Category: Uncategorized
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HMS Richmond at the pier
Monday brought the Jewish New Year and beautiful fall weather, with temperatures climbing into the 70s after a cool start. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond remained tied up on the south side of Pier 88. In the morning, sailors and an officer could be observed doing some kind of formal drill, raising and lowering…
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Rule, Britannia!
The Royal Navy arrived in New York Harbor Sunday, with the flagship aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth steaming in to host an Atlantic Future Forum on board. The carrier was accompanied by the frigate HMS Richmond, which came up the North River to dock at Pier 88 as the carrier anchored in the Upper Bay.…
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Saturday morning with a barge fire
Beautiful cool fall conditions persisted Saturday, with light winds out of the west punctuated by occasional gusts. Commercial traffic was heavy and a small fire on a paper recycling barge at Pier 99 brought FDNY Marine units to the scene. The fire was quickly extinguished, but five DSNY employees reported minor injuries (see article in…
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Autumn arrives
Autumn rolled in with a fast moving storm, but overcast skies gave way to beautiful conditions with 15 knot winds out of the northwest. The UN meetings continued but, with the main events behind us and the President back in Washington, some of the security measures seemed reduced. Coast Guard Cutter Beluga left the FDNY…
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Presidential address
President Biden addressed the UN General Assembly Wednesday, snarling traffic on the East Side and periodically blocking the East River, but North River traffic was fairly typical. USCGC Sturgeon Bay continued to keep a watchful eye on the West Side from its anchorage off 96th Street as motorcades zipped along the Henry Hudson Parkway, and…
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Security, security, security
Beautiful late-fall conditions prevailed Tuesday after Monday’s line of storms, with winds around 10 knots out of the west. Security was tight on land and on the rivers as the UN Meetings kicked off and ahead of President Biden’s visit Wednesday. The Coast Guard 140 foot ice breaking tug Sturgeon Bay was stationed in the…
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A storm in the afternoon
Monday was hot and hazy, with storms coming through in the afternoon. Commercial traffic observed was mainly concentrated in tanker barges. Dean Reinauer came up from the Arthur Kill and anchored in the North River with a loaded barge, which is not typical (usually anchoring barges are light). The periodic closures of the East River…
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Perfect Sunday
Sunday brought near perfect conditions, with steady 10 knot breezes from the southwest making for excellent sailing. The cruise terminal was hopping, with three boats at the docks and dredging continuing in between. The tug Sarah Dann joined the dredging operations, having just arrived in New York Harbor this past week escorting the newest Staten…
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Mystery pollutant
Beautiful weather extended into the weekend, but serenity on the River was somewhat marred Friday afternoon by a strange armada of white cubes which travelled up the estuary on the flood tide. At a distance this appeared to be a huge collection of styrofoam floating in, but on closer examination the cubes were made up…
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And the days go by…
A clear and slightly cooler week has followed the weekend rain. Busy times on land and shorter days means less chance to get on the River and watch the traffic. Vessels observed in recent days were all North River regulars.
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Gridlock alert
Activity on the River remains rather light as we start the week with clearing skies and hotter temperatures. The cruise terminal remains busy, however, with the Norwegian Getaway arriving and dredging operations continuing. The Lincoln Sea with her very large barge remains anchored off 72nd Street going on one week now, implying some special extended…
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Weekend update and a somber anniversary
The weekend passed with pleasant but hot weather on Friday and Saturday followed by rain without thunder on Sunday. Commercial activity picked up Sunday evening but was otherwise light. The cruise terminal was busy though, with Carnival Magic in on Friday, three boats visiting Saturday and a final Royal Norwegian boat here on Sunday, with…
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Dredge baby, dredge
In perhaps another sign that summer is drawing to a close and the heavy August flow of cruise ships into New York is set to abate, the dredgers were back at work at Pier 88 Thursday. A smaller cruise ship did arrive Thursday morning, however. With Pier 88 out of action, the Seven Seas Navigator…
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Brooklyn Break
A day away from the North River and visiting Brooklyn provided a bit of a different perspective on activity in New York Harbor. While parks and recreation have also come to dominate much of the Brooklyn waterfront, there are still pockets of commercial and industrial activity, much more so than we see along the Hudson…
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Back to work, in the rain
The end of the long weekend and the first unofficial (non-astronomical) day of autumn brought soaking rains to the region. Morning found Dann Marine’s unusually designed pusher tug the Chesapeake Coast anchored in the River off 72nd Street with a tanker barge. This tug is seen on the River sometimes, but usually running light with…
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Labor Day: Loaded and light
Labor Day was a day off for many of us on land, but tugboat crews were hard at work, with tanker traffic fairly heavy. Evelyn Cutler began the morning anchored off Edgewater after seemingly loading a barge at Bayonne’s IMTT overnight. Tugs with loaded barges normally do not anchor in the River, but perhaps the…
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Uncommon visitors
Labor Day weekend Sunday saw many New Yorkers out of town, but on the River some less-frequent visitors were in evidence. The tugboat Hercules, normally based in Florida, came south from Verplanck with a former landing craft now known as West Bay, heading for Florida. A bit of research on the navsource.org website tells us…
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Catching up
The final days of August and first days of September brought a bit of a lull in activity, both on land and on the River. Most of the commercial traffic has been moving stone rather than fuels, though the cruise terminal has been quite busy, which is good for Centerline Logistics’ bunkering business. On Saturday…
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Midweek roundup
Tuesday and Wednesday brought moderate temperatures, and building westerly winds which made for great sailing up and down the river by Wednesday afternoon. Activity in the city and on the River was subdued in the run up to Labor Day weekend. A pair of Reinauer tugs and the Patrice McCalister were at anchor on the…
North River Notes 