When I wore a younger man's clothes

[Vinam]

First of all, I did not take this photo, it was taken by the base photographer in 1983 from the Pier where we were based. I am the last guy on the right at the stern manning the aft mooring station. The Cutter Catenary was a Light harbor tug and I spent most of my 4 years serving aboard her and filling many roles. We patrolled the Delaware River and Bay from Trenton, New Jersey to the Atlantic Ocean off Cap May, New Jersey..Fire Fighting, Ice Breaking, Search and Rescue, and Port Security for the port of Philidelphia.

But our primary role was Pollution laws enforcement, I was one of the 3 Maritime Law enforcement agents aboard and would inspect huge Oil tankers for compliance... many stories and no time here to tell them ... needless to say the " Cat " holds a piece of my heart and memories of younger days.

Since I don't think this photographer was a member of DPS, let's not beat him up too bad, he did the best he could.. it's the only photo I have of me on deck with my crewmates and it's always been pretty important to me.



but it's terrible and a little at a time the last few weeks I have been working it on, always putting it away when I would get frustrated... a labor of Love ! I scanned it a few times and just slowly adjusted.



still has a little blur, but I now have it printed on my wall in a 20x12 frame I got cheap cause it's a messed up sized frame lol. I realize I still have much learning to do regarding Post-production.. but I really have learned ALOT in the last 8 months and tried to put some of it to good use.

In 1990 the Cutter Catenary was de-commisoned and sold to a boatyard, having guarded the Delaware for 4 decades. thought not big or powerful, having a hull that bounced in rough seas like a football, and always being a case of " it's not the right boat for the job, but send them anyway " she never let us down. Propeller cracked from 30" of ice, Bow Bumper burned off from the intense heat of a pier fire, mast broken in half during a nor-easter storm as we're bringing in a fisherman having a heart attack in fifteen foot seas and 40 knot winds, handing the Captain of a Liberian 900' long Oil Tanker off to Federal Marshals in hand-cuffs for dumping crude oil in the ocean and then lying about it .I have many memories, funny how I forgot all the mundane boring stuff !!

thanks for taking a look @ a little piece of my history !

Vin

[olgabe]

Impressive!! It looks truly restored, and the detail is so well preserved...

I think you've done a fantastic job brining an old ship into the new times.. Wouldn't it be fun to age this contemporary image back again - gracefully? I'm imagining a light color cast and framing kind of 'old map border' style, and maybe some texture that creates illusion of folding lines...

Really impressive... you got me interested - I need to try that on my old prints!!!

[FromtheBackofaHorse]

Wow, you did an AWESOME job restoring that!!

Thanks for the service you did in the Coast Guard. They are a tough, hardy bunch and don't get the credit they are due. My hats off to you.

[Hayward Taylor]

Vin - a labor of love, indeed .. what a magnificent restoration job you did .. this is part of your life .. I congratulate you

[fstopMike]

Great job on that restoration! Do you think you could do that for me? Cut out some wrinkles, remove some grain, slice off a few pounds....Thanks for helping to keep our ports safe and our waters clean

[haowong]

Wow, impressive restauration...

now do you think you can use photoshop to give it back its antique photo look?

[junglebear]

Wow.
What a great post, I'm sure you've got lots more interesting stories to go with this amazing restoration job. Keep it up!

[leonaashlee]

That is really amazing Vin. I couldn't begin to know how to do that. Great job.

[GodMedia]

Excellent work. I have been re-visiting many of my own photos from my Navy days, as well as a portrait of my father from his Army days. I know full well the level of work required and can truly appreciate the beauty of the work you've presented here. Great job, thank you for sharing it.

[FDCPR]

A lot of history there, and you did a fantastic job of bringing the photo back to be able to get your print. Just think, every time you look at it on your wall you'll remember something else that happened.