Watching Margaret Moran assist the small Polar cruise ship Silver Cloud leave Pier 88 Tuesday evening reminded me of a photo I took in the mid-1980s of that same tug assisting the old QE2 leaving the same pier. I have posted this picture before in Back to the 80s but this is a good excuse to once again share what is most certainly the first photo I ever took of North River shipping.

Modern cruise ships use rotating propulsion pods and do not need tug assistance leaving the pier, so Margaret spends most of her time in the approaches and docks of Elizabeth, Newark and Bayonne, assisting container ships and bulkers, and rarely coming up the North River. Silver Cloud is an older ship, built in 1994, and, though upgraded to face Antarctic conditions, she requires assistance entering and leaving the pier.

This version of the QE2, meanwhile, has retired and is currently a floating hotel in Dubai. Cunard has a new ship known as Queen Elizabeth (no number), who serves alongside Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Anne.

While we are on the theme of “then and now”, I can add a photo that I wanted to include in my Back to the 1960s—fireboat special post but could not because I hadn’t taken it until today. Below is one of the photos of the barge fire from the family collection taken in 1965 by my mother, and next to it is the same view taken Wednesday. How many differences can you find? I will also update the original post with this photo.

Meanwhile, Wednesday brought beautiful conditions and some interesting river traffic.