If you look at the coordinates (40°33'31"N 74°12'50"W) given by the wikimapia site on Google Earth, you will see a full ship with a smaller one on the deck, not only a bow. If this is the FRANCES REINAUER then she kept her bow when lengthened.

That's a great input and a fascinating story, George! I was wondering myself why the old Navy number was visible, while her newer name was not...

Cheers

Vlad

I agree that there’s a ghoulish tendency among ship watchers. Damaged or abandoned vessels do catch one’s attention more. But part of it is that abandoned vessels are usually out of any records, and some of us are honestly interested in what happens to them after they “drop off the (documentary) radar.”
I’d like to dispel a couple misconceptions about this hulk. First, the tanker made out of YOG 64 was named FRANCES (not Francis) REINAUER. But to the credit of those involved in this, it was carried wrong in the Merchant Vessels of the United States for many years before being corrected.
But this bow, I’m told, is in a different part of the “yard” than where the whole FRANCES REINAUER sits (or sat; she may have been scrapped by now). So this would be the bow removed when FRANCES was converted in 1955 from a 174-foot YOG into a 208-foot harbor tanker. It’s just by coincidence that both units ended up at the Witte site.
This may sound like an unfounded statement, but ponder this: Why would a tanker that served all those years with a black hull peel back perfectly to an all-gray hull and show a Navy number and paint job applied several decades before?

Old, decaying ships are by far more than just rusting steel heaps. That's why people are fascinated.

I suppose "ghoulishness" is an apt description?

Hi Bob, I think it is human nature, you dont get anyone visiting carparks looking at cars, but once there is a car crash,you shall get lots of sight seeing.
regards
Emmanuel.L(.Malta)

Photo(s) displayed in this category always seem to race to the front page. Without even having looked at it , I would hazard to guess the “wrecks and relics” category would be one on the most, if not the most popular category on this site ....??

Can't get my head round why so many on this site get so excited about a heap of old, rusting steel!