GUP

. . . my latest coined term . . . for which the acronym GUP lends itself is  . . . gross universal product, i.e. what’s transported in vessels like these.  And it really is “universal,” as evidenced by a Hong Kong vessel like this.   That it is gross . . . let me say that it goes without saying.

Newtown Creek and Red Hook belong to two generations of NYCDEP vessels traveling along the East River . . . past places like this in these photos from 2012.  Red Hook came to transport GUP in 2009, the latest sludge carrier until

this one —Hunts Point–came along this February . . . in a photo compliments of bowsprite

Newtown Creek was launched in 1968 . . . and still carries a lot of GUP.

North River . . . 1974. Imagine your garbage being picked up by a 1974 Oshkosh!

Owls Head, the previous class and shown here in 2009 mothballed, launched in 1952!  And I had to find some 1952 waste picker uppers.

In case you’re wondering what prompts this post and what is new in this post, given previous ones like this and this  . . .  well here it is, something I hunted for a long time and finally found yesterday when the air-conditioned New York Public Library felt fantastic!   Mayor La Guardia spent a grand total of $1,497,000–much of it WPA money–for three sludge carriers launched in January, February, and March 1938, Wards Island, Tallman Island, and Coney Island, resp.  Wards Island and Tallman Island became barges Susan Frank and Rebecca K and Coney Island was reefed in 1987, although I can’t find where.

Below are the specs.  Note that “sludge” is NOT raw GUP.  I’d love to hear stories bout and see pics of these Island class DEP boats.  How large were the crews and what was the work schedule?

Click on the photo below for info on what was at least part of waste disposal–built in Elizabethport 1897— prior to La Guardia’s sludge tankers.

Here from the NYC Municipal Archives is a dumping boat said to be hauled out at “East River Dry docks,”  which I’m not sure the location of.

Unrelated, here’s another vessel–Pvt. Joseph F. Merrell-– built at the same location along the KVK in early 1951 and disposed of not far away after transitioning from Staten Island Merrell-class ferry to NYC prison space.  Does anyone know the disposition of Don Sutherland’s photos of Merrell/Wildstein?

“Graves . . ” in Art of Brooklyn Film Fest Tonight

First the specifics . . . 70 Henry Street Brooklyn Heights Cinema tonight at 7 for reception with showing starting at 8.    After the show, stop by at Park Plaza Bar about .1 mile nearby.

So it’s appropriate to lead these NYC Municipal Archives photos off with tugboat Brooklyn.

Next  in an icy North River  (?) . . . . . . Richmond.

Launches  Bronx and

Queens.

Passenger steamer Little Silver, which ran between the Battery and Long Branch, NJ in the first decade of the 20th century.

And finally . . . John Scully, a very classy Dialogue (Use the “find” feature to search) built built tug

And the connection . . . here’s what boats of this vintage look like today in “disintegration experiments” in waters everywhere.  I took these in August 2011 while Gary and I filmed Graves of Arthur Kill.

Some boats of this time, of course, still operate like Pegasus (1907) and Urger (1901)

while others try to stave off time so that they might once again like New York Central No. 13 (1887).

Graves of Arthur Kill T minus 1

I’ve long subscribed to the notion that getting there should be as thrilling as arriving, so  . . .  let’s continue the ride backward past this 1914 post  . . . to  . . . 1910.

Below . . . it’s the Statue cruise of the day loading where it does today.  Notice a roofed Castle Clinton–formerly fort, immigration center, music hall– in the background left.

NYC tug Manhattan . . . built 1874!  Now where do her bones lie?

Steamer Brighton assisted by New York Tugboat Company’s Geo. K. Kirkham.

Front and center here is Celt  (scroll through) , the yacht with many reinventions that now languishes in a creek west of Cincinnati, waiting for me . . .   There’s lots of intriguing traffic in the background.

Thomas Willett built in 1908 by Alex Miller of Jersey City for a fortune in the amount of $335,000.

And finally . . . a 1911 photo of a a vessel captioned as SS Momu . . . .  Tug and pier are also unidentified.  The logo on the stack should help someone.

That’s it for today.   I hope group sourcing can teach us more about these photos.

Graves of Arthur Kill T minus 2

More from the archives . . .  aerial of Pier 40 and the Holland Tunnel vent . . . photo said to be taken in 1955.

Photo said to be “three-masted schooner” in 1937.  Clearly that’s not a schooner there with the GW Bridge in the background.  Anyone know what sailing ship that might have been?

Photo by Sam Brody February 1938.  Ferry Hackensack foreground with Jack Frost Sugars over on the Edgewater, NJ side.

Todd Shipyard, 1935-41 . .  .  Here’s a list of what was built there and an aerial view (you may have to scroll horizontally) of what it today is occupied by IKEA.

SS Normandie . . . headed for the North River piers.

City of Chattanooga December 1937.

Brooklyn docks as seen from Brooklyn Heights, November 1937.  Here’s a Munson Lines flyer.

Here’s the schedule–sorry for all the repetition–for Wednesday evening’s documentary portion of the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, where Graves of Arthur Kill will be shown.  Gary and I will hang for a while at Park Plaza Bar after the show. It may be mobbed?