talk tomorrow, all welcome
Ships of Commerce, War, Work & Pleasure
a presentation of NYHarbor doodles by Bowsprite
aboard Nantucket Lightship WLV-612
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
6 to 7pm
Pier 6 Promenade, Brooklyn Bridge Park
take the WaterTaxi ferry or the East River Ferry from Pier 11 across the East River to Pier 1
Brooklyn Bridge Park, walk south to Pier 6,
or, take the trains to the stations shown on the map and walk west to the park and the ship.
Of great note!
“Between 1941 and 1945, Liberty Ships were constructed in 18 U.S. shipyards.
John W. Brown is one of only two Liberty Ships that survive.
“She is docked at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side (299 South St.) and is open for tours and other events ending with a six-hour living history cruise on Sept. 18.
The John W. Brown was built in Baltimore. She was named for a well-known labor leader and launched on Labor Day, 1942. Her maiden voyage was to New York City where she picked up Jeeps, trucks and ammunition to aid Russia under the Lend-Lease Act and took them to the Persian Gulf. She transported troops and cargo in support of the WWII effort until 1945…
“On both Saturdays the engines will be working at the pier as part of the tour.”
From DowntownPost. For more information: http://www.ssjohnwbrown.org
“She’s been fully restored and is beautiful. I’ve never ever ever seen
such a clean engine room.” –Schoonertrash Ros
Waterfront Management Advisory Board
The New York City Council’s Committee on Waterfronts will hold a hearing on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. in the 14th Floor Committee Room, 250 Broadway, New York, NY.
Hey, Cityfolks! even those living in waterfront condominiums will need food and goods brought in and wastes removed. Can’t keep trucking.
dare! and tugboat race & contests
well, thanks to Pecs for muscling me into drawing mode.
This Sunday! one of the rare chances to see crew inside those tugs come out! in the flesh—and a lot of flesh, at the tattoo contest (which I don’t see on this year’s line up…?)
23rd Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition
Sunday, 6 September 2015
10am -2pm
Pier 84:West 44th Street and Hudson River Park, NYC
10:00am Parade of Tugs from Pier 84 (w 44th st./hudson river park) to the
start line @ Pier I at w 70th st. in Riverside Park South
10:30am Race Starts (runs from Pier I to Pier 84)
11am Nose-to-nose pushing contests & Line-toss competition
Noon Amateur line-toss & Spinach-eating contests
1pm Awards Ceremony
2pm Tugs depart
more information at the Working Harbor Committee’s site.
Wavertree on the KVK
Thank you to Bjoern and Erik of New York Media Boat and Tugster of the 6th Boro!
Hooray for the South St Seaport Museum and Wavertree.
Read Tugster’s recounting of the epic journey Part I here and Part II here. It was a beautiful ride through the harbor with the majestic Wavertree, with some of our friends onboard and some accompanying her along the way.
Thomas J. Brown pushes Wavertree towards Caddell’s Dry Dock & Repair. The poor, elegant Bayonne Bridge is the background, getting a roadbed lift.
And, as I started to draw, it began to rain…
Sal Polisi, wood carver of the South St Seaport Museum
Once upon a time, by Pier 16, behind a collection of bollards, cleats and a giant anchor (and underneath the FDR drive,) there were two containers that housed the open studio of a wood carver by the name of Sal Polisi. 
He was a navy man, served on the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) , and when he retired, he was one of the anchors of the South Street Seaport Museum. People would wander into his wood shop, and he would talk about the museum, the ships, and the history while he carved. He offered free lessons to anyone interested, and his shelves were full of wood chunks in various stages of becoming whales, fish or mermaids (including one never-finished block hacked at by the author, an abandoned whale-wanna-be.)
One day, a big, strong man walked into Sal’s woodshop. “He didn’t look right, he was looking without seeing, asking without listening…” Sal didn’t have a good feeling. Suddenly the man grabbed a large piece of wood, and walked out. “Hey! come back here!” yelled Sal. The wood piece was solid and very heavy, but the man made off as if it was hollow.
Sal called the police, then followed the man as he walked north of Pier 17, and watched in disbelief as the man threw Sal’s wood into the East River, jumped in, mounted the wood, and began to paddle towards the west anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge.
This was pre-9/11, there was no harbor police stationed at the spot where the man paddled through. It took a while before the police came. The harbor police eventually appeared in their boat, and they pulled the fellow off the log and hauled him off to —? we do not know where. The shoreside police watched, laughed and got into their cars to leave.
“Hey!” said Sal, “What about my wood? I want that wood back!” The cops shrugged and left.
“I was so mad,” he told me later. “That was a good piece of wood! Black Walnut!”
Sal worked in his wood shop for many years until the current regime was given the public land to develop. They assured him he would not be moved, but moved him they did. His shop was razed, and it did break his heart. 
Fair winds, Sal. We miss you. 
USS TICONDEROGA (CV-14)
| Name: | Ticonderoga |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding, VA |
| Laid down: | 1 February 1943 |
| Launched: | 7 February 1944 |
| Class & type: | Essex-class aircraft carrier |
| Length: | 888 feet (271 m) overall |
| Beam: | 93 feet (28 m) |
| Draft: | 28 feet 7 inches (8.71 m) light |
| Propulsion: | 8 × boilers 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines 4 × shafts 150,000 shp (110 MW) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Complement: | 3448 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 4 × twin 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns 4 × single 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns 8 × quadruple Bofors 40 mm guns 46 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons |
| Aircraft carried: | 90–100 aircraft |
may 18 – 22: National Stationery Show
Today begins the National Stationery Show at the Jacob Javits Center.
Do you want to focus and promote your artwork, and try to make a living at it by committing to this trade show–when you know on Wednesday, the ships are coming in for Fleet Week and will pass right outside the building, a monkeyfist’s throw away!?
So, I’ve committed. Here is my bike with all the ship cards and stationery I am presenting. I called the convention center to say I could not find information on how to unload from a bicycle; it was all written for car and truck drop off. The fellow was amused I was biking everything, and asked: “but who will watch the bike when you are unloading?” which I found very charming. I locked it to a lamppost.
I was lucky and missed the rain, but my shelving unit, coming from the flame proofers’, got extra-super, monsoon-flame-proofed. Thank you Urban Mobility Project, Shelly and Joe! It cost 1/9th the quote I got from vans and trucks, and we did not have the interminable wait times for the long vehicular congo line to the elevator in the back. We walked everything in the front doors, exhibition hall level.
Ok: so I had to spend $300 to flame proof my shelves in this modern structure with sprinkler systems. That’s fine, I did it. However, to then allow the NO FREIGHT AISLE be clogged for two days with heavy, immoveable stuffs…this would NEVER be allowed on even the more lackadaisical passenger vessels I’ve worked on. I could not get my things in. But, I was more worried that in case of fire, no one would be able to get out.
I finally made it to my little booth. Here is it, before:
during…
and not quite done yet. I have ship schwag up the wazoo, and still so much to do…meanwhile, just west, past my lovely neighbor Park Soap, I know lies North River, right past that exit sign…and:
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Event: Fleet Week New York Parade of Ships
Location: New York Harbor
Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
The Corwith Cramer is docked at pier 25, she looks so beautiful.
Elcano just left town:
And, in case of fire, I am running west, and advise my colleagues to do the same.
foggy day on VHF
This morning: it was all ice and fog.
On VHF radio: “(Name of tug), 14, can I get a visibility report? thank you.”
Voices, they were all speaking:
Voices from ferries whose names I rarely hear uttered on 13, calling out today where the fog has collected extremely heavily: around Liberty and Ellis Islands.
“Miss New York, leaving Liberty Channel to Ellis Island.”
“Miss New Jersey, I see you. See you on the one.”
“Miss Freedom…” “did you leave the dock yet?” “yes, I’m in front of the Statue:” “Roger that.”
“Miss New Jersey, departing the battery wall for the Statue.”
“Miss Freedom, I’m south of the clock, where are you?”
“Leaving Morris Canal…south of you.”
“Ok…”
“I’m at the WR buoy (red buoy marking a wreck at the mouth of the Morris Canal) and I can’t see the Clock!”
Circleline BrooklynVoices from the Kills:
Voices from the anchorage:
“Yeah, Cap, I don’t have you on radar yet, but see you on the one.”
Voices from everywhere, mingling:
waxing moon
The moon rose set tonight brilliantly silver, big, and thin.
I once learned a good trick which I still use to remember the difference between a waxing and waning moon.
However, it is in German.
The curve of the waxing moon fits into the cursive ‘z’ of zunehmen. Nehmen means to ‘take,’ zu means to oneself, so the moon is taking to oneself; it is augmenting, increasing. It will soon be Full.
The curve of the waning moon fits into the rounded part of the ‘a’ of abnehmen, which means to diminish, decline. (It’s not pretty, but think of ‘abscess’ and how good it is for that to diminish.) The moon will soon fade to New.
Waxing Cresent…Waxing Gibbous…Waning Gibbous…Waning Crescent
(this work has been released into the public domain by its author, Tomruen.)
Danke to my bud, Ray of Zurigo, for this tip, on that clear night in the Ticino so many moons ago.
compassion
It was hard to read the name at first, for rust covered the lettering. But I stared hard, and it was worth the effort:
a crude oil tanker named Compassion.
It was such a good name that it survived two company changes. It was Stena Compassion until 2010, then Newlead Compassion until 2012. It is currently owned by BW Maritime (Singapore). Flag: Bermuda, homeport: Hamilton.
The company also owns a tanker named Compass. Un-ION-ized.
Tanker Compassion
Built: 2006 by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Group
Length: 748 ft. (228 m)
Beam: 105 ft. (32 m)
Draft: 37.4 ft. (11.4 m)
What good karma to be up in the bridge, high on Compassion.
sailing ships at work
On June 14, 2011, this 70 ft schooner, Black Seal, brought 20 tons of cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic to Red Hook, Brooklyn.
This is how they did it: no customs report, no bills of lading, no contract with the ILA to lift the 400 bags, and a blank stare when asked for a TWIC. Viva l’esprit of rum running!
Our wise leaders decided that shooting at the handmade three masted schooner was not as good press as welcoming it, so we are happy to have the beans, Mast Bros chocolate, and this WSJ story. Will there be more? Day-o!
(update: the editorial offices of BLOWSPITTLE ink have been informed that all hoops were hastily collected, set up on pier 9A and jumped through: correct papers were obtained-signed-approved-delivered, customs agent procured, docking permitted, stevedores contracted, eyes crossed, teas dotted.)
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
On March 9, 2012, this 105 ft schoonerbrig, running under sail power only — no motor at all — set a course from the Dominican Republic to pick up cocoa beans in Grenada bound for New York. They had rum, salt and other Caribbean products for New York, England and the Netherlands. Their voyage plan had Grenada as their last Carribean stop in order to load the cocoa beans last to keep them cooler, forcing the ship to sail from the Dominican Republic against the current and close to the wind, sailing that demanded constant trimming and setting of sails during all watches.
All for naught: the bureaucracy and regulatory fees demanded by our port thoroughly discouraged Tres Hombres, and the cocoa shipment for Grenada Chocolate Company was not to be. The ship had to abandon the stop off at New York, and changed course towards the Azores. Simply no way to gain if you try to follow the rules. Read the ship log’s entry here. Day-o…
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
built in 1952 by H. C. Stulchen and Son of Hamburg, Germany
This 191 ft barquentine is the largest tall ship operated by the Indonesian Navy and serves as a sail training vessel for naval cadets and as an ambassador of goodwill for the people of Indonesia: Dewaruci.
She was on her last voyage, nearing NYC for FleetWeek/OpSail 2012 when she ran low on water. She crawled like a thirsty desert traveller along the NJ coast, crying ‘water! water!’ unheeded. She reached the Verrazano Narrows bridge, and approached Sullivans Pier in Staten Island where she would tie up for FleetWeek, two days early. She was denied permission to dock. And was not allow to water. Anti Terrorism Force Protection (ATFP): the police forces were scheduled for two days later and could not be deployed so quickly, nor could they be paid for for the two extra days. ATFP does not do boat time.
Desperate, the ship with their crew of 70 students looked for water, but found none. Calls were made and both SUNY Maritime and the United States Merchant Marine Academy welcomed them, eager to host the ship for two days. Fort Schuyler on the Throggs Neck peninsula was just a touch closer than Kings Point, Long Island, so the plan was to sail to SUNY Maritime to tie up and get water.
The ship began the trip up the East River, when the Sandy Hook Pilots noticed a discrepancy with specs and a translation issue. “Air draft” in Indonesian looks like “mast height” or the other way around; the mast from the deck up would have gone under the Brooklyn Bridge, but not with the ship under it.
Dewaruci turned away, and limped back, still parched, to Lower Bay to wait for two days.
For the FleetWeek parade up and down North River, Dewaruci students dressed gaily in blue and white uniforms, and stood atop yards, on shrouds and on bowsprit, saluting a city that was a rather shabby welcoming host. O day.
♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
Tonight! the Working Harbor Committee presents “Sailing Ships At Work”: the history of sailing cargo ships, the ships that sail cargo today (short part) and what the future may look like.
Ship historian Norman Brouwer, Capt. Maggie Flanagan, and Rick Spilman will be presenting.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013 6 – 9 p.m.
Community Church of New York
40 E. 35th Street
New York, NY 10016
Price — Adults: $25, Seniors (62+) $20
please click here for tickets.
The future: projects like the Vermont Sailing Barge, Hope and Alert, HARVEST, B9 Shipping, and the MARAD initiative of the Hudson River Foodway Corridor will bring back water transportation of cargo…putting ships back in shipping.
The Working Harbor Committee is not responsible for any of the drivel I write. I just monitor VHF radio and drink in scuttlebutt in bars. And unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the event tonight, but go and have great fun. ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
hawser, line and wire: happy 50th!
Some tugs are named after rivers. Some after seas, some after trees. Some are named after American Indian tribes.
But the CG has a class of tugs that wins the award for best names: the 65-foot Small Harbor Tug (WYTL).
Named after things normal people call “rope”, and things found on a boat that interact with the “rope,” or, in one case, what normal people call “droop” of a rope, to those who love tugs, these names are little, one-word love poems, odes to the small harbor working tug.
The WYTLs were built between 1962 and 1967, and were employed only on the east coast, from Maine to Virginia. Originally a class of 15 tugs built by different shipyards, 11 are still in service:
- BOLLARD (WYTL 65614) New Haven, CT
- BRIDLE (WYTL 65607) Southwest Harbor, ME
- CAPSTAN (WYTL 65601) Philadelphia, PA
- CHOCK (WYTL 65602) Portsmouth VA
- CLEAT (WYTL 65615) Philadelphia, PA
- HAWSER (WYTL 65610) Bayonne, NJ
- LINE (WYTL 65611) Bayonne, NJ
- PENDANT (WYTL 65608) Boston, MA
- SHACKLE (WYTL 65609) South Portland, ME
- TACKLE (WYTL 65604) Rockland, ME
- WIRE (WYTL 65612) Saugerties, NY
BITT (WYTL 65613) was decommissioned on 4 October 1982, now R/V Clifford A. Barnes
SWIVEL (WYTL 65603) , still SWIVEL at Governor’s Island
TOWLINE (WYTL 65605) perhaps for sale, and
CATENARY (WYTL 65606), now Growler
And YOU are invited to the 50th birthday celebration of Hawser (17 Jan 1963), Line (21 Feb 1963), and Wire (19 Mar 1963):
“1 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013: the three tugs will meet at the Walkway over the Hudson and steam north to Saugerties. A Coast Guard spokesperson will be available at the walkway and there will be a photo opportunity there to capture the tugs together on the Hudson River.” USCG Media Advisor
According to Hudsonian’s & Tugster’s photos, all three have expanded the cabins aft to enclose the stack. So the drawing above is incorrect. Do not use for navigation.
Like one to take home? look here.
| Length: | 65 ft |
| Beam: | 16 ft |
| Displacement: | 72 tons |
| Power Plant: | Upgrading to 500 HP |
The Naval Institute Guide To The Ships And Aircraft Of the U.S. Fleet, Norman Polmar
USS Mitscher (DDG-57)
USS Mitscher (DDG-57)
Ingalls Shipbuilding, 1992
Homeport: Norfolk, VA
Length: 505 ft (154 m)
Beam: 66 ft (20 m)
Draft: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Complement:
33 Officers
38 Chief Petty Officers
210 Enlisted Personnel
At Stapleton Pier / The Sullivans Pier, Fleet Week 2012. With the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in the background.
Chock-a-block of eye pads…unlike this unidentified ship, with a dearth of panama chocks.
Line handling these days must be damned bitter cold. Oof!
tea towel calendars
Nautical Tattoo Tea Towel Calendars: for the meanings of the symbols, look here at the post written by Owen Burke, Brian Lam of The Scuttlefish.
2013 Ships of NYHarbor Tea Towel Calendar also available. Both designs have unhemmed, raw, pinked edges (zigzagged.)
Printed in North Carolina by Spoonflower. They started making decals, and I have many decals of some of my ship doodles printed on polyester and coated with a non-PVC plastic coating. Peel and stick up. The verdict: excellent quality! more on the decals to come!
Apologies to friends’ NYHarbor ships I have yet to draw! Lilac, J.J.Harvey (and all the beautiful old fireboats), DEP vessels, Swivel, Taurus…I’m getting to you, promise!
What is a tea towel? well, i’d be honored to see one of mine in an engine room. If you work on a vessel pictured, you get 25% off. Thank you!
vhf prose: radio check
A captain was in the harbor at anchor when he heard the following over VHF 16:
Boater: “Radio check, radio check this is (name of boat).”
Silence.
Boater: “This is (name of boat), we are here at Sandy Point. I mean, Sandy Hook…doing a radio check. Please respond.”
Zip.
Boater, with annoyance: “This is (name of boat), someone please respond to our radio check.”
Mystery Mariner, with just a touch of playfulness: “Ok, sure…FUCK YOU!”
Ah, New York Harbor…I do love this harbor.
it is balloooooon!
oh my goodness. I really sat through this: F Troop.
A more scholarly link here…
These navy airships have flown over NYHarbor. Spotted by Tugster this year on 11th June, above Sputyen Duyvil, Hudson River, betwixt Manhattan and da Bronx:
And, a parade of commercial ones, spotted by Control Geek just last week…
lightship ambrose
Lightship Ambrose LV 87 / WAL 512
Built: 1907 by New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, NJ
Length: 136ft. (41.5m)
Beam: 29ft. (8.8m)
Draft: 13ft. (3.9m)
Original Illumination Apparatus: three oil lens lanterns
Propulsion: Steam
This lightship was stationed in the Ambrose Channel since 1906, guiding vessel traffic through the main shipping channel just below the Verazzano Narrows bridge, into New York and New Jersey Harbor until 1967. She was given to South Street Seaport Museum by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1968. A light tower replaced it, was hit by ships a few times too many, and, now, the channel is marked by lighted buoys.
Now at the new! improved! South Street Seaport Museum under the fertile wing—nurturing wing?— of the City of the Museum of New York this lightship was painted in March, and is now being restored and is open for visiting at Pier 16.
The wings of the seaport museum are alive: a new exhibit is up, nautical pieces from another museum I love, the American Folk Art Museum.
And true to the harbor’s spirit, the active gem of the museum, Pioneer, is sailing. Go onboard to sail in the harbor or go and volunteer and learn how to handle lines and many other things that may always serve you well…!
new year’s log
“Tradition states that the first entry of the new year in the official log in CG and Navy must be in verse and rhyme.”
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.
veterans day & tea towel for the engine room
Print your own fabrics! re-upholster your bunk, make cool pillows, and frame your porthole with your own designs! Spoonflower, is a site based in Durham, North Carolina that prints your designs at their ‘mill’. Read more about them here.
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!
creatures of the deep
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!
time lapse of new york harbor
The great Control Geek, John Huntington, has made yet another incredible time lapse – of Upper Bay!
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!
frazil ice
Sorry, no sound. The slushing of the salty icewater is mesmerizing, but the camera picked up too much wind. This is taken just north of pier 40 on North River where the noble fireboat McKean and the beautiful steamship Lilac, the old USCG lighthouse tender are docked.
Could any of this have drifted down by some shaking going on upstream? See Tugster icebreaking on Rondout Creek with Matt and the tug Cornell.
ice breaking on the raritan river
Rare is the chance to go up the Raritan! and judging by the virgin ice, rare are the visitors in january. The Raritan once was connected to the Delaware river by a canal upon which goods, coal & sailors traversed.
This survey boat works all year ’round, and often has to break its way through the ice. The tide was coming in that morning, and at the mouth of the Raritan River, the boat cut easily through the slushy saltwater. However, as we got further into fresh waters, the ice thickened, the boat was thrown around more, sometimes settling on top, then sliding off to the side before breaking through. The sound was disconcerting. By 4″ of ice, we were becalmed–er, be-iced:
Then, standing out there, one could see how lovely the Nature is, fields that go on and on, silent, vast. However, we were not alone:
the fish population include (but are not limited to) largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sunfish, catfish, trout, chain pickerel, american eels, carp and yellow perch. An occasional Pike and Musky have been taken out of the Raritan as well. The tidal portions of the river host migratory salt water species such as striped bass, fluke, winter flounder, weakfish and bluefish. Many nesting birds and water fowl make their homes in and along the length of the river. Crustaceans such as blue claw crab, fiddler crabs and green crabs are also found in the tidal sections of the river. Crayfish can be found further upstream. —wikipedia
We also saw huge mounds, made by beavers? muskrats? some sort of mound-builders. Industrious & industrial-sized!
This Sayreville Power House, the only building for miles around, is right next to the Sayreville public boat launch, surrounded by marsh grass and landfill. Electrical wires cross the horizon, the NJ Turnpike cuts the water. Still, there’s enough of solitude out here to imagine what it must have been like once upon a time.
(what is it? in the video clip, the structures visible when the birds are overhead in the sky are the transducer and the GPS unit mounted on the bow of the hydrosurveyboat, the Michele Jeanne. Upon the job site, the black transducer is lowered into the water and the white bulby Trimble DGPS antenna is placed right on top.)
a nautical bestiary
bee
– a ring or hoop of wood or metal.
bitching
– not exclusively nautical, but rare is the ship without this; sounds like:
“I dont %&$&# LIKE sailing! Why don’t I go to the crafts festival and just take the train and meet you at the next %&$&# port?”
or “The hosting yacht club is serving ¿%&$&#what???”
or “%&$&#! %&$&#! horse cock for dinner again??”
camels
– wooden (usually) platform buffers between a ship and a pier; way deeper and heavier to move than you think. On this camel by Passenger Ship Terminal pier 90, rope was shredded into a soft nest, eggs were laid, and the parents-to-be waited while warships of Fleet Week 2009 tied up a few feet away.
cathead
– a heavy beam projecting from each bow of a ship for the purpose of holding anchors.
clamshell dredge
cockbill
-an anchor is said to be cockbilled or a-cockbill when hung vertically by its ring stopper from a cathead ready for use, or, temporarily, during the recovery process.
constrictor knot
– not well known, but according to Hervey Garrett Smith, author and illustrator of the wonderful book, The Arts of the Sailor (1953), the constrictor knot is superior to most comment seizings or stoppings: “…quicker, neater, and can be drawn up more tightly. The harder you pull the two ends the tighter it grips, and it will not slacken when you let go…It can be set up so tightly that is is almost impossible to untie, and makes an excellent whipping. (The slipped version is easy to untie.) …Its superior construction and usefulness leads me to believe that it ultimately will achieve the popularity it rightly deserves.”
cow hitch
– also known in days of old as a lanyard hitch, the cow hitch is today more associated with any knot which is not a recognized maritime knot as used at sea; a lubberly hitch. Folks must be forgetting to use those lanyards.
crabbing
– sideways maneuvering into a cross current or wind to compensate for drift.
To “catch a crab” is to make a faulty stroke in rowing that causes the blade of the oar to strike the water on the recovery stroke.
cranes
crow feet
crow’s nest
doghouse
dogwatch
dolphins
– pilings lashed together with heavy cable upon which vessels land to moor. Usually, one piling is called a dolphin, a group of more than one pile is called a cluster, as in “put out a line over the second cluster off the bow.” When neglected, provides fine nesting for birds of the harbor.
donkey engine
– a steam-powered winch to hoist sails and anchors on old schooners; an auxiliary engine on a sailing craft (which does propel the vessel) is still sometimes informally known as the donk.
elephant foot
elephant table – (help! cannot find this one!)
fishplate
fish tackle
– a large hook used to assist in maneuvering the anchor from under the cat-head, and brought to the side or gunwale, or to launch and recover boats.
flounder plate
– a triangular steel plate used as a central connecting point for the tows, bridles, and towline.
fluke
– the wedge-shaped part of an anchor’s arms that digs into the bottom. Sometimes painted yellow to lure full frontal admirers.
fox
– made by twisting together two or more rope-yarns. A Spanish fox is made by untwisting a single yarn and laying it up the contrary way. (But, why? ¿por qué?)
gooseneck
goosewing
hogged
– the state of a vessel when, by any strain, she is made to droop at each bow and stern, bringing her center up. Opposite of sagging.
horse
horse cock
– “phoney baloney”. Mmmmm.
hounds
leech
marlinspike, a marlinspike hitch
– a tool for opening the strands of a rope while splicing.
monkeyfist
– a weighted knot wrapped around lead or a ball, found at the end of a heaving line. Illegal in NYHarbor. ME variety is especially lethal: you really won’t know what hit you.
mousing
– a seizing to prevent hooks from unshipping. Sling hitch on the hook’s back, go around the bill, make turns, wrap with frapping turns, then a set of riding turns, finish with a square or reef knot. Notice how Hervey Garrett Smith draws the same hook three times; that is love.
pelican hook
– a hook-like device for holding the link of a chain or similar, and consisting of a long shackle with a hinged rod which is held closed by a ring.
pigtail hook
– a screw hook having an eye in the form of a spiral for holding a loop, chain link, etc., at any angle. I am not fooled: this was designed to snag my sweaters.
ratlines
– rope running across the shrouds horizontally like the rounds of a ladder and used to step upon in going aloft.
roach
– curved cut in edge of sail for preventing chafing
rhino horn
– slips through a hole in the bow ramp of the LCU or LCM to hold the landing craft in position while vehicles embark/debark.
sea cock
– a valve to open a pipe to allow suction of sea water into your vessel either to supply fire pumps or for cooling if your engine is cooled with raw water. Also used generically.
sheep-shank
– a kind of hitch or bend, used to shorten a rope temporarily.
sole
snaking, snaked whipping
– snaking protects against chafing of turns on whippings at the end of ropes.
whales
– fenders that were once upon a time real whale bodies, but today, are BIG black, heavy industrial strength rubber bumpers. One captain’s fender story is here.
wildcat
– oops. another wildcat coming up…
worming
– rigging of old ships were wormed, parcelled and served and lasted as long as the ships, or longer. Worming is the laying in of small-stuff between the strands of rope to fill in spaces to prevent moisture and rot. Parcelling is spirally wrapping rope with narrow strips of old canvas soaked with rigging tar, overlapping to repel moisture. Serving covers the rope by tightly winding marline or hemp against the lay. Heavily tar, and maintain regularly.
Worm and parcel with lay
Turn and serve the other way
zinc fish
– a “sacrificial anode.” Metals (e.g. your propeller) in salt water, experience a flow of electrical current. The slow removal of metal is called “electrolysis”. Zinc is used as it has a higher voltage in the water so the current will tend to flow from it than from your props.
beasts of weather and water conditions:
dog days, ox-eye, mackerel scales, mares’ tails, white horses…
other waterborne beasts:
frogma, peconic puffin, the beagle project, the horse’s mouth (if any otters I missed, please do drop a lion.)
Look here for a beautiful post of hardworking animals here on the USCGC Escanaba!
Thank you, again for everyone’s help! drawings will be added, and please report any missing strays. Thank you!
the Schooners of New York Harbor
Overheard on VHF, on two different occasions:
- “Princess to the sailing boat, Adirondack coming out of Chelsea Piers.”
“Adirondack to the Princess, we’re at North Cove, going south. You want the Imagine.”
“Sorry.”
- “Adirondack, by the Statue, this is the tug and barge coming up on your stern…”
No response. It is not the Adirondack, but the Pioneer at the old buoy 31 (now 35), with no other schooner in sight…
What ship is that?
Well, should the old girl not readily show you her derrière bearing her escutcheon (plate with the boat’s name), below are some of the schooners (et al) of NYHarbor, drawn more or less to proportional scale, with some identifying marks, so you can call her by name:
Schooner Pioneer:
Built: 1885, in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
Docked at: Pier 16
Material: Steel Hull, Iron Frames
Length: 102 ft.
Breadth: 22 ft.
Draft: 4.5 ft. (w/centerboard up) 12 ft. (w/centerboard down)
Mast Height: 76.6 ft.
Sail Area: 2,737 sq. ft.
Passenger Capacity: 35
It’s very easy to spot the Pioneer: look for the orange jimbuoy at the stern. She has a beautiful bow, one of the classiest in the harbor—a clipper bow— with a proper martingale permanently cocked to starboard from a docking mishap. Black hull and masts, white booms and gaffs, wooden bowsprit.
Her topsail is the grimy-est sail you would ever be called upon to hoist, redolent of grey-brown subway rats’ pelt. It’s only brought out in very light winds and training sails. Pioneer also has a fisherman’s sail, stretched from foremast to mainmast— also a vanity sail— taken out only when the crew clamor to learn how to set it.
Schooner Lettie G. Howard:
Built: 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts
Docked at: Pier 16 (update: now at Mystic Seaport, CT)
Material: Wood hull, masts, spars
Length: 125.4 ft. / 38.22 m
Breadth: 21.1 ft. / 6.43
Draft: 10.6 ft. / 3.23
Sail Area: 5,072 sq. ft.
Crew: 7-9
Lettie, named after this seamstress, is lovely: a forest green with topsides, booms, and blocks all a buttery yellow. Look for the notch midships. I know this notch well: on the first day of my first Lettie trip, racing towards the Georges Bank, I would prop my head in this notch (only while offwatch, of course) and vomit. Wooden masts, white bowsprit.
Lettie is so shipshape I believe even her baggywrinkle is drycleaned periodically.
Schooner Adirondack:
Built: 1994, Scarano Boat, Albany, NY
Docked at: Chelsea Piers
Material: Douglas Fir , cedar, teak, and mahogany.
Length: 80 ft
Draft : 8.6 ft.
Sail Area – 2,000 sq. ft.
Passenger Capacity: 49 passengers
Adirondack’s signature telltale marks: the plumb stem and the canoe stern. White hull, bowsprit, booms, gaffs & masts.
American pilot schooner Imagine: (now renamed Adirondack III)
Docked at: Chelsea Piers
Built: 1997, Scarano Boat
Length: 78 feet
Passenger Capacity: 49 passenger
White hull, trim, bowsprit, booms, gaffs & masts of Port Orford Cedar.
Sloop Clearwater:
Docked at: 79th st Boat Basin
Length: 106 ft
Mast Height: 108 ft.
Sail Area: 4,305 sq. ft.
Clearwater is green-hulled with thick black trim, black masts, and has a huge white boom, white bowsprit. Very rare is her large tiller, carved in the shape of a fist. One person might be able to steer her dead ahead, but it takes several crewmembers to turn the boat.
Schooner Shearwater:
Built: 1929, Rice Brothers Shipyard, East Boothbay, Maine
Docked at: North Cove
Materials: Wood; Teak, Mahogany, Native White Oak Georgia Pine
Length: 82.5 ft
Beam: 16.5 ft
Draft: 10 ft
Mast Height: 85 ft
She’s still a schooner: Marconi rigged, not gaff like the others.
(More that I missed! artwork to come)
Schooner Clipper City
Docked at: Pier 17, NY
Sloop Ventura:
Docked at: North Cove, NY
Schooner Mary E.:
Docked at: City Island, NY
Schooner Liberty:
Docked at: Liberty Marina, Jersey City, NJ
Schooner Richard Robbins:
Docked at: Lincoln Harbor, Weehawken, NJ
These are some of the schooners that live here. Many friends come through: Mystic Whaler is here, at the 79th st Boat Basin, the A.J.Meerwald and the When & If, from NJ, and many others. If you are feeling the desire to own a fine schooner, this one is for sale: the Rosemary Ruth.
Photos here from Tugster. Great photos and writing on Frogma: go there and type in Rosemary Ruth and Schooner Ann!
towmasters
tugster
Bowsprite 
8 comments