By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The MARY A. Whalen went aground on the Rockaways in New York, shortly before Christmas 1968. The company who owned The MARY at the time, Reliable Transfer Co., blamed the Coast Guard. They argued that accident occured because one of the harbor...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Shannon Geis spent months researching the history of Red Hook, reading old newspapers, and, "most importantly, speaking with the people of Red Hook about how they view the community and where they see themselves in it." Her interviews took...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Don Horton worked with his family on barges from the age of 10 to 18. This meant that during WWII, his family was part of the merchant marines, doing dangerous work since German U-boats were attacking American commercial vessels trading along our...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Hear notable marine engineer and architect Dr. Charles R. Cushing talk about the rescue of the MARY A. WHALEN. Cushing has played a significant role in maritime history during 60+ years, including being one of the architects of...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Rich Naruszewicz was interviewed by PortSide NewYork's Jenny Kane in 2014. Captain Rich Naruszewicz: audio element. Synopsis of Interview (times are approximate, text is not word-for-word but provides a gist of the audio recording) I work in NY...
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
Gary Shiflett, currently a fleet manager, used to work for Ira S. Bushey and Sons and Eklof Marine. In 2016, while standing in the galley of PortSide NewYork's MARY A. WHALEN - a "Bushey boat" - he told of some of his memories...
Interviewed in 2013 at age 19, Rasheed Johnson, a resident of NYCHA’s Red Hook houses, talks about how the neighborhood has changed in the past 8 years since he got here. Development has eliminated all his “hang out spots” except for Valentino...
Richard Gambino, a retired professor, grew up in Red Hook in the 1950s. Interviewed by oral historian Shannon Geis in 2013, he recalls it as a close-knit Italian immigrant commumity. He talks of the customs and traditons of the waterfront...
Gerard Rokosz is a man deeply in love with his former job as the last dry dock manager at Todd Shipyard. At the time of this 2005 interview, he was working for a marina and nostalgic about the shipyard: "seeing my old office collapsing makes me...
