Veterans « tugster: a waterblog

PC 1264 - a subchaser - was built by Consolidated - which now is a yacht yard on Pilot Street, City Island.   My father's sub chaser was built by Luders in Stamford.  The remains of PC 1264 are sunk on Staten Island.  Tugster has the story.
Veterans « tugster: a waterblog:

'via Blog this'

Tugster: Blog for 'Sixth Borough,' the Waterfront - NYTimes.com

Tugster: Blog for 'Sixth Borough,' the Waterfront - NYTimes.com

Finally - recognition for the work of Will VanDorp - Tugster - for whom every ship and every tide brings a new sense of wonder about the harbor.   And fter you check out Tugster, go to his pen and ink counterpart - Bowsprite

Issuma: low bridge, everybody down - northbound on the Erie Canal

Issuma threaded its way - the wrong way - northbound in October - on the Erie Canal.  When we were kids we learned the Erie Canal song - Low Bridge - Everybody Down.  HERE it is. 


Tugster and Bowsprite were there

 And why not hear Suzanne Vega pay tribute to that good old mule Sal.

Good design: Portsmouth Lobster boats

Lobster boats, Portsmouth - 2009. Thanks to Tugster

Henry Hudson landed at the St. George River

Tugster posed the question: where is this? I said to myself - Caldwell and Gay Islands in the St. George River. But then I said - oh, could be any one of several hundred spots in the Gulf of Maine archipelago. Well lo, and behold, it is the St. George, and it is Cushing - though I couldn't say with confidence which spot. But why be shy? I say - this shot is taken from Stones Point Road on Pleasant Point Gut looking south.

Turns out Henry Hudson landed on the St. George in 1609 on his way to discovering the North River. Hi mission was to replace a foremast lost at sea. Allen Island is the best candidate for that - its magnificent tall stand of trees still thrives. I had no idea Half Moon had landed there.

I knew, of course that Waymouth's first anchorage in 1605 was George's Harbor - the protected cove formed by Allen, Benner, Davis & Burnt Islands. That, of course is where Maine and New England were founded, by common consensus - marked by the stone cross erected there in 1905 for the Tricentennial. (more shots in this post).

And of course I knew that Waymouth was the first to make a claim of right of possession (w/o just cause) in what we now call New England. And he made it in Thomaston, an event this bronze plaque commemorates.

Why wood

Beauty and functionality are two answers.

I'll let Tugster do the talking and the photography. HERE is his spread taken at the Wooden Boat Festival in Mystic, this past weekend - sponsored by Woodenboat.

Above are a rowboat from tugster, and a shot from the dock at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Canvasback. A 100 y.o. (with all original planks!) 48 foot "commuter boat". Wait, I want to go to work that way too.

Breaking ice up river

Meanwhile, back on the Hudson river, up north there's plenty of ice.

Here are 12 Bridge's shots, taken from the tug Cornell on icebreaking and other duties.

Tugster - NY Harbor man

The Sixth Borough is the harbor, says the blogger who calls himself Tugster. 

I have taken a lot of pictures of tugs and barges - from North River 2 mostly -  but  Tugster has made it an avocation.  

Based in Staten Island he is well situated for his observations.  His interest reminds me of the days when the Times daily showed scheduled sailings and arrivals of steamships, and described their cargo.

The bridge is the Bayonne Bridge,and the Coast Guard ship is the buoy tender Ida Lewis.

The first and last of these shots are mine, the others are Tugster's.  I expect to come back to his site.  It's got lots of good shots - like the salt depot, barges, and cranes that I'll probably do as a post.

So check out TUGSTER