Tidel1V"ater Tugboating Recollections of tugboat and barge commerce on Long Island Sound and the reaches of New York Harbor before World War II by Philip Thorneycroft Teuscher ments sited on tida l estu ari es. ' ' Me n , go back to Sha ll o w-draft, cente rboa rd , work . When I get home I will g ive gaff-rigged sloops and schooyou a square deal! " ners evolved with hard bil ges It was 19 19 and Pres ident enabling them to beach on tidal Wil son was in France orchesfl a ts, whe re wago ns we re tratin g th e c reati o n of the dri ven ri ght up to the grounded League of Nati ons. vessels to handle the cargo. As steam nav igatio n deve lIn New York a seaman' s oped in the nineteenth censtrike had paral yzed harbor tury, sailing vesse ls we re supshipping. Dan Ro land, second eng in eer with the Red Star pl anted by steam tow boats Towin g Company, li stened as pulling strin gs of barges and the Pres identi al te legram was by sma ll coas ta l stea me rs ca ll ed " cana le rs." The un read to a pac ked-to-capac ity union ha ll crowd. The Pres idredged, shallow rivers and dent ex ho rted the men to "go creeks necess itated the use of bac k to wo rk " fo r the sake of the atmospheric ex hausting, non-condensing, hi gh pressure the country and the reg ional economy. Dan remarked that steam engine for tugboat pro"w hen the Pres ident of the "' pul sion. Thi s was because the country speaks to yo u like that, ~ kee l condenser, for recycling you couldn ' t turn him down! " ~ bo iler feed-water, would not And the seamen went bac k ~ condense effective ly near the to work . ~ mudd y bottoms of these sha tThose were less compli ~ low waterways. cated times when c iti zens were ~ The Red Star tugs that Dan more like ly to believe a Pres i¡ 8 eng ineered used 16" bore by denti a l promi se and working The Red Star tugs Huntington and Greenwich at Wa l/about Market, 20" stroke hi gh press ure enBrooklyn. in the early / 930s. Dan Roland sits on the pi/ot house deck g¡111 es b ' lt b S II' East craft were powered by coal- steps; notice the drinking water cup han gin g off the ladder. h S UI Y. u Miv anhon fi red bo il e rs and " up-a nd ' ' tree t 1n a n a tta n . 8t down " rec iprocatin g steam e ng ines. knew we wo uld never stop in time . I Steam , at ISOpsi, generated by IpenDan's and others' recollection s create a thought of my daughte r and putting her hauser Bo il ers of De lancy Street, drove pi cture of life aboard when bulk cargoes th ro ugh co llege and I thought of the these power pl ants. Working revolutions were transported by barges pulled by ninety fee t of water unde r o ur keel and were 90 per minute turning a nine-foot1 gave her all the steam I had AHEAD diameter, four-bladed , cast iron prope ller. steam tugs . The anecdotes are imbued with an [countermanding the Captain 's orders]. Captains in the pi lot house signa l led immedi acy and presence, and detail s I call ed the fireman to come up, in case the ir engineers at the steam control s are fl eshed-out in the ve rnacul ar, for the something happened. I swear I could using the be ll -pull , jing le-be ll system , reco ll ecti ons are ali ve with the excite- feel the wind of that scow pass as we just g iving the fo llowing comm ands: one be ll- when stopped, AHEAD SLOW; ment o r tension of the long ago event. squeaked by! " Later, over in Jersey, ti ed-up to the when ahead slow, STOP; whe n ahead " One spring day in 191 9 I heard fo ur short blasts, the danger signal! I looked stake boat, the Capta in came down from full , S LOW ; when as tern , STOP; two o ut the engine room port. There she was, the pilot ho use and sa id , ' We ll , Chief, I be ll s-AS T E RN SLOW ; jin g le the Mexpect, the Mexican Petrol eum g uess you were ri ght. We would never FULL. Also when abo ut to cast off, the Captainwould signalGETREADYwith Company 's tug, one of the most power- have made it!" ' ful in the port of New York. We were on So Dan Ro land , eng ineer, recalled a the jing les. a co lli sion course just west of Butter- c lose shave and hi s ri sky decision to Dan said , " I spoil ed alot of capta in s milk Channel, the tide ebbing fast. To counterm and hi s Capta in 's orders. and mates. I was so fas t, Captain used to The Primal Power of Steam say to me, ' I can always tell who's at the starboard , the Mexpect, smoke pouring out of her stack , a huge bow wave and a T he Hudson Ri ver, Long Island Sound th ro ttl e down there!' I had an o ld eng ili ght scow side-tied , had the tide fa ir and and the ir tida l reaches fo rm an intercon- neer- he was the brother of the found er was bearing down on us. Two be ll s nected water highway. Indi ans paddled of the company (Red Star, found ed by sounded for STOP ENGINES and then these waters whil e trading, hunting and Capta in Barber in 1884). He' d be on the two be ll s and the jing les for FULL on seasonal mi grati ons. With the advent oppos ite side of the engine, a be ll would ASTE RN! W e had just taken on full of the Euro pean, sai ling craft carri ed come down , he' d fini sh lighting hi s pipe bunkers and water and we were deep. J cargo and passe ngers to and from settle- before he answered that be ll. With me, 12
SEA HISTORY 76, WINTER 1995-96