Both vessels, photographed bow to engine room. Click any frame to enlarge; arrow keys move through the set.
M/V Nikola at her berth — 112 feet of steel hull, built at Houma, Louisiana.Her name on the bow, freshly painted.Bow three-quarter from the pier, showing the raised forecastle.Broadside on flat water — the working deck runs nearly her whole length.Alongside, among the working fleet.The main deck looking aft — clear working area for the recovery plant.The deck crane, used to set and shift equipment on station.Knuckle and hydraulic rams at close quarters.The deck-mounted excavator — the business end of the operation.Bucket at rest between seasons.Deck gear and rigging, laid out for the run north.The tender, stowed on deck.The helm.Wheelhouse — instrument console and chart space.Windows on three sides give the watch a full horizon.Mast, radar and antennas above the house.Satellite dome — Norton Sound is a long way from a cell tower.Main engine.Generator set — the plant runs on its own power for months at a time.Main switchboard.The galley. A season is long, and the crew eats aboard.M/V Stryker — sailing then as Angels Gate, September 2021.Profile: the unmistakable sheer of a wartime ST-class tug.On the water off the harbour entrance.Deckhouse from the foredeck.Bow and fenders.In the yard, red boot-topping showing.The builder’s plate: ST-695, Decatur Iron & Steel, 1944. She was built for the war.The original wheel, still in the house.Helm and watch chairs.Wheelhouse, looking out.The bridge, wide.Main engine — eighty years on and still turning.Engine room, wide.Auxiliaries and piping.Tender alongside.