The Mary A. Whalen was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 2012.

The National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. It is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

According to that 2012 evaluation report, she is significant in the area of historic marine technology as one of few remaining intact examples of a 1930s motorized coastal/harbor tanker, and because of her association with Ira S. Bushey & Sons" a Red Hook business of national importance that closed in the early 1980s.  "Bushey's" was a shipyard and fuel terminal at the foot of Court Street.  

In December 2023,  the Mary A. Whalen was raised to the level of “national significance” on the National Register.  This new status was based on additional documentation submitted by PortSide: specifically the legal background and importance of a dispute over damages following her 1968 grounding that led to the Supreme Court, in United States v. Reliable Transfer Co, 1975, dramatically changing how damages were to be assessed in American maritime collisions going forward.  No longer were the cost of damages split 50/50,  now the courts would decide how much each party was to blame - and had to pay. 

This part of Mary's story was not part of her initial 2012 application to be recognized on the National Register because it was an event less than 50 years old, and as such needed to be reviewed by a special committee, and PortSide had a deadling to meet and
could not wait.

PortSide NewYork's complete 2023 NPS Application for the Mary A. Whalen with its complete narative history is here.  

The National Park Service's Bulletin announcing the Mary A. Whalen's upgraded status is here.

Click here for a guide to Mary A. Whalen articles in RedHook WaterStories.