Ships and boats

Staten Island Ferry boat

One of my new hobbies is ship watching.  This is basically because of where I currently live.  You can't have 100% of your outside windows and doors overlooking a harbor and not notice the different kinds of ships, boats, barges and freighters that go in and out of this port city.

Just to to let you know, there is a difference between ships and boats.  I know this because my late husband, a former navy guy, would point out the differences to me.  He served on a ship...an aircraft carrier; his cousin was on a frigate, a boat, he insisted. 

A ship is a vessel of considerable size for deep-water navigation. It is a sailing ship if it has three or more square-rigged masts. Ships ply oceans; boats do not. The word "boat" has two different meanings: it is a relatively small, usually open craft of a size that might be carried aboard a ship; it can also be an inland vessel of any size. During the workweek the harbor is dominated by freighters, tankers, barges and a fleet of hard working tug boats.



Ship and sail boat on the harbor

The majority of the ships that come and go are freighters. These are large ships used mainly for carrying cargo.  These freighters bring in goods such as cars, clothes, computer and other consumer products made overseas and shipped to the states.  They mostly come in containers and go to Port Newark around the Kill van Kull.  I know many are upset that manufacturing  jobs have disappeared from our shores, but that is the new reality of the globalization of our world economy.  As child growing up in New York City in mid-century America, I knew of many folks who worked in manufacturing or as longshoremen making goods for sale overseas and loading and off loading goods. Now-a-days goods are off-loaded by high tech computer "arms" controlled by highly trained technicians: welcome to the 21st century.

Other ships are tankers.  Tankers are ships designed for bulk shipment of liquids or gases.  Most  tankers that enter the Harbor are carrying crude oil heading for the refineries of nearby New Jersey.  The closest one is in Linden, NJ.

Barges also show up several times a week.  They, of course, don't really move on their own.  They rely on external forces too push, pry, and navigate them to wherever they are bound.  Not all of them are garbage barges, though there are some of those.  I have seen cranes and other construction equipment shipped by barge; there have been over-sized art installations, tractor trailers and pieces of pre-built houses shipped by barge to Miller's Launch near my condo in the last month.  Of course, they would not get here without their ever present escorts: the tug boats.

Moran tug boat
 

There are at least four tug boat companies that work the harbor.  They are not only busy during the week, but on the weekends they often escort ocean liners and cruise ships out to Sandy Hook.  So these boats are ever present on the water, even at night  you can see their white and red blinking lights and hear their deep horns blow.

Cruise ship leaving on a Sunday

The weekends, however are dominated by the boats.  The ferries shuttle natives and tourists alike in twenty-five minute intervals day and night.(We just got 24 hour half hour service approved by the city council) On Saturdays and Sundays sail boats and motor boats show up from the early spring to late fall.  There is an occasional jet skier, but they are few and far between.  I think one would have to be extremely skilled or overly cocky to take one of these out in the Harbor.  I did see one actually cut off a ferry one Sunday morning.

Sometimes I wish I had a more "beachy" view, but there is always something to look at here.  Now I am going to make a nice cup of tea and sit outside and see what sails by.  I'll keep you posted.