scenes from the sixth boro and gallivants beyond by any and all the crew
Steel may still be in the boro. From launch in 2008 until 2013, she was called Rocket.
Eva Tokyo has left the boro; she’s been known by that name since launch in 2019.
ONE Mackinac was Mackinac Bridge before the creation of ONE, Ocean Network Express.
Mr. Goldie has been in the boro before, then called Delta Trident.
Prospect Park has been here before as well, then known as Gulf Venture.
Prospect Park photo thanks to Tony A. All others, WVD.
The last time this duo appeared on tugster was almost a year ago here. They’re a local unit, working the Lower Bay for sand, a trade I’d love to learn more about. I’m going to wander onto thin ice here, but I believe what the unit does is not dredging per se; rather, it’s sand harvesting or mining under the trade name North American Aggregates. Sandmaster used to engage in this trade until it was sold and has since worked in several locations in the Caribbean.
Alexandra turns 50 this year.
She’s worked with barge Eleanor since 2018. Again, the unit never needs to travel far, given the supply of sand under local waters.
Yesterday I caught Alexandra light, possibly heading back to GMD to pick up Eleanor and head back to the mines.
From my angle, I could not get a close-up of the sophisticated companionway mounted forward on her starboard side, better seen above than below.
All photos, any errors, WVD.
Weeks does have dredges such as Magdalen and Douglas B. Mackie/Ellis Island. as well as many other units.
Twenty-first century ports and their activities are all quite similar. Take these photos as an example. Actually, certain types of twenty-first century places in general are quite similar, except when they’re not*. I’ll start with these photos recently shared with me. Think about the angles and what it tells you about the vantage point of the photographer.
Any guesses on location? I’ll identify them all at the end.
This was a foggy day.
Types of vessels to move containerized goods around the planet are all quite standard, as are the support vessels like this pilot boat. The sixth boro might not be a port of call for WEC, but they call in quite a few countries. I love this holiday image.
I can’t make out the name of this tugboat, but form follows function in terms of design. Check this tug, as an example.
The sixth boro connects with all places in the watery parts of the planet, as long as draft permits.
So these photos come from hkpo and M&MMcM and another.
The ports shown in order are: Malaga Spain on the Med (2), Raritan Bay NY (2), Gran Canaria on the Atlantic (2), and Bayonne NJ (1).
Some more examples from previous tugster posts can be perused here.
*For a 21st-century place and experience way off the the usual, enjoy this doc from Tajikistan I watched recently. Elina’s adventures offer a breath of fresh air in an increasingly toxic world, here and here.
As I said yesterday, I took a lot of photos in March 2016, and back then never did I imagine the vessel below would depart. Of course, it’s the former New Jersey Responder; today it’s Point Nemo and currently in a shipyard in Callao, Peru. In case you’re wondering about the location of Point Nemo . . . it’s a calculated point in the oceans arrived at and named as such by Croatian survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela as “longest swim location” and of interest to those guiding dying satellites of all nations. More on Hrvoje [pronounced air VO yay] Lukatela and his projects here.
Although tugster focuses on workboats, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the physical background here: the building with the glass stepped trapazoid is now called One Court Square, now mostly obscured by the supertalls of Long Island City. That area has seen a lot of building and density change.
As to the workboats, Zachery Reinauer [a Matton boat] above and Stephen-Scott [a Houma boat] are still around, just inactive. I’m told that Stephen-Scott no longer has its upper wheelhouse.
Cross harbor rail is still happening, but the green-colored Brown boats are gone forever. Here the 278 is moved by Brown’s newest tugboat, James E. Brown. My first shot of James E. Brown was in July 2015 here. The earlier posts focusing on the Brown family tugboats were here and in 2008 here. As you likely agree, the Browns are missed.
A Blount boat, Eric R. Thornton came to the boro as Roger Williams. The boat was scrapped in 2020.
Dolphin is now Karen C., working for Curtin in Norfolk.
Pike is said to be still around, but I’ve not seen her recently.
Sea Robin is now based in Norfolk, now operating as April H.
Boys is now Boys . . . Bouchard Boys has become Stasinos Boys.
I have more from March 2016, as since I’m elbow-deep trending toward neck-deep in work, I may do more retro posts soon.
Unrelated but in case you’ve wondered whether Ocean Tower, towing that crane out of Manitowoc WI on November 18 for Washington state, it arrived in the Seattle area a few days ago after a long trip through the Panama Canal. I saw her when she stopped briefly in the sixth boro around December 17. What a voyage!!
Another digression: Have you visited Callao? If so, I’d love to hear impressions. Many people visit exotic ports by cruise ship. Any impressions of any of these South American ports? These? Others?
How about a retro post–all March 2016–that’s all one company? I’ve never done this before, but a quick shuffle through the archived aisles says I took a lot of photos of Vane Brothers equipment that month.
So enjoy, starting with the 56-year-old Houma, Long Island-built and having worn many previous liveries.
You won’t see her today; she was scrapped nine years ago.
You won’t see a Sassafras anymore either; it still transits the boro from time to time as . . .
You won’t see this Brooklyn either; she’s had many name changes in the past decade. I first posted her here as Inland Sea.
Red Hook works the east coast, but she’s not in the sixth boro that often. I did see her a few months ago here.
What I said about Red Hook, I could say the same about Hunting Creek.
Long Island appears to have been built identical to Vane’s 4200 hp boats; she first arrived here as Peter F. Gellatly, currently inactive.
Tangier Island . . . still working but I’ve not seen her in the boro for a very long time. I believe the last time I saw her here was in 2017!
All photos from a decade ago, WVD.
Vinik No. 6 became one of the best known tugboats in the US a year ago. Capt. Mike provided some of the images en route through magical seas, like here. Publications captured the scene as well. Click on the image below from Gregg Pachkowski of Pensacola News Journal to see his gallery.
March 16, 2025 I waited a few hours to get photos of Vinik No. 6 as she returned from the SS United States tow, returning the last couple miles from home on the Arthur Kill and used those photos in my post Red, Right, Returned!, from which the March 2026 calendar photo was chosen.
Since those photos are already available on the blog, check out these photos of the 1970 tugboat un the Kill Van Kull from its time as a Penn Maritime boat.
All photos as attributed, WVD.
Here’s an image from the auction site, link below. It looks recent by the amount of ice.
Is the one alongside Tappan Zee II?
Here’s a photo I took of TZ V in June 2014.
And two I took the same day in July 2014.
For auction info, click here. It’s said to be Higgins-built from 1953, so it likely to be one of these, or here . . . one of the ones listed as “no trace”. I’m curious to see what’s going to happen to this boat.
For other Higgins built boats previously appearing on this blog, click here.
In #8 of this series, I mentioned the East River art pieces of O’Keeffe and Koch. Of course, Pamela Talese has done great work already featured on tugster. Still today the strait as well as the sixth boro in general offers much fodder for the aesthetically minded. Graves of Arthur Kill, the short documentary by Gary Kane and myself came from that watery source of inspiration. Randy Dudley and Dong Kingman come to mind. Maybe some one can add more names to the list.
Excuse the digression; let’s get on with some February photos
Deborah Quinn and her covered barge have been a fixture here throughout the resiliency project. Be sure to read the comment by Paul Strubeck at the end of the Deborah Quinn link on the partial origin of the barge.
Robert IV is a regular and has been based in the boro for as long as I’ve been doing this blog. She first appears on the blog in 2008 here, and she’s seen much of the shorelinescape change.
The yellow slash across the front of this fuel barge identified it as one of the scores of barges operated Vane fleet.
The 504 was built in Indiana.
Speaking of shoreline change along the East River, an interesting mix of recycled old and sophisticated new is offered to traffic today.
Recycling . . .
it applies to the tug Sea Lion, after its tragedy of over a decade ago.
All photos, any errors, WVD, who did a post about a now-gone coffee barge on the East River here in 2013.
On a sad, memorializing note, long-time commenter and contributor to this blog, Jan van der Doe aka sleepboot Jan, passed this week at the age of 91 in Ontario. “Sleepboot” is the word in Jan’s first language Dutch for “tugboat.” Back a decade ago, Jan shared his history as a merchant mariner in a blogpost here. Jan convinced me to go to the steam tug fest in Dordrecht, Netherlands Dordt in Stoom event a decade ago. It’s held every two years, next time is coming up in May 2026. If you’re interested, you can take a Waterbus directly from the heart of Rotterdam to the fest, and speaking from experience, I’d highly recommend it.
His obit contains this line: “Jan’s heart always belonged to the water, boats, ships, barges, tugs, anything that floated or carried a story of the sea captured his imagination.’
Tony sent me this image yesterday. I recognized the livery immediately, but not the name.
Meet Capt. Marco, a recent Vinik acquisition. I’d seen Capt. Marco on AIS but imagined it was a fishing vessel.
Capt. Marco used to work in the boro under a different name. I took this photo in August 2025 way zoomed out. Know it?
That was Osprey, fleetmate then and now of Kodi, now called Capt. Kyle. BOLO for Capt. Kyle.
Many thanks to Tony A for the first two photos here. Change is the only constant. That’s another Heraclitus quote. Smart guy that Heraclitus. This ship is even named for him.
Here are previous posts with this title. Also, sometimes the traffic on the East River is mysterious like here and here, and full of surprises.
Know whose rendering of the “westmost” East River bridge is offered below? Answer at the end of the post.
This painting is by John Koch, an unfamiliar name for me. More info at the end of this post.
All photos, WVD, who knows the East River is just a part of the sixth boro.
That bridge rendering is by Georgia O’Keefe, 1949.
The second painting is by John Koch. Both paintings and much more can be seen at the Brooklyn Museum.
Recent Comments