As the weather turns colder, I turn less and less interested in commercial river traffic. I just didn't have the patience to sit outside and wait for tugs to pass -- there were really only two species anyway -- the Moran tugs and the Bouchard Boats. So until Dairy River gets its own blog, and while I still am not that interested in livejournal as a serious mode of publishing, I think I'll just use this to memorialize my various thoughts.

To tie up loose ends for the sake of completeness: I couldn't find much information on Captain Jan Porel. Here are the critical dates: the tug was built in Savannah, GA in 1965 by Diamond Manufacturing Company. I was able to find some information about one Jan Porel. According to Social Security Records, a Jan Porel was born in 1893 in New York and passed away in Boynton Beach, FL in 1965. I was able to find a magazine article for sale on EBAY by a Jan Porel which was published in 1932 called, "Celestial Modernism in the Banks of China" and described the slow transition from traditional banks to "modern" banks in pre-communist China. According to the article, Porel was a water-colorist and architectural designer who at one time worked on the Empire State Building, but by the time that this article was published, was working his way across Asia sketching and writing about banks. The Empire State Building was started in 1930 and finished in 1931. In 1931, Mr. Porel would have been 38. His piece on Chinese banking was published just one year later. The trail runs cold there. It seems there are three possibilities. First, the boat was named after another Jan Porel. Second, early in life Jan Porel was a shipcaptain -- perhaps in World War I. This leaves open why Diamond Manufacturing would name a ship after him in the 1960s. Third, Jan Porel happened to become friends later in life with people at Diamond Manufacturing (perhaps on his voyage to Asia) and after he passed, they decided in his honor they'd name a ship after him. Interesting.

Herein concludes ship content for this blog. Unless I can find out more information about Jan Porel. Look for content about random things coming soon.

As the weather turns colder, I turn less and less interested in commercial river traffic. I just didn't have the patience to sit outside and wait for tugs to pass -- there were really only two species anyway -- the Moran tugs and the Bouchard Boats. So until Dairy River gets its own blog, and while I still am not that interested in livejournal as a serious mode of publishing, I think I'll just use this to memorialize my various thoughts.

To tie up loose ends for the sake of completeness: I couldn't find much information on Captain Jan Porel. Here are the critical dates: the tug was built in Savannah, GA in 1965 by Diamond Manufacturing Company. I was able to find some information about one Jan Porel. According to Social Security Records, a Jan Porel was born in 1893 in New York and passed away in Boynton Beach, FL in 1965. I was able to find a magazine article for sale on EBAY by a Jan Porel which was published in 1932 called, "Celestial Modernism in the Banks of China" and described the slow transition from traditional banks to "modern" banks in pre-communist China. According to the article, Porel was a water-colorist and architectural designer who at one time worked on the Empire State Building, but by the time that this article was published, was working his way across Asia sketching and writing about banks. The Empire State Building was started in 1930 and finished in 1931. In 1931, Mr. Porel would have been 38. His piece on Chinese banking was published just one year later. The trail runs cold there. It seems there are three possibilities. First, the boat was named after another Jan Porel. Second, early in life Jan Porel was a shipcaptain -- perhaps in World War I. This leaves open why Diamond Manufacturing would name a ship after him in the 1960s. Third, Jan Porel happened to become friends later in life with people at Diamond Manufacturing (perhaps on his voyage to Asia) and after he passed, they decided in his honor they'd name a ship after him. Interesting.

Herein concludes ship content for this blog. Unless I can find out more information about Jan Porel. Look for content about random things coming soon.

The information was able to find relate to a number of magazine articles by a Jan Porel about China in the 1930s. It's possible that Mr. Porel was a sea captain of a literary bent and came back from Asia and published his observations. Although, the scant biographical info in the article indicates that Porel was a watercolor artist and architectural designer from New York City who worked on the Empire State Building. Must be a different Porel. Perhaps Porel's father was Captain Porel.

Tying up some loose ends. Its pretty nasty outside today, I doubt that I am going to go shipspotting. Although, I should note that I did see North River earlier this week, on my morning walk to work. I waved. No response.

But "Turecamo Girls" who I saw maybe two weeks ago now. I'm sort of interested in the custom in the tug-industry of naming tugboats individually and in combination. For example, Moran tugs has a whole family of Turecamos:

1) Carly A. Turecamo
2) Barney Turecamo
3) Scott Turecamo
4) Jean Turecamo
5) Joan Turecamo
6) Brendan Turecamo
7) Mary Turecamo
8) Katherine Turecamo
9) Kimberly Turecamo
10) Marie Turecamo
11) Kathleen Turecamo
12) James Turecamo
13) Bart Turecamo
14) Elizabeth Turecamo
15) Robert B. Turecamo
16) Christopher B. Turecamo
17) Cynthia Turecamo
18) Peter G. Turecamo
19) Mary Loy Turecamo
20) John Turecamo
21) Michael Turecamo
22) Greg Turecamo

and then collectively: Turecamo Girls and Turecamo Boys.

Now, before we get into who exactly the Turecamos are, a little info about Turecamo Girls, the boat that I actually saw. According to Colton Company's great repository for shipbuilding data, Turecamo Girls was actually built by Diamond Manufacturing of Savannah, GA in 1965 and was originally named the Capt. Jan Porel. This raises the additional questions of 1) Who is Capt. Jan Porel, and 2) what is the deal with Diamond Shipbuilding. But first, again, who are the Turecamos? These questions I will address later.

Some honest-to-goodness maritime news out of Roosevelt Island. A Weeks Marine Barge got loose across from Rockefeller University earlier on this June. I know, this is old news. I just got around to reading the WIRE yesterday when cleaning the apartment. See the pics direct from the WIRE .

Also, the WIRE had some useful information about those buoys in the West Channel. I had done some digging last week and found that Weeks Marine was preparing to work on the 63rd Street Subway Tunnel. But all reports indicated that they were "conducting operations" in the East Channel. Which may be true, I don't get down there that often. Also, the buoys are upstream of 63rd street. Although, just like in highway construction, you put up barriers well before the actual construction, the same theory might be applicable here. According to the Coast Guard:

Weeks Marine is conducting operations in the East Channel of the East River between the Queensboro Bridge and Roosevelt Island Bridge until
approximately August 31, 2006. The hours of operation are 0700 to 1700, using a spud barge and support vessel. This portion of the East River is
CLOSED TO ALL TRAFFIC during the period of May 17, 2006 thru August 31, 2006 except for commercial vessels making deliveries to the Keyspan
Ravenswood facility. Mariners are advised to plan accordingly and transit the area with caution using the West Channel. All work vessels will be lit
and remain on scene overnight.

I'm also continuously fascinated by the infrastructure of the city -- parts of the city not used, but could possibly be used, for transportation. Closed subway stations. There may be a parallel to general HOUSE thinking and innovation here. It's unclear. But I was only somewhat surprised to learn that there is an unused track behind the platform wall of the 63rd Street and Lex F-station. Apparently, the 63rd Street station was completed around the time when the 2nd Avenue line was first contemplated. So, they made the station fully integrateable with that line, even though it has never come to fruition. Also, there is a plan to connect the LIRR to Grand Central, instead of its normal terminus at Penn Station. It will apparently use a second unused line below the subway tracks in the 63rd Street tunnel. Crazy!

I can tell that this is going to get seriously backlogged. Waterlogged even. There are a number of topics still left over from last week: namely (1) The Port Authority (2) The Turacamo Girls and (3) the other boats I saw last weekend and later on this week.

I'm not entirely sure how in depth I can get about the Port Authority without reading this book . It looks excellent. To elaborate briefly from last week, the Port Compact of 1921 established "The Port District" which is 1,500 square miles encompassing New York and New Jersey, within which, the proceeds of tolls are used to undertake various projects of infrastructure, such as the Port Authority Bus Terminal etc.

One remarkable thing was that the Outerbridge Crossing was named not for geographic positioning. I had always thought that its remote location from New York City was the source of its name: it connects Perth Amboy, NJ and Staten Island. On the drive up to New York from DC, Outerbridge was the signal that we were getting into metropolitan NY. In reality though, the bridge was named after the first commissioner (or possibly, one of the six commissioners) was Eugenius Outerbridge. Apparently Outerbridge had started a company that produced fiberboard. How he got involved with the Port Authority, I have no idea.

One final note: the name Perth Amboy remains one of my favorite geographical names. Apparently, the settlement is quite old: it dated back to 1651. The Amboy part comes from an Algonquin word that means "valley" -- Ompoge. Ompoge -> Emboyle -> Amboyle -> Ambo -> Amboy Point -> Amboy. Perth was added when the town was named the capital of East Jersey. Yes, New Jersey once was two separate staes: East and West Jersey. James Drummond, the first Duke of Perth was its second namesake.

1) "Turecamo Girls" -- Google actually helped me out on this one -- it was originally reported as "turecano girls" -- that retrieved no hits. But Google, eager and helpful in a way that only true robots can be, suggested "Turecamo." I dragged Libbeth with me yesterday for a short ship-spotting foray before walking down to see The Coasters (of 'Yakkity Yak') fame perform as a triumphant finale of Roosevelt Island Day, but it was actually rather chilly, so conditions were not ideal. Turecamo Girls was heading downriver pushing either Sea Horse I or II. It was difficult to tell.

Anyways, it was part of the Moran fleet. I really like the Moran website . It is simple, decidedly nautical, and definitely ahead of the game in the graphical display of information (note the organization by location and color-coding of type of boat). Turocamo Girls is a twin-screw 1,950 HP tug based out of the Port of New York, New Jersey.

As an initial matter, (before turning to the Turocamo Girls more fully) it is interesting to note that the Port of New York is located in New Jesey. I arrived in New York confused about the whole Port Authority deal. I mean, Port Authority was the bus station? But how? So, this is wild and requires examination in further detail, but New York and New Jersey signed a treaty in 1921 called "the Port Compact" where the new authority would have "full power and authority" to over any terminal or transportation facility within the "Port District."

Right now, I need to go to sleep but more on (1) The Port Authority (2) The Turacamo Girls and (3) the other boats I saw this weekend later on this week.

I started this venture last Saturday, June 4th, 2006. It was a Sunday afternoon and unfortunately I did not see too much true commercial traffic. Mostly pleasure boats and cruise boats. I saw the following:

1) NY Waterways, Empire State. I saw this one twice -- once when it was going downriver and once when it was coming back up. It was very full on its downriver trip but I think empty when it was coming back up. Ironically, the NY Waterways, Empire State is docked out of New Jersey. According to its website, NY Waterways was founded in 1986 by one Arthur E. Imperatore and family, although the use of ferries in New York harbor can be traced back to the 1800s. They run excursions as well as ferry service. Imperatore was a short-haul trucking magnate until he turned his attention to ferries, at a time when there had not been a ferry service in New York harbor for twenty years. Apparently the School of Arts and Sciences at Stevens Tech is named affter him.

I think most interesting was his plan for a Venice-on-the-Hudson between West New York and Weehawken. I'd like to get the original plans. It seems to me, that after a number of false starts and financial perils, it finally got off the ground. The whole thing is called "Port Imperial" and its tied in to the new ferry terminal owned by NY Waterways of same name. From what I've seen though, the developments look hardly venetian. They just looks like townhouses and apartment complexes on the water.

2) The Skyline Princess . This thing was seriously topheavy. According to their website, "Whether you are arranging a party for four or four hundred, the Skyline Princess is your perfect choice. We exceed your expectations - not your budget." Has anyone ever rented out the Skyline Princess for a party of four? Would the staff of the Skyline Princess really think that this is normal. What's worse is that I'm sure they'd have to pretend people did it all of the time. Entirely normal. It looks like they are based out of Flushing: the World's Fair Marina .

Robert Moses , commissioner of NYC Parks and then President of the World's Fair, waxing on the philosophy of infrastructure, said "but what finally remains in the ground when the pageant has faded…and the park planners have gone to work is of more concern to the next generation than any spectacle, however gorgeous." Moses left an indelible fingerprint on New York City -- at one time he had twelve positions at the same time (at both the state and the local levels). He was instrumental in the construction of the Triborough Bridge, the Throgs Neck, the Whitestone, and the Verrazono Bridges, as well as the Belt Parkway, the BQE and the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Scrapped projects include a bridge that would have spanned the Sound between Long Island and Rye in West Chester (which may have been a good idea) and also a bridge in place of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (which was a horrible idea). According to some sources, Moses, upset that FDR had caused the Navy to exert its veto power against the project, retaliated by dismantling the Aquarium that had been located inside Castle Clinton (a fort, which was originally an island in New York Harbor, but was engulfed by Manhattan by landfill eventually) due to the Tunnel. Apparently, public outcry stopped him from destroying both Castle Clinton AND the Aquarium, but he closed the Aquarium and reopened it on Coney Island 15 years later, plunking it down on top of the ashes of Dreamland, perhaps making a statement about the "tawdry" entertainment found in Coney Island and perhaps about the Tammany bosses that helped create Dreamland in the first place. To many, Moses single-handedly turned the City into a polluted, uncaring mess. To others, Moses had little to do with it: it would have happened anwyay. Apparently, this is a debate raging in the sociology of technology.

Anyways, perhaps the most interesting thing about the Worlds Fair Marina is that the 1964 World's fair was a rogue fair. It was unsanctioned by the organization that sanctions these sorts of things, the Bureau of International Expositions . It doesn't seem like the ramifications of proceeding unsanctioned are too severe. There seem to be restrictions on how often countries can host a World's Fair.

3) The Half Moon . Seems like a fishing boat turned "party boat". This one came careening up the river, nearly running into the shore. Didn't look like anyone was on it. I like their website because it has an "In the News" where the headline of one news story was, "Bid a Fond Farewell to Your High School Days with an All-Inclusive Prom Night Cruise" concluding with "Trust Marco Polo Cruises when you want to plan a different and much-talked-about prom night." I'm not sure if there is any way that this can be characterized as a news story.

The endeavor is as follows:

for the remainder of the summer (weather permitting), I'll spend one hour of the weekend at the edge of the East River (West Channel) on Roosevelt Island, NY facing Manhattan.

I did a trial run last fall. It was successful in a proof-of-principle sense. The amount of information I was able to gather on the Internet about the various vessels I saw was impressive. I became emotionaly attached to several ships in particular: the NY Department of Environmental Protection boats (affectionately known by some as the "honey boat") which transport sewage into the depths of the ocean from various treatment plants. Owl's Head, North River, Newtown Creek.

In this blog, I'll try and examine other topics which may bear circumstantially on the ships that I spot, and thereby encompass as much subject matter as possible.

ahoy