A History of Red Hook Norman Brouwer, noted maritime historian - the man who basically wrote THE guides to historic ships and some of our national preservation standards for them - graciously wrote this maritime history of Red Hook for...
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
During the 1970s, there was a long-running discussion about what to do with the Red Hook waterfront after the creation of containerization. There was a plan for a larger containerport running the length of the western shoreline that did not...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A 1921 report of New York City’s Chief Engineer considered the feasibility - structurally, financially, and politically - of constructing a Red Hook shoal island to serve as a protective breakwater. It was suggested that such an island would...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Golten Marine, today is a multi-national corporation but it began in the New York basement shop of Sigurd Golten. Golten (June 03, 1908 - January 04, 1986) grew up and was schooled in Norway, there he became certified as a ship's engineer and then,...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
" A modern port is made up of many things, one of the most important besides the fact that a good port must be a good natural harbor for ships, is the vast array of manmade contrivances for the physical handling of...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The names of things on ships are different than buildings on land. Here are some key words using PortSide New York's MARY A WHALEN as the example. Ship parts: beam: width of the boat bow: front end bulkhead : wall bunk: bed cabin:...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Docked at the German-American pier, at the foot of Ferris Street, in May of 1897 was the clipper ship Belfast - known as a ghost craft in the British Merchant Marine. The World newspaper reported that: "Seamen Burke and...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
“So little opportunity have women had hitherto for demonstrating their capability for business, that it can only be indicated by the success of some particular woman in some unusual and exceptional pursuit; and I know of no better illustration...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
By the end of the 19th century, New York Harbor continued to retain its status as the busiest port in the US, and had become one of the busiest in the whole world. The port was lined with shippers and boats, manufacturers who vied to be close to...