The Mary A Whalen
The oil tanker MARY A.WHALEN is PortSide NewYork's ambassador to the BLUEspace and site of our offices and many programs. Built for Red Hook's Ira Bushey and Sons, she was launched May 21, 1938 and is significant to area history and national maritime law.
Below are a collection of stories, images and oral histories relating to the Mary A Whalen.
1 The MARY A. WHALEN
A PDF guide to MARY A. WHALEN inEnglish,French,German,Spanish,Italian
The oil tankerMARY A. WHALENwas launched May 21, 1938.The ship is PortSide NewYork's ambassador to theBLUEspaceand site of our offices and many programs.
Why she is…
2 Audio Tour of The MARY A. WHALEN
Explore The Mary A. Whalen by clicking on the links below and hearing about her places and people. Or read a guide inEnglish,French,German,Spanish,Italian, Urdu
Plimsoll Line
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Edwin Poling (he and…
3 Bells are Direction, Jingles are Speed
The MARY A WHALEN is a rare surviving example of a bell boat.On a bell boat, the person steering (the captain or the mate) has no direct control over the speed of the engine, nor whether the ship goes forward or in reverse. The engineer, as the name…
4 Fairbanks-Morse Model 37 Marine Diesel Engines brochure
The engine of the MARY A WHALEN is not exactly the same. Ours is a Fairbanks Morse 1938 37E12 6 cylinder direct reversing serial # 808553 450hp, 300rpm.Developed in the 1920s, the engine design was tried and true when MARY was built in 1938…
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Alf Dyrland, Captain of the MARY A. WHALEN, 1962-1978
Alf Dyrland was Captain of the MARY A. WHALEN from her rechristening in 1962 until 1978 when he retired. He was her first captain; she was his last boat.
Alf loved the MARY deeply. As he lay dying in 1996, what he said out loud revealed to family in…
6 Thanks to our ship MARY WHALEN. Supreme Court Ruling: United States v. Reliable Transfer Co, 1975
Our ship MARY A. WHALEN is famous in maritime law. That’s because American admiralty law is a lot fairer thanks to a case involving the MARY A. WHALEN, the 1975 Supreme Court decision U.S. vs Reliable Transfer. As a nation, we can be thankful that…
7 The National Significance of the tanker MARY A WHALEN, PortSide NewYork's flagship.
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…
8 Heidi Benedikt, crew member of the MARY WHALEN, 1986-88: Oral History
Heidi Benedikt - part 1:
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Heidi Benedikt - part 2:
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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…
9 Captain Rich Naruszewicz, MARY WHALEN crew member: Oral History
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 interviewed…
10 Oral History: Charles Cushing, naval architect
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, in