Sixth Boro Fifth Dimension Search

Sixth boro fifth dimension posts are about vintage NYC harbor shipping culture photos.  This very welcome photo I received from frequent commenter/researcher William Lafferty.  This should be an easy question for many of you:  where was this photo taken?

Here’s what William says about the photo above:  “You don’t see classic New York harbor steam tugs in color often.  I acquired this red border slide years ago.  It shows Carroll Towing tugs docked, I’m guessing, in Greenpoint, between 1950 and 1955, very late in their careers.  You should be able to identify the location.  From left to right we have J. F. Carroll, Jr., Sally Carroll, Richard S. Carroll, and Anne Carroll.  The J. F. Carroll, Jr. was built at Baltimore in 1911 by Spedden Shipbuilding Company as the Neptune for the Curtis Bay Towing Company there.  The Army Engineering Department got it in 1915 and renamed it San Luis operating it in the New York District.  After World War II Carroll obtained it, and it lasted until 1958, probably ending its days at Witte’s. [Note:  Witte’s today is known as Donjon Recycling.] The Sally Carroll was built by John H. Dialogue at Camden in 1906 as the Haverstraw for the Cornell Steamboat Company but the Lehigh Valley Railroad bought it in 1907 and renamed it Aurora.  After a stint in World War I as a minesweeper and later towing tug for the navy, it was returned to LV in 1919.  Carroll got it in the early ’50s but it, too, disappears by 1960.  The Anne Carroll was another Lehigh Valley carfloat tug, built by the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company at Port Richmond in 1910 as the Auburn, and dismantled at Staten Island in 1960.

My particular interest is the wooden Richard S. Carroll, since it was built on the lakes.  It was launched as Active 4 January 1919 at the Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, yard of the Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, one of a number of small yards on the Lakes and East Coast to built standardized 100-foot wooden tugs for the Emergency Fleet Corporation.  Powered by a double cylinder vertical compound steam engine built by Chicago’s Marine Iron Works, it operated for the United States Shipping Board in New York harbor until 1925 when transferred to the navy as USS Active  YT 112.  Decommissioned by the navy in June 1946, Carroll bought it 21 July 1947 and renamed it.  It was dismantled at Staten Island in 1956 and its final document surrendered at New York on 20 February 1957.”

Besides the location question, does anyone have additional photos of any of these Carroll tugs, particularly Richard S.?

Many thanks to William Lafferty for this photo and information.

A photo of Anne Carroll appears in this post about the 1952 Hudson River tugboat race.