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Rondout Creek News

05 Apr 2004

Anyone Want to Restore a Tugboat?

You'd think it would be easy to start a tugboat museum. First, get an old tugboat. Clean-up some rust with a pad of coarse steel wool, slap-on a coat of paint, and presto, you're ready to sit in the booth and sell tickets. Everyone would applaud your efforts because, first, everyone loves tugboats and all they represent - solid construction and earnest purpose, hard work and benevolent contributions to civilization. And second, because old tugboats, all spiffied-up, are handsome sights, an alluring environmental decoration wherever they're found. And third, because the design of tugboats, like most of society's tools, has undergone great change, and the old ones are dying-off fast. You'd think everyone would support your labors at preserving a noble cultural heritage.

10 Jun 2005

Talking About the John J. Harvey

Everybody talks about the John J. Harvey, and quite a few of them are doing something about it. The chipping, scraping, and painting you'd expect a 74-year-old fireboat to require has proceeded since the vessel became privately owned in 1999, but that's only the beginning of the discussion. For within the city the fireboat served for its first sixty years, a peculiar love/hate seems to have developed toward the harbor. That, more than leaks, can influence the future of the most historic of vessels, even as it affects contemporary ones doing their daily chores. The John J. Harvey was built for these waters in 1931, launched into them by the Todd shipyards at Brooklyn and serving them steadily, reliably, even heroically.

07 Sep 2005

Tanks for the Memories

How many things that we thought were forever, that were around since the beginning, have vanished absolutely from view? If you're twenty or over, you may recall the typewriter, and large offices packed with clattering Underwoods. Audiocassettes. The beercan opener ("churchkey"). The Automat cafeteria. The steam tugboat. Depending on how far back you go, you once knew any one of these - all, if you're at the height of middle-age. But which was the last one you saw? Remember its name, and the day you saw it? Did you know it would be the last time? When did it first strike you that it's been ages since you saw one? Do you ever wish you could see one again? Don't hold your breath. There are still steam tugs around, but you won't find them shipdocking.