I charted this trip well in advance to get footage at the lowest non winter tide of the year, Took off from the New Jersey side of the kill, enjoy. My instagram: www.instagram....
We’ve got scrappers here that would have all that cleaned up in a week using an S10 pickup and a harbor freight folding trailer.... you’d never see them doing it either.
1:20 I ONCE KAYAKED WITH A GROUP THROUGH THAT FERRYBOAT!! We then crossed the Kill to the Graveyard. Someone painted S.S. MEOW MAN on one of the wheelhouses. Until now, I only knew the Tugs names as my own....the Red Tug and the White Tug. Glad I found this vid! A photog's Fantasy!!
I agree. Straining to read the text, only to have it disappear before I could finish. That said, it was a fascinating video, and I thank you for doing the research and producing this video.
"Takes back the things we forgot" -Ummmmm, no, not really - translation: nature hides the societal garbage of that oceanic dumping ground in the mud - until the NEXT low tide. Ten thousand years from now that skeletal garbage will still be there in that dumping ground - showing up yearly in low tides.
@@clambroth1923 In a salt water environment, it's highly unlikely any of this junk will be recognizable a hundred years from now. Large metal housings and scraps of wood maybe. Look at pictures of this place in 1973. Nature has taken back 80% of it since 1973. 10,000 years?
@@clambroth1923 Lol there won't even be rust left. the ONLY material that lasts the rigors of time is stone. for example How long do you think it's been since this city the size of the ENTIRE State of NY was above water? 10,000yrs? 100 thousand? Stone is all that remains. www.google.com/maps/@31.2384352,-23.9402426,336824m/data=!3m1!1e3
Lol, the 2 governor's are totally corrupt.........Both sent sick people into nursing homes and they died. Only N.Y's one is now getting in trouble but N.J.'s did the same thing.......Nothing on MSM about N.J. ?? be well.
@@bestamerica , I have run up the "Kill" with my boat a few times and there's a lot more junk than on this video. I can say 100% that the Jersey side is much cleaner this is just the tip of the iceberg :-( Both governors are nut jobs n will never clean up the waterways in the lower bay of the Hudson River.................Be Well.
It’s sad to see once hard working ships abandoned to rot. Can you imagine the stories their crews cold tell of hard work, days at sea or on the rivers keeping society moving. Towing barges, transporting commuters, fighting wars keeping ports open. I wish they could interview the crews to hear these stories, bring these ships and their crews back to life
Imagine some of the stories those ships, both military and civilian could tell? Lansing craft of far away battles, ferries taking happy people to and fro, subchasers racing across the seas like greyhounds after the enemy. Tugs moving ships around. They all deserved a better fate than being left to rot in the mud.
Outstanding. As a VFW life member both Post and District historian and a fellow Brooklynite who was raised in the shadow of the Brooklyn Navy and a former Cold War era carrier sailor this is awesome. Drove by the outter bridge often recall seeing the ship but was not aware of its history six USN ships noted.
I love abandoned places. This is such a poignant video.And the music so suits the decay of once living things, human or otherwise.You fill in the history the way you like it. I grew up on the waterfront and we had one old pier that was partially abandoned and there was an old barge that we used to climb over. And the hull of a 19th cetury sailing ship that became a coal hulk and has now been restored and sits near our main city. The Polly Woodside in Melbourne Australia. So much effort by man and a few decades sends it back where it came from.Thankyou for posting..
A lot of people are calling the site a "mess"...but I think they're just a bunch of magpies. To me, the site is a work of art. And yes, I subscribed to this channel.
USS PC-1264 was the Navy’s first all African-American crewed vessel. The exemplary performance of her crew in WWII played a significant roll in the movement to integrate the armed forces after the war.
"I saw which nearly broke my heart A tramp lay dying In the park I knelt beside him to hear him speak And the words that He spoke were very Weak 2 He told me a story of Long since past Of a gallant ship with it's long grey mast Of his captain's cap With it's shining braid And the wonderfull voyages that he made 3 Oh silent annie was that great ships name Like a token of love He spoke her name She sailed round the horn Ay'e more than once She could cut through The waves Like a sharpen'd lance 4 Oh believe me he said As his eyes filled with tears Like a drunk on the corner Remembering his years He reached out his hand And he took it in mine I believe you i said And he gave a sad smile 5 Then came the day when they towed her away Her sid'es they were sore From the sea's angered spray He said she's unfit to Sail out once more They tugged her more windward All around sandyshore 6 As they broke silent annie I watched with a sigh I remembered her beauty When i was a boy She was my one love my Lifes only dream When we sailed out together As captain and queen 7 It started to rain i Felt my hand tight He squeezed even harder As he ended the fight The people they gathered And watched with dismay The ambulance men came and took him away 8 I got to my feet and i Walked through the park The sun it had gone but It was not yet dark My body was wet my Clothes were not many My thoughts were around By the ship silent annie..." Finbar & Eddie Furey Lyrics There is an Old Whalers saying, which went along the lines of; “In the 50s (Latitudes) there was no laws, in the 60s there was no hope, in the 70s there was no God.” "The freight trains will thunder on; the airplanes will roar but the wind will not sigh again gently in the rigging of an old sailing ship. Beauty will be gone from the ocean and an art form lost to the world." Alan Villiers, “Last of The Wind Ships” 1936 . Will ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CpFHffUPQho.html
@@fredgervinm.p.3315 “The Portuguese call it saudade: a longing for something so indefinite as to be indefinable. Love affairs, miseries of life, the way things were, people already dead, those who left and the ocean that tossed them on the shores of a different land - all things born of the soul that can only be felt.” Anthony De Sa, Barnacle Love . Please Be Well My Friend, and Stay Strong, Will
@@mattf1229 - actually, they have been. The original owner of this "Witte Scrapyard", John Witte, was acquiring ships to strip and scrap, but mostly didn't. He accumulated 400. When he died, the next owners have reduced the count to about 30.
@@scdevon I would counter that comment with this. The majority of that metal is highly valuable because it's cast or forged and very different than what is commonly available elsewhere. Ship salvage has always been a huge business for this reason.
Great video work, but I couldn't read any of the ships identification info (font needs to be larger, bolder, and up for a longer time). The people speaking was confusing since it was drowned out by the music. Overall, its a good video, and the music was appropriate.
What always gets me about old machines, wrecked or restored, is that once upon a time, these were part of everyday life. They were once brand new, clean and gleaming, the best modern technology had to offer, like the Toyota Prius or the Space Shuttle. Over time, they suffered the usual scratches, dents, and rust, eventually becoming obsolete and too old to be worth refurbishing. No matter what era, all technology will become obsolete, and be discarded by all but dedicated enthusiasts. It's eerie.
The footage is amazing, and it's great that you have historical information on what these were. It's too bad we can't read it because of that ridiculous typeface 🙁
For so many years Wittes Marine Salvage had the maritime history pass to it and sometimes through it. The place was rigidly controlled and very few marine historians ever could have access. The Schooner “Meteor” was built in 1902 on Shooters island for the Kaiser of Germany. The launching in February was attended by President Teddy Roosevelt and his daughter Alice at the Townsend and Downey shipyard. The great irony was after 2 Wars and the boat being all over the world, it ended up here just a few miles from where it had been built. It was totally scrapped there however because my family was Downey, that built the boat, several of my uncles went there and were actually able to purchase various items from Witte which are still in the family.
the fresh kills landfill is a stones throw away, Lucky Luciano is one of the few to make it back from a trip out there. ( that’s where he got his nick name)
Thank you for this rare low tide footage! The subchasers are in really bad shape. I thought they might be salvageable based on photos from a while ago but no way. Found photos of them back in 1990 and even then they have rust holes in the hull.
The water depth at the remains of those commercial piers would have been 15 to 20 feet at low tide long ago. Amazing how much this place has silted in.
Pretty sure they purposely sink ships in order to make artifical coral reefs that harbor wildlife theres no coral reef here but rotting wood dont hurt nothing.
An interesting perspective about this specific site, one of the ships is spewing something particularly nasty. The mud near these ships at low tide was enough to begin dissolving the rubber feet on my tripod and completely sloughed away the adhesive holding the sole of my sneaker to the shoe. -Source: My own channel, a video from several years back. Otherwise Shipwrecks do make fantastic hard-substrates on a normally sandy bottomed ocean for Corals and other ocean life to build a habitat on. -Source: Google some scientific papers on the matter.
You are so lucky. Not only are they visible, they're positively ancient. And mostly intact, despite being wooden ships. What a catch! This whole place needs to become an outdoor museum. Restore the best ones, and let the rest Rust In Peace. I want to camp out in that ferryboat wheehouse.
Fantastic! I’ve wanted to see detailed footage of the Arthur Kill Ship Graveyard for years. I was hoping to see some abandoned ferry boats and now finally my suspicions are confirmed. Beautifully shot and just amazing to see what’s there up close. As a 60 year old, I remember ferries that would leave from St. George Staten Island bound for Brooklyn, New Jersey and of course to this day to Manhattan. Thanks so much for posting this!
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.
@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.
I visited this graveyard on occasion some 40 years ago. I would tie off my speed boat and we would go exploring on the wrecks. It is nothing like it was back then. There were whole intact cargo ships and ferry's you could actually walk around on. There was even a WW II Navy Destroyer almost fully intact. I wish I could recall the name.
Saw a pink tugboat like that tied up in Benicia CA one time, found someone at the yard and asked if it could be sold. His response: "If the termites ever quit holding hands, it's going straight to the bottom!"
@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.
The excellent drone footage early on was spoiled by the artsy editing that did not allow the shot to establish, just cutting away just as the shot got interesting. The piano music is ok, the captions are not suitable for viewing on a phone or tablet, and what are the annoying voices all about? Other wise interesting
@2:51 the curved and badly tilted wreck at upper left is the 1928 New England steamship New Bedford. Some parts were taken from it to restore it's sister ship the Nobska; unfortunately, the drydock the Nobska was in was needed for the U.S.S. Constitution, and because it could not be floated out, it was scrapped. To the left of the New Bedford is the remains of the steam ferry Seawalls Point. The 1928 ferry Greenwich Village is to the right of the New Bedford. The Navy tugboat HILA (ATR 89) is in the middle of this frame; the tugs Harrisburg and Walter Meseck are above it, and the three landing craft next to PC-1264 are at the bottom. The tugs Sacum and Susan Moran, and the tanker Transoil may be to the upper left of them. Another salvage derrick with it's boom is at upper right.
This property obviously had commercial piers at one point. If it's still zoned that way, it has value and you might see it cleaned up some day. You'd need salvage barges with huge deck cranes picking it all out and dredging. You would eventually get it all out no matter how much is down there. Expensive, but not much different from demolishing and improving other waterfront properties from scratch.
@3:17 In 1998, the MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM H. HART was sold to a private investor, who had requested it to be towed down to this point on the Jersey Coast. After the boat had arrived at the predetermined spot, the tug waited for several hours for pickup to no avail, and the boat was left docked at this pier, where it sits half sunk today. Of special interest, the boat was put onto the National Registry of Historic Ships, not far after her abandonment.
When I was little there were a lot more ships/boats there. Used to be clipped ship hulls that had been de masted . Landing craft were stacked one on the other in big piles. A fire burned most of them many years ago
Correct ! I grew up on Staten Island in the 50's and that area had many more steel barges, ships, relics of WWII. The Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull seperates N.J. from Staten Island NYC. A wasteland then and now.
Nice work! Consider the higher angle of the sun in the summer time when getting drone footage. At noon in the summer, you'll get the light penetrating straight (for this latitude) into the water. In addition to the angle, the strength of the light will be much greater.
As a young teen, my friends and I would go around there and crab off some of the barges.. Never ate any thing we caught but some of the neighbors did and they are still alive. I wouldn't trust the heavy metals, and Petroleum products that were being dumped in the Kill before the 1980's. Now the shore line just south of there is all Condo's and the barges are gone.
I'll bet that pretty much all of those were government owned vessels. They were dumped there due to obsolescence. At the time of their disposal the area was a garbage dump.
@@AnAmericanDodo It was common practice last century to haul worn out boats to a salvage yard like this to be stripped. A boat was a tool. When it wore out, you discarded it. There was money to be made and mouths to feed. People didn't have the Hipster attitude of "restoring" everything back then.
@2:15 at the lower right is the remains of the steam tug Walter Meseck. It was built in Tottenville, NY in 1931, and had a 250HP steam engine. To it's right may be the remains of the steam tug Wilmington, built for the PRR in Wilmington, DE in 1900.
Drove a NYC Transit bus on Staten Island for 22 years. Used to pass that place all the time .Knew it was a ship graveyard didn't realize how big it was. There is also a human graveyard there between Arthur Kill Rd and those ships.
@3:53 HILA (ATR 89) is at the center. The New Bedford with the barely visible ferry Seawalls Point is at the top left edge of this frame. In front of the badly tilted New Bedford is the 1928 ferry Greenwich Village.
This was a legit salvage yard when these boats were brought there so most fuels and oils were most likely removed although there are always residues and paints, etc. All of the damage that is going to be done to the environment has already been done though. A long time ago.
@2:57 above the bow of HILA (ATR 89) in the center of the picture, from top to bottom, are the 1931 steam tug Walter L. Meseck, 1900 PRR steam tug Wilmington, 1916 PRR steam tug Olean (PRR #12). There are a couple of wooden barges, then the 1910 PRR steam tug Chester (PRR #11), what is thought to be the 1919 steam tugboat Lee, then another wooden barge. On the other side of that barge is the 1922 steam tug Shirley Keller and another unknown tug. Then, off to the left, you have side-by-side of the remains of (right to left) the 1928 steam ferry Greenwich Village, 1928 New England steamship New Bedford, and the motor ferry Seawalls Point. Above them is the Meseck Towing company Courier, LT Class steam tug Bloxom, an unknown tug, YOG 64, and tanker Michigan.
@1:56 another view of the 1921 steam ferry Beacon. One of the salvage barges with it's huge derrick is ahead of it. The remains of the steam tug Margaret A Moran and another unknown tug are in front of and off the port bow of the Beacon. An unknown tug, with the remains of the steam ferry Garden City are at the upper right. The steam tug Dewey may be on the right edge of this frame.
I seem to recall that one of the fire boats that went to the assistance of the General Slocum is still in there somewhere. Terrific video. Great drone work and good editing. I’ve subscribed.
@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.
@6:05 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.
This video was just incredible. I have fished at the graveyard for blackfish. It is definitely a cool and interesting place to go. I'm headed up there on Wednesday
Kind of sad really, all of these were someone's boats, someone enjoyed these, worked on these, some probably even lived on some of these. These were someone's livelihoods, and now they stand as the relics of the past, slowly being torn away piece by piece until there is nothing left but the memory. It's quite poetic when you think about it, how we who go throughout our lives work, build, live, and carry on will eventually pass and be left with a shattered husk, destined to wither away until only the memory remains.
Fantastic video of a long forgotten shoreline of abandon marine working craft. All of these old pre- and war time vessels had zero value by the 1950’s or before. See how many docks and warfs were once there in service, now only stub piling.
makes me sad that there is only graveyards of industry in America today. MAGA. make new tug boats again, and recycle the old ones and clean up our waterfronts !
I once heard that the Alexander Hamilton from the Day Line Tour boats was in the Arthur Kill. Do you know it's location? Many thanks for posting this, and I have subscribed to see more. I agree with Craig. The typeface could stand to be bolder, and please leave it on screen for a little longer.
Thank you for the sub! more videos coming soon. i have received a lot of feedback about the typeface, I may redo the video to make it easier to read, as it took a lot of research to get the history and names of as many boats as I could, as far as the Alexander Hamilton , from what i've heard she sank just off the coast of a pier in Atlantic Highlands NJ in 1977, its likely not visible anymore from the surface, I hope this helps,
That may have been the ferry that was grounded up the Raritan on the south side near the turnpike bridge. there was a ferry and a huge luxury yacht grounded there. I believe they were removed. Have to swing by there and see for myself.
@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.
we have our ship graveyard at Spike Island Widnes the ships there are all ine type Mersey Flats and At Sutton Level locks on the River Weaver uk including the oldest Mersey flat Called Daresbury which was built in 1772 and was aflote till 1960 and was sunk in the lock along with 30 other boats inculding narrow boats, a steam launch and Weaver Flats
This is stupid, let's recycle the metal and let these ships live again. We also would be helping old Mother Earth to become cleaner. It's really a win-win choice, LET'S DO IT.
@1:50 in the middle of this shot next to PC-1264 are the remains of the three landing craft. The hulk behind them may be the steam tug Ned Moran. The 1921 steam ferry Beacon is at the upper left.
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.
I'm amazed that both federal and state regulators have done nothing about this mess! It needs to be cleaned up and the waterway returned the flora and fauna, like nature intended!
You have it all wrong. Over the years it has become a haven for various types of wildlife. That is actually preventing the yard from being cleared away today, it is now a nature preserve. The flora and funa living there are why it still exists.
@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.
The Staten Island boat graveyard is a marine scrapyard located in the Arthur Kill in Rossville, near the Fresh Kills Landfill, on the West Shore of Staten Island, New York City. The place has been recognized as an official dumping ground for old wrecked tugboats, barges and decommissioned ferries.
@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.
Cuantas historias en esos barcos que nunca se sabrán...Seguro que los ferrys y remolcadores tal vez puedan ser vistos en imágenes de películas y noticieros de época. Todo lo que va a quedar de ellos para su recuerdo.
You should have seen it in the seventies, rows and rows of tugs and ships. Time and storms have reduced it to what you see here. It used to be a breaker yard/scrapper. Why it stopped operation and all the vessels were abandoned, I don’t know. Maybe one day the money will be found to clean it up. Fresh kills landfill is well on its way to being the largest park in NYC, that land and waterfront could be worth millions in a few years.
Two things kept these ships from being scrapped. The first was the construction of bridges in the 1960s that instantly rendered many car floats, their steam tugboats, steam ferries, and fire boats obsolete. This sudden influx of boats to be broken up was more than the Witte's could handle at one time. I believe the other occurred on the 4th of July 1978, when some fireworks landed one of the steam ferries, I believe the American Legion. The fire quickly spread through the wooden vessels in the yard, and took several days to put out. A wooden barge filled with brass gauges and pumps salvaged from the other boats caught fire and sank into the muck; it is still there today. That made salvaging the remaining vessels more difficult. Some fellow boat nerds helped me identify most of the remaining boats in the yard. I will go through the video again and try to share the identities of as many as I can. So much as rotted away and sunk in the passing decades.
I see lots of good firewood, love the old vessels, at least some of these old hulks are former steamers, so very little pollutants, unlike a more modern ships.
I was assigned to Arthur Kill State Prison in 2003 and there were hundreds and hundreds of ships being cut up for scrap their. With the price of scrap iron is so low now no one is looking for it. It looks like a lot of wood, and hard to get scrap steel is all that is left now. Needs to be cleaned up, but by whom, and at what expense??? History that is fading away with time.
verrazzano and perth amboy are not near each other its the OUTER BRIDGE CROSSING and perth amboy and yes there is another mess on the staten island side right near the outer bridge crossing
Well, as far as I’ve seen there wasn’t been any major cases of toxins getting in the water, so it’s not too polluting. It’s an eyesore to most, but wood and metal isn’t going to hurt much
