New York City Circa 1904
Next month Martin & Ottaway will be honored by the Society of Marine Port Engineers at their annual dinner dance. In preparation for an article chronicling the history of the firm, which will appear in the dinner program journal, some interesting historical documents and photographs were discovered while examining our old records. A few of… Read more »
When You Know Where You Came From, You Might Know Where You Are Going
Nobody has ever made a list of all the company’s addresses in its 137 year history, but since the middle 1920’s the firm has only had four addresses: 25 Broadway, NYC, the classic Cunard building in downtown Manhattan, where we were reportedly the first tenants after the main tenant, Cunard. 65 Broadway, NYC, which at… Read more »
Civilized Brooklyn Bridge Surveying
For the second time in three years we were asked to attend to damages of the shielding on the Brooklyn Bridge. Shielding is a type of staging that is fitted to a bridge when construction work is taking place, and both cases related to contact by a crane boom with the shielding that was suspended beneath the… Read more »
Gerry Ginter, General Average and Security
This week we lost a client and a dear friend with the untimely passing of Gerry Ginter. Gerry was an average adjuster and most recently a Senior Vice President at Marsh. Average adjusting is a unique and ancient profession. Quite possibly, it may be the oldest true profession (the other one is not really a… Read more »
In Memoriam Chris Hanges, 1928-2012
On February 22nd, we lost a dear friend, colleague and sage counselor when Chris Hanges died peacefully in his sleep. Chris’ Greek heritage and New York area childhood drew him to a maritime career as a young man. After graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering from New York University and upon his completion of… Read more »
Refloating the M.V. “Aristeas P” and M.V. “Nord Barcelona”
On January 21, 2012 I travelled to Kilometer 391 on the Parana River, near Rosario, Argentina on behalf of SMIT Salvage Americas Inc. to assist in the re-floating of the grounded bulk carrier, the M.V. “Aristeas P,” pictured below: The vessel, a 38,623 DWT bulk carrier, had run aground in low river conditions and was positioned such that the… Read more »
Oman Drydock Company
Over the years many Arabian countries have built drydock facilities to open new industries to help them steer away from a completely oil dependent economy. Oman is the latest entrant to the list with their brand new facility in Duqm. The facility has two 400,000 ton graven docks and will also soon add a floating… Read more »
Great Directors Lead
On a recent trip to Sicily to deal with construction issues on a number of high speed catamarans, I saw this forklift parked in a director’s reserved parking spot. I like it. I am not sure a forklift operator is trying to make a point or if a director is making a point, but there… Read more »
Which Way Did They Go?
Sometimes we get so busy no one knows where anybody is going. Fortunately, in New Orleans, we never have that problem; we always know where Pierce and David went.
Rochester NY, Under USCG care
December 15, 2011, in Rochester, New York to inspect a pier on behalf of the Department of Justice with regard to a fatal boater’s crash on a dark night in 2008 on Lake Ontario. It was surprisingly warm for this time of year, but the USCG Boatswain in charge of the 47 foot MLB and… Read more »