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If you ever visit anywhere near Savannah, an absolute must-see is the Ships of the Sea Museum in the former William Scarbrough House, later the West Broad Street School. Given that the house and collection are stunning and the staff extraordinarily welcoming, it didn’t surprise me how crowded the museum was.
Excuse the quality of my photos taken sans tripod, but let’s start with this model of a vessel that has a connection with New York City. Answer follows, but clues for now are that the vessel was built as the Denton in 1864 and you might know the whitish horizontal object to the left of the display case . . . in front of the bow of the model.
The SSM models are quite large, and many of them are the handiwork of William E. Hitchcock.
SS Savannah, e.g., is a great place to begin your tour and appreciate Hitchcock’s handiwork. This vessel–the first steamship to cross the Atlantic--was built on the land’s edge the sixth boro.
Notice the port side of Hitchcock’s model shows the paddlewheel, but
the starboard side features a cutaway to the boiers and the paddlewheel collapsed as it would be while the vessel sailed, which was most of the time.
Another of Hitchcock’s models shows a 220′ schooner as she appeared under construction.
Notice that Forest City‘s demise–as was SS Savannah’s–happened on Fire Island.
The SSM collection also includes a Hitchcock model of USS Passaic, another product of the sixth boro–Greenpoint–although many sources, including this one from wikipedia, state its shipyard as being Greenport, 120+ miles away. Greenpoint’s Continental Iron Works also built Monitor, launched the same year as Passaic.
Back to the model at the top. The vessel Denton had been renamed SS Dessoug when it delivered Cleopatra’s Needle to NYC.
This and much more awaits you at Ships of the Sea Museum. Thanks to Jed for suggesting–half a decade ago–that I go there.
These photos–warts and all-by Will Van Dorp.
The photo below shows a vessel with a quite rare place of registry . . . Washington DC! How often do you see that on a stern? More on that later. These photos were taken about a week ago, and have since scattered to the seven seas.
Florida has an unusual wheelhouse although it has to have great upward views . . .
I was surprised to learn Balsa 87 was built in 2012, given its design and small size.
Bonny Island . . . offloading
salt? Before Christmas it was in Savannah . . . now it’s–like me–is in the sixth boro.
Bright Hero has since moved from Savannah to New Orleans.
This one’s for bowsprite . . . who sometimes is afflicted with the same type of misperception as I am . . . Not surprisingly, this name has been given to many vessels, but this Ocean Pearl is currently departing Delaware Bay.
UASC Shuaiba has since traversed the Panama Canal!
And that DC-registed container ship . . . it entered Savannah escorted by Florida and
and –15 hours later–departed with Savannah as escort.
Washington Express . . . a great name.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
The first two photos above were taken from Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island on Dec. 17. The next three were taken inbound Savannah, GA on Dec. 20. The last one is Dec. 21 . . . As of today–Dec. 27–I’m wondering where Maersk Denpasar is . . . All photos by Will Van Dorp.
I didn’t understand the name Bulldog until I put together the fact that the University of Georgia team mascot is Uga, the bulldog. And there have been Ugas going back for a long time. Google it.
Meanwhile, I’m hoping to get from the #4 US port for volume to the #3 port by the end of Sunday. All photos here by Will Van Dorp.
Georgia. Peacemaker. What a name . . .! If only we all agreed on what that would have to be . . . . Happy all-the-holidays in all the languages. I like this one I learned from frogma: mele kalikimaka. Or this one I made up: mare. eek! charisma’s.
Type peacemaker into the blog search window for some info on her Brazilian provenance.
More photos here from the 4th largest seaport in the US. The top photo above–if you didn’t recognize it at first–shows John Parrish, whom I saw in the sixth boro back in May of this year. Type Random Tugs 128 into the search window to see it.
I hope to be back in NYC by December 28. Happy all the holidays until then.
To see the four Savannah posts from almost five years ago, type “savannah” into the search window on left side of the blog page. It hardly seems possible that a half decade has passed since the last time I was here.
Anyhow . . . on the road and enjoying seeing these Sun, Moran, and Crescent tugs . . . and all the rest.
I’ll never claim to know all the sixth boro stories although I’ve chosen as a goal to hear more of them. Savannah has a great waterfront story. See if you can figure it out from this set of fotos; I will explain at the end of post. Call this . . . what’s Flo Mar’s tale? Call her Florence Martus, if you want, and click here for the spoiler if you wish, but indulge me and see the fotos first. She did get a Liberty ship named for her. Be a sport, and follow the fotos.
She waves at Hoechst Express, whose crew wave back, as do
crew on YM Los Angeles, once they see what they’re seeking.
So is it the friendly waterfront, the large hotel windows convenient for … er … flashing, accidental or intentional, something else? But anyhow, crews seemed vigilant
binoculars at the ready to find waving folk,
waving girls maybe,
and then they wave back with exuberance no matter the ship.
Crew of Morning Chorus not only waved but also shouted audible new year’s greetings to lubbers reveling alongshore.
So Savannah’s hospitality has gotten enshrined. So the story of Flo Mar, as reported in Savannah & the Georgia Coast by Jim Morekis goes like this:
“Beginning at age 19, Flo Mar–who actually lived a few miles downriver on Elba Island–took to greeting every passing ship with a wave of a handkerchief by day and a lantern at night, without fail for the next 40 (plus) years. Ship captains would often return the greeting with a salute of their own on the ship’s whistle, and word spread all over the world of the beguiling woman who waited on the balcony of that lonely house.
Was she looking for a sign of a long lost love who went to sea and never returned? Was she trying to get a handsome sea captain to sweep her off her feet and take her off that little island? No one knows for sure.”
Now I began by denying expertise about New York stories, and harbor folk surrounding the sixth boro may very well have characters as compelling as Flo Mar. I just don’t know them. Anyone throw out some names? Of course, New York does have a very impressive waving girl of its own aka Lady Liberty, as I wrote about here.
One of my favorite New York City novels begins to enlarge the intriguing truth of a failed writer named Herman Melville working out his last days as a night (the insignificant shift) customs inspector in the harbor. Melville actually held this post for 19 years starting around 1866. The novel, The Night Inspector by Frederick Busch, is a great read if you’re trying to see the sixth boro of another era.
Photos, WVD.
tugster: a waterblog 
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