I do Urban Exploration videos, that being said I try to put some history in with the videos to do justice to some of the incredible abandoned structures, ship wrecks and plane wrecks that I find, I'm not just here for the adventure, but the story and the history as well. Expect some backyard ballistics videos now and then. I hope you enjoy. I do not endorse graffiti covering all this abandoned history.
Gear: 1998 Jeep Cherokee (runs most of the time) Gopro hero 5 Feiyutech g6 gimbal (realized how badly i needed it after my early videos, sorry) Mavic Pro 1 "Waterbug" Ipod 6 Garmin 64st An old boat that was given to me, with a 40lb Minn Kota Motor
Looking for any available info. about my great grandfather. He was a Dutch tugboatb captain in New York harbor in the 1800's. The tug he was piloting was run over by the ocean liner he was towing out or into the harbor. He was killed and left an orphaned son (he was predeceased by his wife. His last name was Bulwinkle. I do not know his first name . His son was named Richard (called Dick). Thanks for any info!
I don't get it there's so much steel, iron where you can run a mill for a year. Not only would it clean it up there's plenty of cheap steel. And that's one thing we need to recycle. But I don't see any left-wingers over there doing that work. They can't walk around with a poster on the water and scream about the planet and they're in charge. New Jersey's been Democrat for decades so is New York. So this is just a lot of crap from people who never cared ever just wanted money for themselves. Clean it up. Or don't ask me for another dime for the environment. Now you know why I don't believe anything these crazies tell me this is an environmental disaster makes Love canal look like a walk in Central park.
So why is city not moving to clean it up and restore it before opening it up for public recreation. There is some guy in comments who is willing to clean up this crap city aught to look into it.
What's so ridiculous is the pollution in this area, it is so bad there are signs stating to not eat anything caught in the waters. You see oil slicks on the water and just a smell that is reprehensible, the "mud" is nothing but oil-laden sticky muck. So where are all these environmental activists protesting this? Where is the state doing its part to keep the waters clean? NY/NJ, the politicians are just a bunch of hypocrites along with the EPA.
No, they were originally made as steam tractors. Some may be repurposed but I’ve never seen one that was from an old train. They’re really cool and some sound better than others. A Baker steam tractor sounds the best to me…
The New England passenger vessel of 1928 in the film is the New "Bedford," which operated around Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard for the Eastern Steamship Company. In World War II, she sailed across the Atlantic in a convoy of similar ships that did battle with German U-boats and survived to reach the U.K. She was used as a hospital ship and was involved in evacuating wounded personnel from Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion. She returned to the U.S. after the war and ran as an excursion boat until abandoned in the Arthur Kill.
@3:54 you can barely see the semi-circular roof and other remains of the 1910 PRR steam tug Chester (PRR #11) next to barge at the right edge of this frame. The 1900 PRR steam tug Wilmington is at lower right, the remains of the 1916 PRR steam tug Olean (PRR #12) are in between.
@6:21 as near as I can tell, this is the area where the steam American Legion was, with the steam ferry Rockaway on one side and two more ATRs on the other side. The American Legion was gutted by fire in 1977 and several vessels around it burned as well. The fire was supposedly started on July 4th, when people in pleasure boats, celebrating the 4th of July shot fireworks into some of the wooden boats. The fire burned pretty well across the yard and took three days to put out. There were wooden barges filled with steam gauges, steam pumps ("hundreds of them"), fire extinguishers, and other machinery. When they were burned in the fire, their contents fell into the brackish water of the Hudson River and sank into the mud, most of it never to be recovered. The paths between the hulks were gone as well; making their salvage all the more difficult.
My comments were all over the place because it took me some time to get myself oriented, the yard continues to change from year to year as the vessels continue to fall apart or disappear. I have aerial photographs taken by others for each of the time periods below. Witte Marine Equipment Yard - 1960s until the fire in 1977 It was during this time that the yard reached it’s greatest extent, as entire fleets of ferries, tugboats, carfloats and barges were retired in the 1960s. Witte was ordered by the Coast Guard to get rid of some of the vessels, as they were encroaching on the main channel. Some were scrapped; while others were towed and beached at a spot further south on the other side of the tank farm; where they remain today. Witte Marine Equipment Yard - post-fire 1977 to the mid 1980s The hulks remaining in the yard began their slow decline after a fire in 1977, which gutted the ferry AMERICAN LEGION and scorched several of the surrounding vessels. The fire was supposedly started on July 4th, when people in pleasure boats, celebrating the 4th of July shot fireworks into some of the wooden boats. The fire burned pretty well across the yard and took three days to put out. There were wooden barges filled with steam gauges, steam pumps ("hundreds of them"), fire extinguishers, and other machinery. When they were burned in the fire, their contents fell into the brackish water of the Hudson River and sank into the mud, most of it never to be recovered. The paths between the hulks were gone as well; making their salvage all the more difficult. Witte Equipment Marine Yard - mid 1980s to the mid 1990s The hulks in the yard continued their slow decline during this time. Mr. Witte passes away; the new owners scrapped the vessels that were still afloat, including the ferries JAMESTOWN and LACKAWANNA, while others such as the carfloat 618 sank during this time. Much of the equipment in yard has been here for 20 years, as long as it’s operational life! Much of the Shaun O’Boyle and Barry Masterson photo collections (no longer available on the web, may have been captured by the Internet Archive, but not sure) were taken during this time frame. They show that steam machinery can still be found aboard several of the vessels, and Scotch-type boilers and other machinery was strewn about the yard. Witte Marine Equipment Yard - mid 1990s The slow decline of the hulks in yard continues. More vessels disappear, while others continue to collapse and sink into the muck. The huge steam derrick next to the LEIF VIKING, which dominated the west end of yard, would be razed to it’s wooden raft, while the large derrick between the stern of the NEW BEDFORD and unknown tug in the east end of the yard was razed as well. By this time, the yard has become a marine sanctuary; guaranteeing they will be there for some time to come.
@6:10 the name of the smashed tugboat above the bow of the 1921 steam ferry Beacon is unknown. Above and behind it are the remains of the tugboats Garden City and Dewey.
@6:05 notice the tops of the boilers and the tops of the compound steam engines sticking up out of the three tugs on the right. From right bottom upwards, they are the Sachem, an unknown tug, tug Pentucket, Ned Moran, possibly tug Mary E Messeck, unknown barge, Margaret A Moran (not visible), unknown tug (not visible), 1921 steam ferry Beacon.
@5:48 in the space above the HILA (ATR 89) used to be the NY FD fireboat ABRAM S. HEWITT, 1908 tugboat Transfer #21, and 1904 tugboat Transfer #16. The ABRAM S. HEWITT served from 1903 until 1958; it was one of the fireboats that attempted to put out the fire aboard the NORMANDIE, and resulted in the ocean liner's capsizing at her moorings and later being scrapped. It was built by New York Shipbuilding Corp in 1903, and was the last coal-burning fireboat used. It had a triple expansion four cylinder engine.
@5:14 that is the remains of the 1900 PRR tug Wilmington and 1916 PRR tug Olean (PRR #12) at center left. The 1910 PRR tug Chester (PRR #11) was behind the Olean, but it is not visible.
@5:09 from the bottom of the screen upwards, you have an unknown tugboat, what is thought to be the 1922 Hudson Tow Boat Co. steam tugboat Shirley Keller and the 1919 Lee Transit Corp. steam tugboat Lee. On the other side of the two wrecked barges are the 1910 PRR steam tugboat Chester (PRR #11), 1916 PRR steam tugboat Olean (PRR #12), and 1900 PRR steam tugboat Wilmington. Then HILA (ATR 89). The 1916 PRR screw steam lighter Bucyrus and the 1914 railroad carfloat 618 used to be where those barges are at top right; I assume they are gone for good now.
