Niagara River News

Researchers from NOAA, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust discovered an intact shipwreck resting hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron. Located within NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the shipwreck has been identified as the sailing ship Ironton. Well preserved by the cold freshwater of the Great Lakes for over a century, the 191-ft. Ironton rests upright with its three masts still standing."Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century…

A new icebreaking tugboat built by Blount Boats in Rhode Island has been delivered to the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to work in the Niagara River to help alleviate shoreline flooding and reduce the likelihood of ice limiting the power production at large hydro plants along the Niagara River. The Breaker II joins a fleet of three boats that work every winter to install the Lake Erie—Niagara River Ice Boom—a series of 22 spans of steel pontoons that straddle the mouth of the…

As the novel coronavirus and its impacts continue to spread across America, U.S. shipbuilders, by and large, continue to build. While most yards have been deemed essential to marine transportation and/or national security and have been able to maintain operations, the situation at and around every shipyard is different, and there are several builders across the country that have had to temporarily suspend activity. In either scenario, it’s far from business as usual for America’s…

Marine News recently visited the Blount Boats facility in Warren, Rhode Island. While the year 2019 might be the ‘year of the woman’ in the eyes of the International Maritime Organization, the two women at the head of Blount Boats – Marcia & Julie Blount– have been a driving force in the U.S. boatbuilding market for decades. As Blount’s celebrates its 70th anniversary, read about the storied yard’s promising future.Founded in 1949, Blount Boats is a full-service shipyard with a customer base comprised of a variety of commercial and government entities including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S.

Rhode Island shipbuilder Blount Boats said it has signed a contract with the nation’s largest state power organization to construct an icebreaking, all-welded-steel, diesel-powered, double screw tugboat.The new vessel for the New York Power Authority (NYPA) will be built to operate in seasonal ice near the entrance to and within the upper Niagara River. This vessel will replace existing vessels in the NYPA fleet currently used for the installation, removal, and maintenance of…

Tug Daniel Joncaire II, the first of two tugboats to be built by the Great Lakes Shipyard for New York Power Authority – Niagara Project, was commissioned during a ceremony hosted by Great Lakes Shipyard and attended by more than 200 on Tuesday, October 20, 2015. The sponsor of the commissioning ceremony was Karen W. Penale, Real Estate Administrator – Western Region, New York Power Authority – Niagara Project. “With the traditional breaking of the bottle of Champaign,” she declared, “I name this tugboat Joncaire II.

A newly built 45-foot twin-screw tug Daniel Joncaire II has been launched for the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the vessel’s designer Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) announced today. BHGI was awarded a contract by NYPA to engineer, design and perform construction supervision support services for two new tug vessels following its 2009 involvement in the design/build process for NYPA’s new barge, the Havasu II, which led to a study that compared and contrasted the initial and long-term costs to repair and update their existing tugs, or replace them.

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Customs and Border Protection, Canada's Niagara Regional Police and the Niagara County Sheriff's Office are investigating a reported hijacking of a Canadian-flagged charter vessel by two Canadian men Tuesday afternoon. About 1:30 p.m. the master of an 18-foot Canadian charter vessel took his boat to Coast Guard Station Niagara, New York, to report that just moments ago two men, both believed to be Canadian citizens, had directed him at knife point to take them to shore.

The Great Lakes Shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio, has been contracted by New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build and deliver two new tugboats for the Niagara Power Plant’s winter operations in Buffalo, N.Y. The new tugs will augment and replace aging vessels that are used for the installation, removal and maintenance of the Lake Erie-Niagara River Ice Boom and various associated marine construction projects. The new tugs will be specially reinforced with heavy stems and shell reinforcement for operations in seasonal ice.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG ) rescued two people from a disabled boat near Niagara Falls late Monday night. At about 9:15 p.m., a search-and-rescue (SAR) coordinator from USCG Sector Buffalo, New York, responded to a call for help from the boaters via cell phone. The distressed boater reported two people were aboard a disabled 19-foot boat, 700 yards inside the Niagara Falls Exclusion Zone. The boater also reported that the boat was anchored. The Sector Buffalo SAR coordinator issued an urgent marine information broadcast, which broadcasts the location and nature of distress to mariners and asks who can offer help if they are able. The SAR coordinator also launched a rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Buffalo aboard a 25-foot response boat…

Scheduled for Thursday and Friday, federal, state, local and Canadian law enforcement partners will be brought together in a multi-agency exercise designed to prepare for and prevent cross-border terrorist and criminal activity on the Niagara River, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. There are no known threats against the area, but boaters may notice increased assets of law enforcement on the water. Organized by The Monroe County Emergency Management Office, the multi-jurisdictional exercise will be sponsored by The Department of Homeland Security.

Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), a naval architecture and marine engineering firm with offices in Seattle, New Orleans and Ketchikan, today announced that the passenger vessel Hornblower Guardian, built to its design, is now in service. EBDG partnered with Hornblower Cruises and Events of San Francisco to engineer the multipurpose vessel for that company's Niagara Falls operation. The new 68-foot long monohull vessel carries up to 150 passengers and has a unique, dual purpose…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today declared the New York side of the Lake Erie shore line a “no discharge zone,” which means that boats are completely banned from discharging sewage into the water. The EPA reviewed the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposal to establish a no discharge zone for the lake and determined that there are adequate facilities in the area for boats to pump out their sewage. Boaters must now dispose of their sewage at one of the lake’s specially-designated pump-out stations. This action is part of a joint EPA and New York State strategy to eliminate the discharge of sewage from boats into the state’s waterways.

Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary  crews across the Great Lakes rescued 9 people during multiple cases from different locations across the Coast Guard 9th District Saturday. The names of those rescued are not being released and there is no imagery or video for any of the cases. Among other cases, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, New York, received a report just after 10:30 a.m. of two people in the water near Lock 5 in the Oswego River in Oswego, New York, during a kayaking event. A Coast Guard Auxiliary crew was in the area doing a safety patrol for the event. The crew and a local fire department boat retrieved both of the people from the water and took them to shore. It is unknown if they were wearing life jackets and there were no injuries or medical concerns reported.

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) was recently awarded a contract by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to engineer, design and perform construction supervision support services for two new tug vessels. The tugs will be used primarily for deployment, retrieval and maintenance of an ice boom annually installed near the outlet of Lake Erie to help protect NYPA’s hydroelectric plant intakes on the Niagara River from heavy ice floes. The designs are expected to be completed in 2014. The vessels will be specially reinforced for operations in seasonal ice.

The Coast Guard and the New York State Park Police have formally signed a cooperative agreement to clarify agency roles for operations in the Niagara Falls River. This historic cooperative agreement spells out the roles each agency will play during future operations between Niagara Falls and the whirlpool in the Niagara River gorge. Capt. Brian Roche, commander of Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, and Maj. David A. Page, commanding officer of the NYSPP Western Region, entered into the cooperative agreement to further enhance coordination of maritime incidents along the Niagara River.

1812 - Boat party under Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captures HMS Detroit and Caledonia in Niagara River. 1842 - Commodore Lawrence Kearny in USS Constitution addresses a letter to the Viceroy of China, urging that American merchants in China be granted the same treaty privileges as the British. His negotiations are successful. 1950 - First Marine Division commences embarkion at Inchon for landings at Wonsan, Korea. 1961 - USS Tulare (AKA-112) and USS Princeton (CVS-7) rescue seamen from an American and a Lebanese merchant ship, which were aground on Kita Daita Jima.

1884 - Department of the Navy establishes the Naval War College at Newport, RI (General Order 325). 1940 - Fourth group of 8 U.S. destroyers involved in Destroyers for Bases Deal are turned over to British authorities at Halifax, Canada. 1943 - In night Battle of Vella Lavella, 3 U.S. 1958 - USS Seawolf (SSN-575) completes record submerged run of 60 days, logging over 13,700 nautical miles. 1997 - NASA Astronaut CDR Wendy B. Lawrence, USN returns from mission of STS-86: Shuttle -Mir 7 when Atlantis docked with Mir Space Station. The mission began on 25 September. 1864 - USS Washusett captures Confederate raider CSS Florida in harbor of Bahia, Brazil. 1924 - Rigid airship Shenandoah commences transcontinental flight.

When the wicked winter weather begins to blow off Lake Erie, a shipbuilder and a crane company in Cleveland, Ohio, and the New York Power Authority (NYPA) will be glad they cooperatively commissioned and built a barge-mounted pedestal crane for the Lake Erie-Niagara River Ice Boom Operations in Buffalo, N.Y., to help reduce potential damage to hydroelectric power plants caused by Lake Erie’s inevitable ice. The NYPA asked Great Lakes Shipyard, a member of The Great Lakes Group in Cleveland, to fabricate and deliver a new 80-foot by 34-foot pedestal crane barge for the ice boom operation.

1812 - Boat party under Lt. Jesse D. Elliott captures HMS Detroit and Caledonia in Niagara River. 1842 - Commodore Lawrence Kearny in USS Constitution addresses a letter to the Viceroy of China, urging that American merchants in China be granted the same treaty privileges as the British. His negotiations are successful. 1950 - 1st Marine Division commences embarkion at Inchon for landings at Wonsan, Korea. 1961 - USS Tulare (AKA-112) and USS Princeton (CVS-7) rescue seamen from an American and a Lebanese merchant ship, which were aground on Kita Daita Jima. (Source: Navy News Service)

The New York Power Authority’s newly constructed pedestal crane barge will be christened at Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, Ohio. The christening ceremony will take place on Thursday, September 23, 2010, beginning at 11 a.m. The barge will be utilized for deployment and retrieval of an ice boom placed across the Niagara River at Buffalo New York to prevent ice from blocking the hydro-electric water intakes of the New York Power Authority. Bristol Harbor Group Inc., Bristol, Rhode Island, designed the barge for New York Power Authority and also acted as its representatives during construction. Ronald C. Rasmus, President and CEO of The Great Lakes Group, will be the ceremony’s principal speaker.

Miller Electric Mfg. Co. will showcase a wide range of new and popular welding products, technologies and safety accessories at the FABTECH 2010 show at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, November 2 – 4. Miller’s booth this year (#6811 in Hall C) will provide attendees with product selection clarity by featuring market specific solutions designed to address the specific needs and challenges of the manufacturing, fabrication, shipbuilding, construction and commercial welding markets. 15.