The Olaf J

The Olaf J is another push tug, but of a different style than the Lewiston, shown in a recent post. It looks like the Olaf J is a smaller, more open boat, used mainly for work in the local area on the river, rather than an ocean-going vessel. I see it often pushing this crane barge around the waterfront. In this photo you can clearly see the two bumpers in the front. One was visible in the Lewiston photo, but it was hard to see. I took the photo in June, when work was being done on the dock of the Pilot House.

A note on yesterday's post: there were no stairs stolen after all! For the update, please see the bottom of the post.

The bright red crane gives me an excuse to submit this photo for Ruby Tuesday. For more pix featuring RED, follow the link to Ruby Tuesday.

A ruby red crane

When you want to do heavy lifting on the river, you bring out the crane barge. It doesn't move under its own power, so you also bring out the tow boat (on the right). The crane spent the weekend behind the old (now empty) Englund Marine building shown here, then it moved off and docked at the Maritime Museum. It has two huge metal pilings suspended from it. I haven't asked around, so I don't know if it's planning to do some work, or if it's just finding available places to dock until it goes to work again.

The pilings you see here are from earlier buildings, now gone. The seagulls, cormorants, herons, and (in season) ducks love to roost here.

For other photos featuring red, take a look at Ruby Tuesday.