Feature: Boats We Love
Every harbor has its share: hardworking boats that stand-out for some provacative reason. It's probably not for their beauty. Form follows function in most maritime architecture, and maybe there's a beauty in how functional these boats are. But such beauty resides in the mind more than the eye. And yet they're still head-turners. Every harbor has its share. In New York, three come to mind - aphabetically, Odin, Shelby Rose, and Twintube. You know 'em on sight. The first two are tugs, and sort of look it. As for the third, "I was trying to build something that would do everything," Luther Blount told us. It does. They do. They say you'll see boats that resemble her out west. We've seen similar craft heading up the Rhine in Europe. But on New York harbor, Odin looks unique.
What is in John Garner's Pocket
You don't really know a boat until she's hauled. Plying her trade on the water, her best half's submerged out of sight. We think we recognize her - "oh, there's Odin," or "Shelby Rose," or "Twintube" - but what are we seeing? The lines of the deckhouse, the shape and placement of the wheelhouse, the arrangement of the stacks? These are the parts known as the superstructure - "super," in this case, meaning simply "upon." It's a little like saying we recognize someone by his hat. The boat's defining structure starts at the main deck and goes downward from there. What little we see of it is low on the horizon. There's the deck's line, along with a smattering of bulwarks.
