BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's the "GOVERNORS I", the new passenger-only ferryboat for the Governors Island run.

This nifty little vessel indeed has a modern look that evokes the 1960's and 1970's; you can see some resemblence to the old "MICHAEL COSGROVE" of the early 1960's...........

https://www.marinelink.com/news/delta-t-equips-governors-island-ferry-475010

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"The Governors Island Ferry That Never Sailed In New York".

Here's a most interesting story about a transplanted "New Englander" which never operated in regular service in NY Harbor.

A sleek, handsome vessel, which, sadly, no longer exists.......

https://untappedcities.com/2020/10/14/mv-islander-governors-island-ferry-never-sailed-nyc/

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Islander

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The "MERRELL" class.......

These massive, powerful, and handsome ferries (at the time they entered SI service in the early 1950's) were notable for several reasons:

1: They were the first SI boats to have three vehicular gangways instead of the usual two.

2: They were also the very last steam-powered boats to enter service on the SI run.

3: They were the first ferries in the fleet to dispense with double-compound engines, being powered by Skinner Marine Uniflow engines.

4: At the time of their entering service, they were the largest passenger/vehicular ferries in New York Harbor.

Sadly, none of these handsome and smart-looking boats survives today (thankfully, I DO have, in my collection, the large metal "engine room bells" chart from the "VERRANZANO".......I treasure it greatly, as you might imagine!)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This timeless (1950's) photo shows the "AMERICAN LEGION" (1) departing Whitehall Street for another southbound run to St. George......

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/387380005434194374/

She was built in 1926, and had several features that were thought to be improvements.

All of her boilers were consolidated into a single boiler room, giving her a more asymetrical profile that some found more pleasing than that of the older boats.

She had basically the same seating plan as the earlier "PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT", but had far more steel in her superstructure.

She also boasted a flared hull, eliminating the need for outside struts.

This design was thought to reduce her water resistance.

Unfortunately, this hull gave her a blunt nose at the bow and stern, which rolled water in front of her, instead of parting it and allowing it to run off under the guards.

Though a handsome ferry indeed, she was extremely unpopular with her crews.

She three salt water up on her vehicle gangways, dousing deckhands, passengers, and vehicles alike.

She could not load her gangways fully in windy weather.

Crewmen referred to this less-than-popular ferryboat as "The Staten Island Submarine" and the "Wet Wash Boat".

After the "MERRELL"-class boats arrived in 1951, the "AMERICAN LEGION" (1) was relegated to stand-by service, running only when one of the other boats was OOS for maintenance/drydocking.

She was, most of the time, found docked at Pier #7, Tompkinsville; in 1963, she officially retired, and was sold for scrap......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The "BARBERI" class.......

Novel from the start, these two boats (the "BARBERI" and the "NEWHOUSE") entered service in the early 1980's.

These huge ferries had the distinction of not only being the first all-passenger boats for the SI run, but also, the first to dispense with traditional propellers.

Both ferries were equipped with cycloidal propellers, witch have variable pitch, allowing the boats to revolve on their own axis, and, also, to be able to dock without the aid of slips.

At the time of their debut, the "BARBERI" boats had the largest passenger capacity of any passenger-carrying vessel in the world.

Hard to believe these massive, modernistic ferries are now over 40 years old.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Andrew_J._Barberi

["MARINE & AVIATION"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just my opinion.....

Why vehicles were banned from the SI Ferry after 9/11, especially when things began to "settle down", I still cannot figure out.

If in the case of some emergency, there is now no way to carry vehicles directly between Manhattan and Staten Island.

Of course, one of the vessels in the current fleet can carry vehicles.

I cannot see the City ordering any new boats with vehicular carrying capacity, not even with my vivid imagination.

A new, PRIVATELY-owned ferry company, carrying vehicles from Manhattan to Staten Island, perhaps?

Even there, I am hard pressed to see such a notion ever come to see the light of day.

I do know that, after the City took over the Ferry in 1905, a few of the more modern sidewheelers were placed on a new vehicular ferry, from Whitehall St. to Stapleton.

This line was not in use all that long, operating only several years before the crossing was shut down, prior to WW1......

"NYO"

["DEPARTMENT OF PLANT & STRUCTURES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Mary_Murray

["DEPARTMENT OF MARINE & AVIATION"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Since the mid-late 1800's, both New York and San Francisco were the undisputed ferryboat capitals of the world.

Hundreds of double-ended ferries, operated by both railroads and private operators, crisscrossed both New York Harbor and San Francisco Bay daily, their paddlewheels and propellers churning up the harbor waters, carrying millions of passengers and millions of vehicles back and forth, year in, year out.

The Southern Pacific, through the 1930's, operated the world's largest fleet of double-ended ferryboats, numbering well over 40; some of these boats were commodius vehicle carriers, while others carried long-distance rail passengers and the commuters who connected with electric commuter trains.

By 1958, the very last SP ferries crossed the Bay from the Ferry Building to Oakland Pier; the last vestiges of vehicular ferries vanished in 1956.

The very last "big time" double-ended ferryboat operation in the United States is our own Staten Island Ferry (vehicles have not been carried since 2001)

In San Francisco, only single-ended, passenger-only ferries operated; double-ended ferry operations, as noted, disappeared in 1958.

The ferries of Puget Sound, massive, monolithic, and most impressive, are today the only other "traditional" double-ended vehicle/passenger ferries in the country, so far as "big-time" operations go.

So much fascinating history abounds regarding the bygone ferry operations of long-ago........

"NYO"

["SAN LEANDRO"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_State_Ferries

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Scroll down page (right-hand side) for a number of photos depicting a VERY eclectic and diverse fleet of different types and styles of ferries.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Ferries

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Good links on this page......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Electric-class_ferry

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Was just watching a heart-stopping news report on Eyewitness News (ABC-7) of an NYPD rescue team saving an emotionally-disturbed man who was trying to jump out of the lower deck window of a Staten Island ferry.

The boat was one of the "BARBERI"-class, which entered service in 1981.

I was quite surprised, to say the least, to see that these boats were still in service; I had previously thought that they had been retired with the arrival of the newest of the boats.

I remember the "BARBERI"-class being regarded as QUITE "hi-tech" when they first entered service, over 40 years ago......

"NYO"

["STATEN ISLAND FERRY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just heard yesterday that the "ANDREW J. BARBERI", one of the two oldest ferries in the SI fleet, has been retired and is now up for auction.

Nearly 20 years ago, the "BARBERI" was involved in a serious accident at the St. George terminal; sadly, a number of lives were lost.

These two boats (including sister ship "SAMUEL NEWHOUSE") were indeed state-of-the-art when they entered service; they were also the first boats in the fleet to use variable-pitch cycloidal propellers, quite advanced for the day.

They were also the first boats built for SI service not to have vehicular gangways, thus setting the state for boats to come in later years

It seems like only yesterday when these two modern ferries were the "new kids on the block"; the 30-year old "MERRELL"-class steamboats were retired when the new boats entered service.

Where did the years get to?

"NYO"

['ANDREW J. BARBERI"]