So, here’s to tradition…

Zero one January two thousand one two.
Eight glasses for the old year and eight for the new.

Clear, windless day; low tide at o8h14,
The river has that beautiful blue-brown, cold sheen.

Hair making good knots, rolled out of my berth,
Dismayed by the thickening of the girth

After bubbly and beer and something chateau,
Feeling like sierra hotel india tango

It’s already into the forenoon watch
When I go to the galley to assess the debauch

Staring at all of the bottles in front of me
Feeling a bit post-frontal lobotomy

Semper ready for the challenge!
It’s not too bad, rank it code orange.

Monitoring 13 while the kettle does boil…
So, where are my friends moving cargo, people and oil?

Clearing the nav station of sketches and cat,
I scan AIS to see where everyone’s at.

There’s xx at the anchorage and xx on the KV
And look at the ships coming in from sea!

Can’t wait to tell Tuggie who’s going by now!
Containerships, tankers, tugs and their scows,

Ferries and fishingboats and tour boats galore,
A honeyboat, and the boats of the Army Corps

Icebreakers and buoy tenders, and medium response
A sailboat, some kayaks, and hopefully, clearance.

A cruiseship.  No ro-ro’s. The dredgers are at bay.
Do harbor charlie and fireboat get overtime pay?

Are the survey boats working? are the line boats out?
They’re not on AIS so I can’t see their routes.

I could do this all day, but muster midmess
To wish all of you for 2012: the best!

Thank you, CaptJJ for telling me about this tradition!

And thank you Ed, whose ship’s log is featured here in the official CG blog, Compass,
Look here for  more new year’s logs of the CG ashore! Both afloat & ashore: fascinating reads.

what is your log entry for today?

¡wow! thank you, west38! it looks so beautifully zen! click on her lovely blog to see the art of needle and thread in perfection: that corner is art.

 The Scuttlefish:

Hold written on one set of knuckles and Fast written on the other was meant to give a sailor good grip in the rigging.

A Rope tattooed around the wrist meant that a seaman is a deckhand.

A tattoo of an Anchor told that a sailor had crossed the Atlantic, or was part of the Merchant Marines.

Crossed Anchors on the webbing between the thumb and index fingers marked a bos’n's (or boatswain’s) mate.

A Nautical Star or Compass Rose was given so that a sailor could always find her way home.

A Harpoon marked a member of the fishing fleet.

A Full-Rigged Ship displayed that a sailor has been around Cape Horn.

A Dragon signified that a sailor has served in China.  A Golden Dragon was given when a sailor crossed the International Date Line.

A Shellback Turtle or King Neptune was earned when a sailor made it across the Equator.

Guns or Crossed Cannons signified military naval service.

A Sparrow or a Swallow tattoo would go to a sailor for every 5,000 nautical miles they traveled–a swallow because it can always find its way home.

A Dagger Through A Rose meant a sailor was loyal, and willing to fight anything, even something as sweet as a rose.

During WWII, a tattoo of a Pig and a Rooster was worn to prevent a sailor from drowning. When pigs and roosters were boarded on boats they were put in crates that floated and subsequently, often ended up the only survivors of wrecks. Crosses on the Soles of one’s feet warded off hungry sharks.

Thanks, Brian and Owen of Scuttlefish!

In honor of Veterans Day (today: 11.11.11) they just held their military fabrics contest which I missed, but inspired me to make a tribute fabric anyway. (I never knew the symbolism of poppies until this contest.)

The Ships Ahoy Tea Towel calendar is now available! The fabric measures 21″ long by 18″ wide, but the edges are raw and will need to be finished:

All ships are denizens or frequent visitors of NYHarbor, and run on their own power. I love our historic vessels, but will save those for the Dead Ships Dinner Napkins series.

Here are past Bowsprite fabrics. I am going to do one with egrets and booms, a la Tugster! Have an idea for a fabric? drop a line!

In addition to maintaining the light, they had bells or horns which sounded to warn passing vessels of  shoals. One CG chief petty officer told of his days of making deliveries to several lightships, before they were replaced by the large “monster buoys:”

“We would bring food and new crew about every 10 days. They often lived on the fish they caught. Most of those horns were 4 second every 2 minutes—24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

“You know what was funny? when we picked up the guys at crew change, they’d stop while they were talking every few minutes. They were so used to stopping for the horn that the pause ended up in their speech. It would take them awhile to adjust.”

 thank you, again, Capt J.J.!

The yachty Nantucket‘s in town, in the Morris Canal, across from the full-time, officey WinterQuarter. Also, see Brian LaFloca’s children’s book, “Lightship,” which has beautiful illustrations of life aboard a lightship.

One captain tells of being on a boat with his crew in Cape May when the following dialogue was overheard on a channel that a radiotelephone was using. The call was from a commercial fishing boat that often stays out for weeks at a time, from a man on the boat to a woman onshore.

Husband: ”Hon, there’s fish. I think we’re going to be a few more days out here.”

Wife: “Well…I’m having sex on friday. If you want to be there for it. Your call.”

thank you, Capt. JJ!

“Ok, kid. We have to tune the radar. We’re going to wrap you in this, 360° so we can monitor your movements. Try not to wrinkle it.”

“Don’t wrinkle it! God!”

“No. No good. I think the whole range has to be covered. Come back here on the boat, let’s get the arms too.”
“Yeah, and cover the neckline. We need a higher range here.”

“So, how is it?–Keep walking, but go slower.” “No, no. This is not good. I’m missing the top. Maybe we have to go higher.”
“Ok. Come back on the boat.”

“You can’t do that. He can’t see! How’s he supposed to stay on the dock?”
“Ok. Here. Eyeholes. And I’ll throw in nostril holes too. Boy, kid, this is your lucky day.”
“Ok, go back out there, please. This is taking too long.”

“Good! good! stay there! got it?” (camera taking photos)
“Ok! now move a bit more to the west. Just a few steps—stop! good!… ok! go back, move away from the boat… good!”

Thank you, Capt JJ.

and, this is great (“we need a wheelwash sample…”)

Will, what’s a guy to do? I guess if we want fresh ink we ought to squeeze a squid.

The Puffin made me do it! the Puffin–and many of you, thank you!–made me open boxes to look for my ink.

I have moved. But, where to put the stuff? You don’t own things, I’ve learned; possessions possess YOU.
George Carlin’s got the lowdown on stuff.

Thank you for your patience while we continue to work to bring back our regularly scheduled program…
coming up next: shipspotting with Tugster! stay tuned!

Creatures of the Deep: this one sank in the Cape Cod Canal, was raised in 4 days and went back to work, busy in NYHarbor.

This one sank in the Wicomico River, was raised after 3 years, came to NYC under her own power (at 4kts), and works hard as a restaurant/bar on pier 66.

And this one sinks and rises for a living, and did so in Lower Bay and left, carrying some of our tugs off, away to the East. Type in Blue Marlin or “Ground Hog Day” to see Tugster’s reportage of her ups and downs.

And this one laid in harbor mud, was salvaged, and now is the Waterfront Museum, the host of the Creatures of the Deep art show. Curated by Karen Gersch, the show is currently on view until August 22. The Artists’ Reception will be on July 22 at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Thank you, Tugster for sinking in the sinking/raising idea which gave rise to this post!

Happy July to all! see you in August!

I love how the sailboats are so unpredictable, making loops, turns and spins. When the wind picks up, they get frenetic.

In contrast, the tugs and barges, plow through, steady and true to their course. It is like that in real time, but speeded up, it is very dramatic.

The tugmen sometimes call the sailboats “mosquitos” or “fleas,” but everything looks like waterbugs to me.

This video was shot on saturday when the high number of commuter ferries do not run. The gay pride sailboats go by at the end.

thanks, John!