Kristin Poling 1

Harold Tartell got it right, again:  the mystery vessel yesterday was indeed this now retired Kristin Poling (ex-Poughkeepsie Socony  (PS), Mobil New York, Captain Sam).  I’ve posted on her here, here, here, and elsewhere.   Kristin was built just over a mile away in Mariner’s Harbor at United Dry Dock.

Here’s a previously unpublished foto I took of her in 2009 passing Red Hook containerport.

From this, it appears her gestation period was a month shy of three years!  Delivery date 15 Dec 1934 . . . I can’t fully imagine the ways that was a different time.  If this “history of welding” is accurate  (???)  … albeit it sporting a wrong date, she was the first all-welded vessel built (See timeline for 1920s stuck between 1919 and 1920.)  Here’s the main site.  Was there a previous Poughkeepsie Socony built in the 1920s?

Appearance alone always led me to suspect the house on Kristin could be lowered since she operated on the Erie (Barge) and Champlain Canal.  Click here for an article about Kristin (PS) tied up in Fulton, NY, over the  July 4 holiday in 1956 as a precaution against a fireworks-caused catastrophe.  Below, the house is down.  Anyone recognize the double locks?  I don’t.

Here’s said house, and here

port aft corner is a track it once rode in.

From the house, a catwalk leads toward the stern.

From atop the house, looking forward, notice the breakwater aka delta.

Although I never heard them, the horns (notice my blue hat to the left) are formidable.

From the portside aft quarter looking forward, notice the portside pump engine and a gauge part of the way forward along the catwalk.

Closeup of the gauging system.  Masts on house, like all masts on Kristin, can be folded down for greater clearance.

Closeup of the starboard pump system looking aft.

Looking forward, closeup of the engine driving that pump

Details of piping and valves.

View into one of the cleaning and de-gassed holds.

Looking aft.  The portholes in the foreground allow light into the engine room.

Looking farther aft.  Portholes over the galley, Kristin‘s trademark picnic table, and folding mast.

In the next post, we go below.  All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who wishes to thank Ed Poling and Jim Ash for generous access to Kristin Poling.

Unrelated to Kristin but offered as counterpoint to this series . . . click here for a tour of a small Russian tanker of similar vintage.