June, 2021
This morning I drove 15 minutes or so from the campground into Astoria in order to visit the Maritime Museum there. I’ll show some of that to you in a future blog post. But first let me show you this gorgeous day and the Columbia River and a few other snapshots of Astoria’s waterfront.
I parked and walked out onto a pier that was built out over the river. Docked at the pier was a US Coast Guard cutter (the USCGC Steadfast) that was getting a ton of electrical work done on it. I wanted to go see what they were doing but, not surprisingly, they wouldn’t let the public anywhere near the work.
So I took some photos of the river and the Astoria-Megler bridge … Oregon to the left … Washington way over on the right, WAY over on the right. In fact, the Washington/Megler end of the bridge is almost out of the photo on the right.
Here’s a close-up below of a portion of the waterfront of Astoria, along with the very high section of the bridge … high enough for huge ocean-going ships to cruise under. Boy, it would be really something to see a ship come in, wouldn’t it?
But all was quiet out on the river, so I walked along the pier back towards land, but stopped to gaze again up along the waterfront and the piers and buildings of Astoria.
Some of the piers and buildings were long gone, although the pilings that held them up were still there.
Makes me wonder what building had been here in the past, on those pilings now coated in green slime.
I was just about to turn and walk back towards the Maritime Museum, but I looked up instead, along the waterfront again. Zounds!! Look at that ship coming in!! I swear it was just a few feet away from the buildings. The large, tall, white structure to the left is the wheel house of the ship. If you’re wondering if the ship is docked here, just look at the bow wake as the ship moves through the water. She’s moving; she’s heading up river.
The upper deck at the bow of the ship, where the people are standing, is about 50 feet above the water. The “fluke” of the anchor in the photo below is about 8 feet long, as long as from your floor to your ceiling in most homes.
Obviously, this ship was quite a ways away from the buildings on the Astoria waterfront, not just a few feet away, but it sure looked close given the angle that I had on it.
I wish I had stayed right where I was and I wish I had taken a video of the ship coming right along the waterfront. But I got so excited that I literally ran (well, jogged) back out to the end of that pier and then took video of the ship from that vantage point.
In the video below, you’ll see one of the anchors being lowered. The ship was going to anchor in the river, after it got further up the river. Notice the water coming out the hole where the chain comes out. Does anyone know why water is coming out of that hole?
The ship cruised slowly past me and continued to head up river towards other ships that were already anchored.
I loved the clouds in the sky this day.
Our ship is in the center above, still heading up river.
It passed those two ships, then it passed two more (on the right in the photo above), then it passed yet another two ships (in the photo below) …
And finally it passed one more ship (in the photo below).
Our ship finally anchored upriver from the ship in the photo above. When she did finally anchor, most of our ship was hidden by a bend in the river so I didn’t get video or photos of it anchoring.
Our ship, the Lowlands Maine, is a bulk carrier that was built in 2005 and is about 740 feet long. More information about her can be found HERE.
I had thought it would be so cool to see a ship coming in under the bridge. Little did I know I’d see one!
So cool! I used to live in the UP of Michigan, and my last apartment there, back in the mid 80s had a view of the Houghton Canal, a ship lane that was carved out so that ships could avoid going up and around the peninsualia. I used to see these ships pass right by my window. And my office, a few blocks away was on the 8th floor of a building, with a view, especially from the lunch room, of the same canal, so we were able to watch the lift bridge go up and down to let the ships through. Now I live about an hour north of Detroit, and when we go down to the city we usually go out to Belle Isle, where ships like this are cutting through the Detroit River. They move faster than you think! I also see them when I’m cat sitting up north on the shores of Lake Michigan. Usually Ihear them before I notice them. There’s that distinctive chug. Thanks for sharing your pictures and videos…brought back so many memories.
I keep saying I’m going to get back there to the UP! I will! Your stories and descriptions are so enticing, Dawn. Yes, those ships do move faster than they seem to. I found that out when boating here. One minute the ship is two miles behind you, the next minute it’s beside you (well a quarter of a mile or so off to the side) but then the ship’s wake is going to hit you like a ton of bricks unless you get out of the way, or turn your boat to head into the wake. And I love the sound, the chug of the ships. I’d forgotten the sound. It’s almost like breathing.
Yes, the sound IS like it’s breathing!
🙂
Ah, my dear, you can take the girl out of the boat (ya sold it) but you can’t take the boat out of the girl. Next I know you’ll be goin’ as a passenger on a cargo ship to somewhere and beggin’ the cap’n for just a peek at the engine room.
Oh yes indeed, you know me well, Jan … a boat, and the water, once in your heart and soul, are never ever far away after that. In fact, I have thought about heading out as a passenger on a cargo ship (does everyone know you can do that? and in style too! and for way less money than taking a cruise ship) … all over the world. But you can bet I wouldn’t be begging for just a look at the engine room, I’d be standing there with a wrench in my hand ready to get to work. 🙂
Great blog! I’ve been on boats on Puget Sound for most of my life but I don’t know much about those big ships. I notice in the videos that this big ship stays on the correct side of the green and red marker buoys … red right returning. I have no idea why water is coming out of the anchor chain hole but I’ve seen that before and wondered why.
I appreciated the positioning of the ships in between the buoys too, Rob. I thought you’d probably see that too. But yes we need to know why water was running out that hawsehole, as it’s called in nautical terms. There are a number of boater folks who read this blog … do any of you know about this?
My boats have been little boats, small rowboats with small outboard motors hanging off the back. But these big boats are tremendous. Think about the size and WEIGHT of that anchor!! Holy smokes. How can you drive a boat that size when the wheelhouse is 700 feet behind the front of the boat?! You can’t even see the front of the boat … errr, ship. I’m really impressed. Tell us more Ann.
Tim, I know some answers to your questions. Yes, it’s extremely difficult for the skipper of one of those large ships to see what’s in front of the ship. These days, there’s GPS (global positioning system) that shows the skipper of the vessel what’s ahead as far as land and buoys and such … but that does not show the skipper of a large ship what boats might be in front of them, boats that move around and aren’t stationary. These days there is extrememly detailed radar that shows a ship’s skipper exactly what’s on the water in front of a ship, even a small vessel will likely show up on sensitive radar if the radar dome/antenna is positioned out on the bow of the ship. If a radar dome is not out there, however, then there is definitely and all too commonly a blind spot right in front of these huge ships for even a quarter of a mile or so. If you are in a small boat (even 60-70 feet long, you would be considered a small boat), then you do NOT want to be in front of one of these huge ocean-going ships. If your engine were to stop running, there’s a good chance the ship would run right over you and the ship’s personnel would never know it. Pay attention, keep in touch with the local USCoastGuard, stay in radio contact with a ship that you wish to pass in front of, and always play it safe. Mostly … don’t pass in front of them!
Friends of mine and I watched a very small boat attempt to pass in front of an ocean-going ship while the ship was heading down Puget Sound towards Seattle. The bow wake of the ship was taller than that little boat by many times. The rest of us had turned around and headed into a cove to await the passing of the big ship, but not that one little boat. We watched our friends and we truly thought that little boat was gone, capsized, and the humans likely drowned. As it turned out, they were ok, but when all of us eventually got to the marina on the other side of the shipping lanes, we found those folks scared to death and realizing what had almost happened to them. It was a lesson to all of us. I’d bet that maybe there are folks reading this blog that remember that. Bless the “Fandango” and may she always find safe harbor.
Fascinating. Though I’d like to know what that green slime is … is it seaweed or some other plant/organism? Is it a fresh water plant or salt water plant? And does the salt water from the ocean reach all the way up the Columbia River to Astoria? Fun stuff Ann.
More questions. 🙂 I don’t know, Ben. That “green slime” as I call it, isn’t actually slimy. It is a stringy plant of some kind, but I don’t know what it is. When the ocean tide is in/high, then the river level rises and covers those pilings in those photos. Also, there definitely is ocean salt water up around Astoria when the tide is high, and especially if there is a wind from the west which blows ocean water even further up-river. Saltwater weighs more than freshwater, so as the tide comes in from the ocean, the saltwater will slide under the river’s fresh water, but still they’ll mix … and still the ocean’s salt water comes in for a long way into the Columbia River. Ok … readers! who knows what that green “slime” plant is?
Dawn … my husband and I are from Minnesota and spent many hours and days in UP, by car and by camper. Yep, lots of BIG ships there for sure, in the Soo and lots of other places. We loved watching them too. Thanks for the memories. My hubby is now looking at that whole area on Google and reminding me of everything we’ve seen and done. Guess I better pull out the old photo albums. 🙂
Thanks Wanda. I may have to race right through Idaho and Montana and the Dakotas and Minnesota and Wisconsin and head directly to the UP in Michigan. Wish I could be there with you while you and the hubby look through those old photos and reminisce. Great memories.
Having grown up watching the oil tankers and freighters sailing up the Guemes channel, I was curious about what kind of load this ship would be hauling. She’s obviously empty. Was she taking on lumber, as most of the freighters do from Anacortes, or coal? Or containers? So I Googled her to see if I could find out more about her. I didn’t find out anything about her cargo, but I did find out that she is a generic cargo carrier, built in Japan in 2005, sailing under a Panamanian flag. She had sailed in from Korea, docked at Kalama, Washington, and left the following day for China. Currently ( six months later) the ship is on her way from China to Singapore.
Thanks, Ann, that was fun.
Wow, that’s really great info, Fritzi. Yes, our ship is a generic cargo ship. She doesn’t haul containers. This type of ship is usually called a bulk carrier. You sure were paying attention, more than I was … our ship was empty or close to it, which I hadn’t noticed until your comment here. In fact, reading the depth numbers on the side of the bow, it shows that the ship had only about 15 feet of it below the water, whereas the markings on the side of the bow show that it could have 15 METERS (or about 50 feet below the water) when she’s fully loaded. So she was empty and ridin’ high this day. She was obviously inbound, inland, upriver, to a destination where she would take on cargo and then head back out onto the Pacific Ocean in order to deliver the cargo … gosh … somewhere else around the world. What a ride. 🙂
So much I don’t know, but so much that’s fascinating. Thanks everyone!
I agree Fran. And I thank everyone too, including you. 🙂
My aunt worked on large ships, not as large as this one, but she says maybe 500 feet long. She says that “hole” for the anchor chain is called a hawse hole. As an anchor is deployed, the chain is pulled up by a large winch from the chain’s below-deck storage. The weight of the anchor then pulls the chain out through the hawse hole. The deck crew use water to clean that foredeck of all the muck and mess that comes off the anchor chain as it comes out of storage, as well as cleaning off the residue of salt water that has sprayed on that foredeck while the ship was out at sea. The easiest way to get rid of the water and the salt and the dirt is simply to hose the water out through the hawse hole too. So the water coming out that hole has nothing really to do with the anchor or the chain necessarily, the crew is simply keeping the foredeck clean.
Gosh, please thank your aunt for that information, Tina T. I bet she has lots of great stories to tell of her time on ships. I just couldn’t imagine that the deck crew needed to wash the anchor chain, so I’m really glad to hear that the reason for the water is so straightforward … just cleaning the deck. Thank you!
Oh, and thank your aunt for the correct name of the hawse hole. According to the internet, the word “hawse” is old Norse and old Icelandic and was a word for “neck” or the narrow bow of a ship/boat. So a hawse hole is a hole that goes through the bow (or neck) of a ship/boat. Etymology is fun. 🙂
That “green slime” looks like Green Algae, maybe horsehair algae, although there are thousands of species. Many types of green algae can live in freshwater or saltwater and some are commonly found on docks and pilings and rocks that are alternately covered with fresh water then salt water. This one sure loves those pilings at Astoria!
Ruby, you answered a question that lots of us had, yet again. I know there are other readers here who know and love plants, but you seem to be one of the first to answer almost all of our plant questions. I sure appreciate all of my readers, including those of you readers who know more stuff than I do, and that’s not hard to do about lots of things in the world. Thanks Ruby. 🙂