In this final installment about this trip downbound I took last Sunday, I’ll jump back north to Newburgh, where Staten Island ferry Gov. Herbert H. Lehman is less substantial than in this foto from summer’s start. Lehman is an example of a vessel that goes upriver, literally, never to return . . . although I realize I should be careful with the word “never.”
Here, in this foto by Seth Tane in the late 1970s/early 1980s–remember the “fifth dimension” series of ten posts I posted late last spring–is another such “upriver to die” vessels. If you look at no links again ever in this blog, you have to look
at this one. Sachem –built 1902 as a luxury steam yacht named Celt–also served as USS Sachem, Thomas Edison’s plaything, and Circle Line V. Now she languishes in a tributary of the Ohio River. Hmm . . . maybe I need to gallivant there when next I’m can do so.
To more exotica, here’s lift boat Vision near Verplanck. The deployed ladder . . . I’m not sure this awaits the crew’s return to the vessel, or whether the crew’s on board and forgot to retract it.
Click here to see the same vessel operating near the Narrows about six months ago.
Nearby are Velut Luna on a barge obscuring parts of Tahiti Queen, which appears to be idled.
And in the same marina, also idled . . . the former DEP Cormorant, also gone upriver to die?
Moving from the Great Lakes downbound with my sister on Maraki is Amicus, a 34′ Thomas Colvin design. Amicus is Florida-bound and looking for crew.
And I have to tell a story. At the point Maraki anchored here near Amicus, my sister rowed me to the shore there so that I could catch the MTA back home so that I could get to work. I hiked through 100′ of woods toward a grassy hill between the river and the train station. It was a warm October Sunday afternoon, and when I stepped out of the woods, I found myself not far from an amorous young couple on a blanket, there to enjoy . . . well, nature in a private place. Ah well . . . sorry.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp except the two by Seth Tane, for which I am grateful.
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October 18, 2013 at 3:14 pm
seth tane
Nice post Will, and the link to the Sachem site is priceless. Please forward your scans of my slides of “captain” Miller and the Sachem to Queen City’s authors with our compliments when you have time so he can fill in some of the gaps. I assume you got ’em all ?
BTW for those interested, that’s a diesel-hydraulic outboard made by Murray and Tregurtha that came in various sizes for powering various normally unpowered “vessels”. Many modern (better) equivalents exist. What he went through to hang it on her stern and practice “navigation” and “ship-handling” from the conversion site at pier 9 Jersey City (now Newport City) is a story in itself.
October 18, 2013 at 7:17 pm
eastriver
Wow. Thanks for the Sachem pix and the best link ever! But wait, there’s more…
I believe after Capt. Miller, Sachem was owned and operated by Capt. Jeremiah T. Driscoll, and was run out of Sheepshead Bay. Jerry and his brother were two of the the founders of Sightseeing Yachts Inc. in 1945, which later became Circle Line. I believe that this is how Sachem came to Circle Line. Jerry split with his brother in disgust over the monopoly business that he claimed the Circle Line had become.
He moved into the harbor-lightering business, and owned and operated the motorized lighter Kevin D. which was run out of the late great Pier 15, East River. Came the time when he wanted to slow down, he sold the Kevin D. to his deckhand, Walter Wolf, on the condition that he could remain as Walter’s deckhand. He remained after the Kevin D. was superseded by the lighter Linnekin Islander (ex-Mobil Islander, maybe.)
Jerry lived for many years in the Meyers Hotel, above the Paris Cafe. He later moved into an apartment on Gold Street. I was told that the bronze bollards from Sachem served as stools in his apartment. He was one of the quintessential New York Harbor characters.
Today, it is tough to picture that essentially the only opportunity for people to get out on the sixth boro’s waters was on a Circle Line boat up until the mid-1980s or so. The Seaport Museum’s Pioneer and Seaport Line Harbor Cruise Lines were among the first to break the monopoly by having piers 16 and 17, East River, to operate from. Jerry even filed a lawsuit against Circle Line and the City, which was decided against him in 1987.
He self-published a book, “Crime Circles Manhattan,” which tells a terrific tale of the harbor and lays out his case against Circle Line. He was no fan of the management of the South Street Seaport Museum — despite being a terrific supporter — and always used to say that he would write another book about SSSM, and would entitle it “They Pissed In The Chowder.” Sadly, he never did.
Capt. Driscoll died in 1994. The East River Promenade above Newmarket is named for him; there’s a plaque there set in a rock.
October 18, 2013 at 10:36 pm
tugster
seth and eastriver– thanks much for your comments. seth . . . i’ve been holding those fotos since may, trying to find a context. glad you like. eastriver . . . i’ve heard these circleline stories, but now it’s time i read “crime circles manhattan” and if you recall enough of “they pissed in the chowder,” i’m sure together we know enough people who half remember or can make up the rest. let’s try? btw, i know the monument to driscoll and have a pic. will post it soon. cheers
October 19, 2013 at 6:09 am
Jeff S
does anyone know the whereabouts of any of the recently retired Circle Liners?