ago.
from marinelog.com
The oil spill occurred during the afternoon of April 27, 2003, a bright and clear day. A Bouchard owned and operated tugboat, named the Evening Tide, was traveling en route from Philadelphia to Sandwich, Massachusetts. The Evening Tide was towing an unpowered barge loaded with over four million gallons of No. 6 oil, a thick, viscous and adhesive petroleum. All navigational, communications, and steering systems aboard the Evening Tide were in good working order. Navigational charts identifying all hazards in the area, which are published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were on-board the Evening Tide in paper and electronic form.
While traveling northwards, the Evening Tide veered off course as it neared the first green buoy marking the beginning of Buzzards Bay channel. The Evening Tide and the barge traveled to the west of the first green buoy, the Information alleges, striking a series of rocks. The impact from the collision ripped a twelve foot hole in the bottom of the barge, rupturing one of the barge’s ten separate tanks containing oil.
Also- TOURS:
Glittering Realms– April 20, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– May 4, 2013 Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Hidden Harbor: Newtown Creek tour with Mitch Waxman presented by the Working Harbor Committee, departs Pier 17 in Manhattan May 26,2013 at ten a.m. Limited seating available, order advance tickets now. Group rates available.
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.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 