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Just visiting
The 90-year old research vessel R/V Robert Gray is visiting New York City and tied up at North River Pier 25 for the winter. The 125-foot Gray began life in 1936 as an Army Corps of Engineers survey ship, served as an Army tug in the Aleutians in World War II and later was transferred to the USGS in 1970 before entering private ownership. She maintains many of her historical fittings. The Gray was acquired in 2024 by The Voyagers Club and is available for charter by research groups.
The crew is running hourly tours this month and will show all parts of the ship and give a detailed overview of the ships technical specifications and history. Information on signing up is on the Hudson River Park’s website. Pier 25 is the only spot on the North RIver and one of the few places in New York Harbor where historical ships can dock and be accessible to the public. Further in on Pier 25 and visible in the photo above is retired Coast Guard buoy tender Lilac, a permanent resident.
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Another black hull
The morning after the Coast Guard’s Penobscot Bay passed up the North River heading for ice breaking duty upriver, another black-hulled cutter came through. The buoy tender Katherine Walker, Keeper of the Harbor, headed north, perhaps to join ice breaking operations or to restore navigational marks knocked off station by ice flows, or both (or neither). Kate stopped at Lighted Buoy number 40 south of Constitution Island near Cold Spring and then continued on to reach Poughkeepsie by sundown. Wednesday morning finds her on the move again, heading north and passing Hyde Park. Meanwhile, Penobscot Bay is heading south towards her after spending Tuesday on ice patrol around Kingston and traveling nearly as far north as Hudson NY. Still no ice to be seen further south on the North River where warm temperatures brought pea soup fog on Wednesday morning.
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Ready to break the ice
Ice has not reached the North River in New York City yet this year, but further north on the Hudson some icebreaking operations have already begun. On Monday, Penobscot Bay, one of two 140–foot ice breakers based in Bayonne was heading upriver, still wearing her Christmas wreath below the wheelhouse and holly strung along the railing, to join the smaller 65-foot cutter Hawser to be ready to keep the channel open to Albany. By evening Penobscot Bay had reached Poughkeepsie while Hawser was docked in Albany. The other 140-footer, Sturgeon Bay, and the other local 65-footer Wire are both at the Bayonne base.
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Up with the sun
Reinauer’s Kristy Ann ATB, an 8-year old 4,400 HP tug paired with the 86,000 barrel 347-foot RTC 80 barge, was northbound on the North River Sunday morning, passing the Lincoln Tunnel vents with a New York Harbor products cargo bound for Albany. After anchoring overnight off Hyde Park, the unit continued on her way at sunrise Monday.
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Pushing rock
New York State Marine Highway’s 1977 vintage 1,200 HP tug Nathan G brought a set of hoppers loaded with stone down the North River on Saturday, passing the Bull Ferry condos in Guttenberg NJ. They were headed for the Bay Ridge flats where hoppers can be left at moorings and interchanged for onward delivery. As of Sunday morning, Nathan was at the Weeks Marine pier in Bayonne.
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Sunset cruise
The Kirby Cape Hatteras / DBL 81 ATB left anchorage north of the GWB at sundown on Friday and headed for the Upper Bay where I believe she is currently alongside the oil products tanker Ipanema Street which arrived from Spain overnight, perhaps lightering a cargo(?). This is the first time I have photographed Hatteras since summer 2024 but this unit has been running up the Hudson and anchoring on the North River between trips periodically this fall and winter.
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Making waves in the new year
Boston Marine Transport’s 4,200 HP tug Pinuccia came down the North River Friday with the light New York 30 tank barge, returning to the harbor from a New Year’s Day run up to Newburgh to deliver their first products cargo of 2026 up there. The brisk southwest wind was running against the tail end of the ebb tide and kicking up a a bit of swell in front of the barge.
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The visit of Linda Sue
FROM THE ARCHIVES: On New Year’s Eve 2023, Hays Tug and Launch’s Linda Sue arrived on the North River from the Delaware River with a Vane tank barge in tow astern. That was the first time I had seen Linda Sue. The tug and barge were around New York Harbor and on the North River periodically in the first few months of 2024 but I haven’t see her since then. Two years later, Linda Sue is currently underway off Virginia, heading from Norfolk to Galveston.
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New kid on the North River
In mid-December, Haugland Group LLC ’s newest tug Lily Anne came up the North River with a pair of hopper barges, passing the Lucy Reinauer at anchor with the 46,000 barrel tank barge RTC 42. Haugland acquired the 1981-vintage 1,800 HP former Weeks Marine tug earlier this year, adding a fourth tug to their fleet and this was the first time I have seen her on the North River. Lucy Reinauer is older, built in 1973, though like all of Reinauer’s older tugs she has been substantially modified and updated. Monday morning (today) finds Lily up at Haugland’s materials port facility in Tompkins Cove on the Rockland County side of Haverstraw Bay, while Lucy is at Reainauer’s Staten Island base.
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Demand and supply
The run up to Christmas saw heavy tanker barge traffic on the North River, perhaps reflecting in part the cold start to winter and consequent demand for heating fuel. Sunday Dec 21 saw Kirby ATB Mount St Elias/ DBL 82 come through with a loaded tank barge heading for Newburgh. In the photo they are passing Guttenberg, NJ and the anchored Stephen Reinauer/RTC 61. A week later, Mount St Elias is back in NY Harbor after making another run up to Newburgh mid-week. Stephen Reinauer is with a barge unloading at the Sprague terminal in Port Morris on the Bronx East River shoreline. Janice Ann Reinauer is the only unit at anchor on the North River today.
Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.
