In Random Tugs 60 I mentioned a wish to locate fotos of the ghost fleet that once occupied the freight train shore of the curve in the Hudson between Stony Point and Jones Point.
Many thanks to Joseph and Harold for the following fotos. Joseph had previously sent this. Harold sent this . . . among many others. First, Joe’s pics show what 189 anchored vessels looked like from the air as well as
closer and
still closer.
And now, they exist only in memory. Here’s the link Harold sent along to what is also called the “mothball fleet,” once rafted up where Buchanan 12 now pushes stone.
Joe Herbert and Harold Tartell . . . many thanks.
Dave Williams suggested I look up info on how ghost vessel APA-97 went from being USS Dauphin to SS Exochorda to SS Stevens, as in Stevens Institute of Technology, which I now share with you. This also leads me to CVE-1 Long Island, another vessel that served as a dormitory. I’d love to hear from someone who lived in either SS Stevens or Long Island . . . or otherwise have knowledge of life aboard.
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November 5, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Mage Bailey
Thank you. I’ve been riveted to my computer.
November 5, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Bob Anderson
I went to Nyack High School in the late 50′s. The school was located on a hill overlooking the river. I often saw ships from the Reserve Fleet being towed down the river to to be sent to the breakers, It’s a wonder anyone in those east side of the school classrooms ever passed any classes!
An interesting aside: my father served on those kind of ships as a USN Armed Guard gunnery officer.
November 8, 2010 at 2:08 pm
soundbounder
I’m too young to remember this, but my father and older siblings remember it well.
November 9, 2010 at 8:57 am
BOB HOUSKEEPER
I GREW UP IN PEEKSKILL IN THE 1940S. WE HAD A PENNYAN OUT BOARD AND SPENT MANY HOUR AROUND THE GHOST FLEET. EVEN WENT ABOARD A CVE ESCORT CARRIER ( BABY FLAT TOP) NEVER SEEN THE PICTURES IVE VIEWED. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SITES I COULD SEARCH ? BOB HOUSKEEPER
July 9, 2012 at 6:10 am
Carol Renza
Hi Bob Housekeeper my parents , Helen and Ralph Bianco owned the site of the present Peekskill Inn overlooking the Hudson, the Bel-aire Hotel. We had a wonderful view of the Fleet from 1947 to 1955 when they sold the property to Farber-Whitman who built the motel, I’m going to look through photos to see if we have any from our vantage point.
November 10, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Bill W
It’s so very nice seeing these old photos of the mothball fleet. I always wanted some vision of where Exochorda had resided before becoming SS Stevens.
I had lived on SS Stevens for 3 years while I was at the school there, in Hoboken. It was such a unique place to live, and I have many fond memories of the experience. My cabin was one of the nicer ones that I luckily had gotten after being tipped off about it becoming available. When Stevens was sailing from New York to the Mediterranean as a cruise ship, this was one of the best cabins for passengers. It was on A-deck, on the side facing Manhattan, with two portholes that opened, two berths and full bath. By then, the style was quite dated, and everything was showing its age, but for college kids, it was great. They also had rooms available on B-desk, but many of these rooms were very small, with one porthole, which had been used previously only by Exochorda’s crew members. Many of the students down there seemed to like the isolation, and I thought they were a little bit weirder than the rest of us. One of the first things I did was to rig up a small TV antenna that I attached on the outside hull using one of the bolts that secured a porthole in my cabin. I removed one other bolt and used the empty bolt-hole to route the antenna wire into the room.
Being right on the Hudson all the time like that, I felt very connected with the river and saw lots of ships of all types coming and going. It was a really great place to invite friends over for ping-pong, or just hang out and watch the river and Manhattan from up on deck. You could wander around the decks and always find something to see and talk about. Sunrises over Manhattan was often spectacular. But bad weather always seemed more intense on the river. Many times in winter, I saw lots of big chunks of floating ice. During storms, I could feel Stevens rocking and rolling.
One memory that wasn’t the best memory had to do with the Maxwell House coffee plant that was located just north of the ship (I think there are new condos going up in that area now). You might think that the smell of coffee early in the morning would be a good thing, but it was intense and it was awful. It wasn’t the real coffee smell that you’re familiar with. It was some kind of factory-processing smell, the kind of smell you get when all the water boils out and the coffee starts burning on the bottom with the flame on high. It had me thinking that I would never ever become a coffee drinker after that (I’ve gotten over it since then).
The Wikipedia article came about out of my desire to preserve Stevens’ memory. Not too long ago, my son (also a student at Stevens) asked me if there ever really was a ship there, or was it just some made up story to tell to gullible freshman. I said that it was most certainly true, and we probably could just look it up on google, because after all, everything in the world is on google, right? But the search was completely empty. Not one thing about SS Stevens. That’s when I remembered my old photos buried in the attic, and thought about writing the Wiki article.
One interesting side discovery for me was learning about USTS Texas Clipper, a maritime training ship, which was formerly one of the 4 ships (Excambion) in the 4 aces quartet of cruise ships. There are some videos showing Texas Clipper being prepared for sinking as an artificial reef off Texas, and the recovery of a mural created by the famous illustrator, Saul Steinberg. Texas Clipper was an identical sister ship to Stevens, so seeing the videos was like seeing Stevens all over again. Stevens also had Steinberg murals, but I guess they were just tossed when she was scrapped. I also had shared some memories via email with Dr. Stephen Curley who was a professor on the Clipper. In my mind, I can still see it all, and can still hear the sounds of walking up the main gangplank. That coffee smell? I try not to think about it. Stevens had such an interesting history, and I was glad to have had the opportunity to live aboard her for those years.
July 29, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Joanna Miller
Is there any way to get copies of these photos? My father grew up in Ossining, and raised his family in Cortlandt Manor. As kids, he used to take us in his boat up close to the fleet–certainly closer than was legal to do so! Two years ago my father’s house was burned to the ground, and all of his photos of the fleet were lost. I’d be happy to pay the expenses of getting replacement photos. Thank you.
July 29, 2012 at 11:07 pm
tugster
joanna– i’m traveling. can you remind me again in a week and a half?
April 21, 2013 at 5:54 pm
Barbara
My dad worked on the Hudson River Reserve Fleet (mothball fleet) for over 35 years. The ships were sold in the 70′s to various countries for scrap. My dad got to meet people from all over the world. He was a tug boat engineer and worked on the war ships’ engines. He loved his job and being on the river.
April 21, 2013 at 6:16 pm
tugster
barbara– thanks for reading, and writing. if you have any fotos of the ghost fleet, i’d love to see them and even use them on tugster.