The first day of May brought some notable arrivals and departures from the piers along the west side of Manhattan. Leaving early Monday was the Dutch frigate HNMLS Holland, which spent a few days tied up on the north side of Pier 90. She appeared to be heading for home to Europe after some months on station in the Dutch Caribbean.

Also having left at some point over the past few days was the GCS230 barge, which spends winters moored at Con Ed’s Pier 98 fuel dock. GCS230 was the last vessel afloat to have been built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and it spends winters tied up at Pier 98 storing back up number 4 oil for the 59th Street Steam Plant, which mainly burns natural gas but occasionally relies on oil during peak winter demand. GCS230’s departure is yet another reminder of the arrival of spring.

Genesis Energy’s tug Valiant also left town with its tanker barge on the wire, heading for sea and signaling a return to the Paulsboro Refinery on the Delaware. Valiant arrived on the Hudson Friday from Philly with a light barge. Friday night, they were down in the narrows, lightering a cargo from the tanker Pro Onyx, recently arrived from Amsterdam. After anchoring through the stormy weekend off Yonkers with the laden barge, they now appear to be heading home, with a cargo of European refined products heading for the mid-Atlantic market. Meanwhile, Pro Onyx has docked at the Shell terminal in Sewaren, presumably delivering the rest of the cargo to the New York Harbor market.

In the arrivals column was the brand new US Navy Littoral Combat Ship Cooperstown, docking at the south side of Pier 88 ahead of a commissioning ceremony scheduled for Saturday. A new Coast Guard cutter, the Warren Deyampert, also arrived. Deyampert was commissioned in Boston in March, and may be in town for the Cooperstown ceremony. They docked at the end of Pier 86, the Intrepid Museum pier.

Meanwhile, skies cleared Monday after two days of drenching rain, but the North River anchorages remained crowded as wind gusts above 40 knots continued to whip up seas on the Harbor.