What is that? asked one gentleman standing at beside a lock. The geese took no chances and scurried as it approached.
From this angle, its ferry origins are quite evident. Scroll to compare with SS Columbia and SS Astoria.
This is the bow of Ward’s Island; she’s departing the way she arrived around 1937 but stern first, leaving under duress.
Here the tow departs E-12 for Amsterdam.
That’s E-11 in the distance, and from this vantage point, I see
the hull as a sounding board for an as-yet invented instrument. I believe that before she goes to the reef, her crane and wheelhouse will be once again mounted. For show.
From one of her former crew, here’s what a working Ward’s Island looked like late in a season, replacing summer buoys with winter buoys.
The next batch I took near E-10, a lock allowing photos from the sunny side.
As you can see, she was certainly rotund.
To close out this post, . . . to that gentleman who couldn’t identify the blue rotund hulk, I’d say this reefing plan is obliterating some NYS history that could be repurposed. Eradicating context destroys a dimension of the Canal. What do you think?
For more about the photo below by Jon Crispin, click here.
The photo above by Jon Crispin. All others by Will Van Dorp.
It occurs to me that someone might want to start a website using the slogan above.
Click here for previous canal reef express posts. For Urger posts responding to and with the same urgency, click here.
tugster: a waterblog 
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July 22, 2018 at 5:15 pm
tugster
Posted for anon: “The Ward’s Island is just the next in the Canal Corporation’s long list of historic vessels that are being sent to the reef by Governor Cuomo. These vessels are as much a part of the fabric of our Erie Canal as the locks, dams, lighthouses and freight houses. I would say even more so as they were the icons that all could see going up and down the waterway. Their defining presence has been shared by generations over time and space.
The justification for this loss is puzzling to me. Watching it yesterday, I noticed how the pilot house and crane had been stored within the hull. The Canal Corporation is going to the extra large expense of having these elements reattached to their original positions when it reaches downstate so that the Governor can release it for sinking looking like an actual ship to become a toy for a handful of scuba divers. One observer who is very familiar with marine engineering noted in looking at the steel framing within that “its old bones are just as rock solid as the day they were born”, that the Ward’s Island was in excellent shape. Its metal exterior skin was getting thin after nearly a century of use, a predictable and manageable repair that the Corporation once regularly performed with its own crews. I wasn’t alone yesterday in also seeing the many other uses that the boat could have done if Corporation had allowed for those opportunities. The large flat deck could have been an ideal platform to serve waterfront communities along the canal corridor.
The history of the Ward’s Island is a far better Upstate/Downstate link than what Lieutenant Governor Hochul proclaimed at the reef sinking of the canal Tender 7 and Tender 8 a few days ago. Built in 1929 along with its sibling the Tenkanas, the Ward’s Island provided ferry service between Manhattan and the State’s facilities on Ward’s Island before the construction of the Triborough Bridge. The two vessels were brought Upstate for canal use in 1938. The Ward’s Island was one of the great workhorses of canal operations in Central New York, an ideal vessel for installing and removing buoys on Oneida Lake.”
my reaction: Amen! Very well articulated.
July 22, 2018 at 5:58 pm
Tom
The Wards was just going to continue to take up space on dry dock in Lyons. It had been out of service for two years, and hadn’t been self-propelled for 13 or 14 years before that. One engine failed, and it permanently became a regular derrick boat. In that time period, it had only been used for Oneida Lake buoys, and it has since been successfully replaced for that task by a land crane on a flat scow. All the old-timers said it couldn’t be done, and it’s worked just fine. We don’t even have the man power to operate or properly maintain the Wards.
It’s not like it’s one of the boats we built. People are crying over a re-purposed hunk of crap.
Good riddance.
July 23, 2018 at 11:23 am
tugster
Tom– I was hoping someone else would weigh in here. You are correct about the poor working condition of Ward’s Island. Whether it was built in NYS by the Canal or not, a lot of folks spent lots of years working on it. The fact that it is repurposed to me is a tribute to NYS ingenuity. It’s a shame that her history isn’t better known as a downstate and an upstate boat. What I lament is what appears to be a hurried disposal of vintage equipment for a dubious reef. I’m not a marine scientist, so I can’t prove that a few boats will increase the fishing diversity around Long Island. I’d love it if someone knowledgeable commented on that. The boat I think should be returned to operational condition and operation is Urger, also built out of state and repurposed.
July 22, 2018 at 9:56 pm
Charlie Friderici
It was nice to meet you yesterday, although I didn’t realize at the time who I was meeting. Thank you for taking the time to chat and educate me about the ship.
Charlie Friderici
Niskayuna NY
July 23, 2018 at 12:15 am
tugster
I enjoyed meeting you also, Charlie, although I hoped as I drove away, I hadn’t “talked your ear off.”
July 23, 2018 at 6:12 pm
Charlie Friderici
Not at all! The history is fascinating
July 25, 2018 at 9:53 am
Rembert
Context is in my opinion just as important as the main thing, when it comes to preservation. The major structures of monuments stay readable in the landscape over a long period of time. Less significant objects / traces at the edge of them and of awareness tend to disappear unseen. Therefore they need protection even more (at least if you follow western concepts of historic preservation).
Our ancestors appreciated the “Patina”, those diminutive colour and grinding marks. Authorities, at least here, have rediscovered that old insight long ago, but have to fight against shortsighted business interests of real estate developers. It might be more important that the tourist sector has made the experience, that aseptic (canal) zones can be placed only with considerable discounts. Brush-off is easily done, but faked fluff stands out.