November 12th, 2008 · CommentsIntrepid+Re-Opened+for+Business2008-11-11+22%3A30%3A30mike
New York’s Intrepid Air & Space Museum officially re-opened for business on Saturday for the first time since September 31, 2006. The grand opening on Saturday morning was marked by a ceremonial ribbon cutting attended by: George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company; Connie Fishman, CEO of Hudson River Park Trust; Intrepid officials and former crewmembers. An evening fireworks display was scheduled across the Hudson River. In a symbolic “salute” to the Intrepid, the amphibious assault ship, USS Bataan (LHD 5), along with more than 1,000 Sailors and Marines, arrived in New York last week to be on hand for the festivities.
The entire project – which also included the complete rebuilding of Pier 86, the refurbishment of 16 historic aircraft on board, the redesigning and installation of a new Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and an inside-and-out paint job for the 65-year-old aircraft carrier – cost approximately $115 million and took less than two years. [Continue Reading →]
September 2nd, 2008 · Comments2008+NYC+Tugboat+Race+-+Photo%27s+and+Video2008-09-02+11%3A13%3A54mike
As we reported last week, this past weekend was the 16th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition organized by the Working Harbor Committee, and once again it failed to disappoint. The competition went on without a hitch with a total of 29 participating. Looks like it was a beautiful summer day on the Hudson seems like a good time was had all around.
Unofficial results announced Sunday state that Ross Sea won the race but we are still waiting on official results to be released which might not be until later this week. Bernard Ente of the Working Harbor Committee tells us:
Results will take a few days to tabulate. Every boat runs against the clock as well as a handicap for size/weight/power. Some captains are playfully objecting to the unofficial results announced yesterday. Bragging rights in the harbor are important! So we have to wait for the official papers.
Bernard is also the photographer for the Working Harbor Committee and provided us with these great photos and video below. Enjoy!
Tugs Catherine C Miller and Susan Miller proudly wave the red, white and blue on the Hudson.
Tug Dorothy Elizabeth powers through the water. Even the New York Fire Department showed up to put on a show for onlookers.
Tugs race down the harbor for bragging rights for the year ahead.
Dorothy Elizabeth and Pegasus square up for the bow to bow push, a crowd favorite. [Continue Reading →]
We have just received some more information from the Working Harbor Committee on this weekends 16th Annual New York Tugboat Race and sounds like it is really shaping up to be a great event with lot’s of fun things to watch. We did post an entry on the competition last week, but just to reiterate on what it is in case you missed it I have provided this brief description:
The New York Tugboat Race is an annual contest held every August in the Hudson River for working tugboats. The contest includes competitions such as a 1 nautical mile race, a line throwing contest and the exciting bow to bow pushing contest. The race is organized by the Working Harbor Committee, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to spreading the word about the rich history, current vitality and future potential of the New York/New Jersey Harbor.
The following was submitted to us by the Working Harbor Committee’s Bernard Ente, Steering Committee Member. He tells us:
We have 22 tugs in the event as of last night (Thursday).
The newest of the tugs is Andrew McAllister, a 95-foot, 6,000-horsepower tractor tug making her New York Harbor debut. She is said to be the boat to beat.
Pegasus will be returning to harbor service after a five-year restoration. Now a fully operating museum vessel, Pegasus will be helmed by her long-time captain, Pamela Hepburn, one of the first women tugboat captains in U.S.
Other competitors will include the South Street Seaport Museum’s 47-foot W.O. Decker, 107 year-old Urger, the flagship of the New York State Canal System, and several modern working tugs operated by Reinauer Transportation, K-Sea Transportation, Vinik Marine, Henry Marine Service, Bren Transportation, Miller’s Tugs and Barges and the U.S. Coast Guard.
We should be receiving the entire parade roster shortly and will post it in an update as soon as we have it. For now, we look forward to Sunday’s event and receiving photos and stories from our readers that can be submitted to tips@gcaptain.com.
On Sunday, August 31 is the 16th Annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition held at Pier 84 on the Hudson River. I know last year this event was a big hit and we look forward to it again this year. Below is a description of the event from nyc.gov.
Tugboats from all of the tug and towing companies in New York Harbor, as well as historic tugboats, will motor into Pier 84 for the Great North River Tugboat Race and Challenge. The event kicks off with a parade of tugboats from Pier 84 to the race start line near the 79th Street Basin.
The tugboats will then race one nautical mile back to Pier 84. Awards will be presented to each class of boats, broken down by total horsepower. Following the race there will be a bow to bow pushing contest and a line throwing contest, in which deck hands will attempt to lasso a bollard and tie off in the fastest time possible. There will also be a contest to determine the best decorated tug.
Spectators can purchase tickets to view all the festivities from fireboat John J. Harvey, which will depart from Pier 83 and will offer the closest viewing of the action. Free viewing is also available at Pier 84.
For more information on this and other fun events, visit the Working Harbor Committee website HERE.
Although originally from the NYC area, gCaptain works out of California so we are sorry to say we won’t be able to make it, but if any readers out there do attend, we would love to from you. Email us at tips@gCaptain.com
June 25th, 2008 · CommentsThe+Failure+Of+A+Captain+-+Maritime+History2008-06-25+21%3A21%3A04tim
The General Slocum was a steamship that set sail in 1891. She caught fire wile traveling down New York’s East River on June 15, 1904. The Captain of the General Slocum, Captain Van Schaick, made a number of critical mistakes that led to the tragic loss of more than 1,000 lives. Up until the events of September 11, 2001 it was the deadliest disaster in New York City’s history.
The events that led to this tragedy were avoidable and fall directly on the worst Captains in Maritime history. The blunders of this (add expletive here) Captain stand as test a guideline of what not to do as a ship Captain.
Failure to address a History of Incidents
The General Slocum had been involved in seven different incidents leading up to the tragic fire of June 15, 1094.
Failure to Prepare
Captain Van Schiack did not respond to the fire until more then ten minutes after the fire had been discovered despite being warned.
Failure to adequately train crew and maintain safety gear
Failure to prepare ship for Fire Emergency
The crew of The Slocum had never had a fire drill. In addition,
Captain Van Schaick he did not demand that hoses and faulty lifejackets be replaced.
Failure to Respond Decision-making
Captain Van Schaick badly mishandled the situation. He decided to continue his course rather than run the ship aground or stop at a nearby landing. By going into headwinds and failing to immediately ground the vessel, he actually fanned the fire.
To make matters worse, when Schaick finally beached the boat at North Brother Island he found he couldn’t get in as close as he wanted. “He caught a rock and people on the stern were actually in water that was substantially over their head,” says O’Donnell. For people who didn’t know how to swim the water might as well have been a thousand feet deep. www.failuremag.com
*Captain Van Schaick was found guilty of criminal negligence, failing to maintain proper fire drills and fire extinguishers. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
May 26th, 2008 · CommentsIncident+Photo+Of+The+Week+-+Norwegian+Spirit2008-05-26+17%3A58%3A37John
Yesterday the passengers of the cruise ship Norwegian Spirit were, as the Daily News headline reads, “Cruising For A Bruising”, yesterday as the ship allided with New York City’s Pier 88. Click HERE for details.
January 15th, 2008 · CommentsPrison+Ships2008-01-15+16%3A40%3A28John
On the East River approximately one mile west of SUNY Maritime College sits the Vernon C. Bain a prison barge used to help solve overcrowding problem at Riker’s Island, the world’s largest penal colony. This floating correctional facility is however, not unique. Subtopia tells us:
The deeper I get into it, the more I realize an entire book could probably be written about the subject of floating prisons -– and who knows, maybe in another dream one day I’ll write it –- (there is probably already some magnificent mini opus out there that I have — for at least the time being — overlooked) but for now, let’s just settle for a quick and dirty Googleized survey.
Click HERE for the full article that contains many interesting photos.
Cunard’s one-time-only royal rendezvous of its three queens — the QE2, QM2 and recently christened Queen Victoria — will be celebrated at 7 p.m. on January 13 with a harbor fireworks show as the three grand cruise liners meet near the Statue of Liberty.
The QE2 and Queen Victoria will arrive in tandem (likely pre-sunrise) from Southampton, England. During the day, the QE2 will be docked at Manhattan’s Pier 92 and the Queen Victoria nearby at Pier 88. The Queen Mary 2 will arrive separately (also early morning,) and dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
The New York Times has reported on the festivities. They write:
In the annals of maritime history, the Queens’ sailing was momentous. It was the first time in the 168-year history of the Cunard Line, the owner of the liners, that it had three ships named after British queens in the same port at the same time. The company arranged the ships’ schedules so that they departed from New York City ports simultaneously.
The Queens’ meeting, witnessed by thousands on shore and on board, will also be their last, company officials said.
“They are not programmed to meet in any other port,” Cunard’s president, Carol Marlow, said during an afternoon news conference at Pier 88 in Manhattan, with the docked Queen Victoria visible in background. “This is a spine-tingling time.”
The Queen Elizabeth 2, Cunard’s longest-serving ship, left Manhattan for its 26th and final around-the-world journey — a farewell tour that will usher in its retirement in November, when the liner will become a floating hotel in Dubai. The Queen Victoria, which came into service last month, embarked on its maiden world cruise. And the Queen Mary 2, the largest trans-Atlantic liner ever built, weighing about 151,400 gross tons, sailed to the Caribbean from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
September 25th, 2007 · Commentsfor+sale%3A+one+slightly+used+orange+ferry2007-09-26+04%3A56%3A55John
Fred Fry brings us news of a slightly used Staten Island Ferry up for sale. No takers yet but we have high hopes for our orange friend. Read more on this story HERE.
September 5th, 2007 · CommentsThe+Race+Is+On+-+NYC+Tugboat+Photos2007-09-05+14%3A02%3A47John
“They get to show off their stuff,” that was the response NYC Harbor Committee Chairman, Captain Doswell, gave the New York Times in response to the question “Why the tug captains enjoy the race so much?” He followed the statement up with this statement: “Just as state fairs have tractor pulls, we have the bow-to-bow pushing challenge, Two boats meet, and at a signal one tries to push the other”
We missed the event but do have some amazing pictures to show you.
Get your engines ready. The tugs line up at the starting line just South of the George Washington Bridge in preparation for their one mile sprint down the Hudson River.
Dorothy Elizabeth v. two Miller Launch tugs (Susan Miller and Catherine Miller) at once with Time-Warner towers and Hearst Tower in background… Tugster
One day a year, the tugboat industry dresses up its hardworking vessels and parades them before judges, showing off fresh paint jobs, displaying horsepower in nose-to-nose pushing competitions and a one-mile sprint up the Hudson. Tug operators play rodeo cowboys, demonstrating their skill by roping a cleat from a moving vessel coming toward a dock.
And those are the earnest categories. Equally coveted are the trophies for best tugboat pet and best dressed crew, best crewmember tattoo (that can be legally displayed) and best mascot.
The event’s lightheartedness in no way means it is not taken seriously. Reinauer compares it to a tractor pull, and anyone who’s ever been through the middle of the country knows how the heartland loves its diesel. He wouldn’t be surprised if a crewmember had gotten a tattoo specifically for the competition. “I don’t know that for a fact, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Some of the tattoos are really ornate and pretty unique.” Keep Reading…
