By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the afternoon of June 24, 1924, the Egremont Castle, a 9,000-ton capacity oil ship of the Union Castle line was being loaded when the ship’s winch seized while lowering a 100-gallon drum of gasoline causing its load suddenly jerk upwards....
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Captain Tom Smith was interviewed over lunch in the galley of the MARY A. WHALEN in 2016. For part of his long career, he worked for the same company that owned The MARY, then a working oil tanker, now the flagship of PortSide NewYork....
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Captain Rich Naruszewicz started his career in 1978 as a deckhand. He worked on the MARY A. WHALEN for three years in the early 90s and now is a captain of one of the few remaining oil tankers in the New York Harbor the Chandra B . He was...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Heidi Benedikt - part 1: audio element. Heidi Benedikt - part 2: audio element. Synopsis of interview with Heidi Benedikt, former crew member of the MARY A. WHALEN. Recording times in parenthesis are aproximate. (0:10) The delegate of the...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Photograph of an able-bodied seaman working in snow flurries at Ira S. Bushey and Sons' old shipyard. The end of the line he is working on has been folded back and braided into itself to form a loop. He is inspecting and tightening that splice....
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In 1955, the ESSO NEW YORK, became the first American super tanker to navigate the Gowanus Creek Channel to deliver oil to the Patchogue Oil Terminal, a subsidiary of Ira S. Bushey & Sons, at the foot of Court Street. The dredging of the channel...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the 1800s oil for candles and light was big business. In 1855 both the Atlantic Oil Company and the New York Oil Company had their works in Red Hook Point taking advantage of the easy access to the water. Atlantic Oil Company. Incorporated May...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Atlantic Oil Company, Incorporated May 1853 Capital $120,000 ...Van Dyke St Red Hook Point. President James Struthers [listed under heading Oil and Candle Companies]
