Port of Wilmington.
The tugs are pulling the container ship away from the dock.
Bozo there pulling the tube doesn't seem to care how close he comes to the tugs.

Once it's clear, they will push it backwards into the Delaware River.

Wilmington, Delaware, skyline from the Christina River
The Christina River Water Taxi is in the foreground.

Replica of the Kalmar Nyckel at the Wilmington Shipyard Shops
The Kalmar Nyckel brought the first settlers to what is now Delaware,
landing at "The Rocks" on March 29, 1638.

Wide Pool of the Lower Christina

And now some new pictures taken in 2007:

Remnants of Shipbuilding
Wilmington was a shipbuilding center for many years. During World War II, Wilmington was part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Because of the width of the Christina River, many of them were launched sideways. Here you can see a crane rusting away, and, because it's dead low tide, the remnants of the slides used to launch the ships. Behind the crane is the roof of the Riverfront Outlets.

Remnants of Shipbuilding
For some reason, some of the cranes were all dolled up with new paint jobs for the Riverfront project, and some, like the one in the previous picture, were not.

Market Street Bridge
Since the death of the shipbuilding industry, the drawbridges in downtown Wilmington seldom have cause to open, unless the Kalmar Nyckel or a fireboat is moving to Riverfront Park for a celebration. But, at high tide, the River Taxi can't make it under the bridge. The Christina has a tide drop of five to eight feed and an eight-knot tide race.

Copyright 2001, 2007 Frank W. Bell, Jr.

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