Veterans of the uniformed, non-uniformed, and the clandestine services are everywhere. Many prefer others not even suspect they served. My hat’s off to you all. Click here for “five facts to know” about the day.
Pondering what to post today, I came to these photos shared by an anonymous photographer from years ago, back when these ghost fleet ships, more here and here, waited. Unlike flesh and blood people, these vessels waited as if in quarantine, isolated here until they were returned to service or scrapped. Veterans return and mostly blend back into the society from which they temporarily excluded themselves.
I never saw the ghost fleet on the Hudson, but being sequestered in rafts, these ships certainly caught attention of everyone who passed.
Thank a vet or vets today for their service.
Thanks to an anonymous photographer for having taken these photos.
My post from exactly a decade ago can be found here.
tugster: a waterblog 
10 comments
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November 11, 2021 at 12:51 pm
Joseph Johnson
Vessels of this era were abundant in the Cape Fear river in NC in the 60’s and 70s’. Following the Reagan administration build-up of the navy, many of those vessels spent time rafted together in the same locations as their predecessors.
November 11, 2021 at 2:23 pm
tugster
Joseph– i had to look this up, since i’m originally a north Carolinian and had not heard this story. Here is part of it: https://greensboro.com/reserve-ships-on-standby-in-the-cape-fear-river/article_3a6c342e-712f-5249-9a2e-c9dd56bca344.html
November 12, 2021 at 8:22 am
Joseph Johnson
Some quick additional info on the mothball fleet:
https://federal-point-history.org/history-shorts/brunswick-river-harbored-huge-mothball-fleet/
https://www.ncpedia.org/mothball-fleet
November 12, 2021 at 9:48 am
tugster
Thx, Joseph. That ghost fleet was larger than I’d imagined!
November 11, 2021 at 2:02 pm
tugster
If i’d seen this story earlier, I would have incorporated it into my post, but it’s worth reading here. There are folks who do “trail magic” along long hikes and “river angels” who do the same for long-distance paddlers . . . here’s a story I’ve not heard/read until today . . . Donut dollies. Know of them? Excuse the name as just a vestige of the times, but the intention is positive: https://redcrosschat.org/2020/06/05/how-red-cross-donut-dollies-supported-u-s-troops-during-wartime/
November 11, 2021 at 2:49 pm
mark15400
I think there was something like 8 sites where the goverment laid up ships.
Some fighting vessels were laid up in Bayonne for awhile. Saw the Hudson fleet when i was very young.
may have been more but I don’t have time to look it up.
November 11, 2021 at 4:45 pm
Frederick H Mallett
A family friend back in the 1950s had a 14 foot plywood runabout with a 18 hp Evinrude. He would launch it just down the river at Stony Point. It was a time when the ghost fleet was stored just south of Jones Point. In addition to WW 2 vessels there was a few that were pre WW 2 vessels.
November 11, 2021 at 5:15 pm
tugster
Thx, Fred. now if only there had been digital camera and drones back then . . . there’d be a lot more photos to look at these days.
November 11, 2021 at 6:56 pm
Lou Carreras
Thanks for these photos particularly I remember my father driving along the Hudson to view them. For him it was very personal, there were ships in those rafts that he had served aboard.
November 11, 2021 at 8:34 pm
Trucker~Tim
The Powell Family will never forget the sacrifice made by so many. Thank You All.