When I started working on tugs in 1972, I was told by an old-timer that there used to be a ship yard on Shooters Island. Another old-timer told me that the large part of the island was made up of dredge spoils thad been dumped there.
When I was a kid There was a Marine Electric shop on Richmond Ave. Staten Island.was owned and run By the Blisemback Family they had two sons Carl and Worner. Wornner was my friend his family had a small outboard runabout. WE used to go to Shooters Island often. This was in 1949 to 1954. We would remove brass parts and sell it to The scrap yard on Pulasky Street. Along time ago there was an old lady that lived there and she had a garden of vegetables and flowers. She would row to SI and hit the bars selling flowers to the men at the bars. Many of the boats were still in pretty good shape then.. .
What I don't understand, why was this place, and also Arthur's Kill, allowed to be used as a Dumping grounds in the first place? This place looked like it was set up with docks years ago, just like Arthur's Kill, so what happened to these place to turn them in to ship junk yards?
Railroads used them.Jersey Central,New York Central,Pennsylvania and a bunch more.To haul drygoods in Barrels and crates.I saw old steam tugs too and even a paddle wheelers steam engine so this place dates back to the 1880s for sure.About the same time they were building the Brooklyn Bridge to about 1898 or 1900.
@@falcoperegrinus82 Yes exactly,barges came in a wide variety.That whole area in NewYork New Jersey was thick with railroading and its tugs,Barges a more.Google it it's pretty cool.Especially in the 1950s when it was really busy around the water front areas.👍
How are they not carried away in heavy storms? Some of those boats and barges appear to be more than 100 years old when this was shot -- perhaps not long after the Civil War.
Raptorman0909 You’re probably right about pieces breaking off during storms. But these pictures are only four or five decades old- it wouldn’t have been possible to take aerial photos like these in the nineteenth century.
@@thelessimportantajmichel287 -- Well of course they wouldn't have aerial photography in the nineteenth century -- I wasn't talking about the nineteenth century. The ships would have been there since about the Civil War though the photos of them date to 1985/ But, for those ships to have been there in 1985, a period where aerial photography was a given, they would have had to survive numerous big storms including some hurricanes and it's this fact that puzzles me.
Stupid question time. How come noone stepped in to clean that mess up? A couple of wood chippers and a few weekends with the Boy Scouts would have gone a long way. What's keeping people from doing something?
The vast extent of wooden piling and long gone warfage tell of times gone bye. The dozens of covered wooden barges of railroad company’s and lighters of ships. Little surprised after a long hot baking summer, all this wasn’t burned down to tide. The wooden steam tugs out of service viability ended up at salvage yards for scrap. Later WW2 ship remnants got beached into the mud, but not cut till many years later. All the fuel would have been pumped out for use, so only the dregs to pollute later.
When I started working on tugs in 1972, I was told by an old-timer that there used to be a ship yard on Shooters Island. Another old-timer told me that the large part of the island was made up of dredge spoils thad been dumped there.
George did u work for Seaboats
When I was a kid There was a Marine Electric shop on Richmond Ave. Staten Island.was owned and run By the Blisemback Family they had two sons Carl and Worner. Wornner was my friend his family had a small outboard runabout. WE used to go to Shooters Island often. This was in 1949 to 1954. We would remove brass parts and sell it to The scrap yard on Pulasky Street. Along time ago there was an old lady that lived there and she had a garden of vegetables and flowers. She would row to SI and hit the bars selling flowers to the men at the bars. Many of the boats were still in pretty good shape then.. .
Thank you I'm doing my Architecture thesis on this historical landmark, at NYIT
+Greg Kors You are very welcome.
What I don't understand, why was this place, and also Arthur's Kill, allowed to be used as a Dumping grounds in the first place?
This place looked like it was set up with docks years ago, just like Arthur's Kill, so what happened to these place to turn them in to ship junk yards?
The smell of timber, pitch and creosote, long gone.
+enwri Would have been a cool place to look around back when those pics were taken in the 80's.
What a disgusting mess, But that's N.Y. o'well.
What were those barges with the large cabin-like structures used for?
Railroads used them.Jersey Central,New York Central,Pennsylvania and a bunch more.To haul drygoods in Barrels and crates.I saw old steam tugs too and even a paddle wheelers steam engine so this place dates back to the 1880s for sure.About the same time they were building the Brooklyn Bridge to about 1898 or 1900.
@@model-man7802 Ah, like this one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehigh_Valley_Railroad_Barge_No._79
Thanks!
@@falcoperegrinus82 Yes exactly,barges came in a wide variety.That whole area in NewYork New Jersey was thick with railroading and its tugs,Barges a more.Google it it's pretty cool.Especially in the 1950s when it was really busy around the water front areas.👍
does anything remain of this place today? If so, what does it look like?
Yes, check on Google Earth, there are remains of it but not as extensive as depicted in these photographs.
@@peterlovett5841 Thanks, I will do that.
How did it get that name?
How are they not carried away in heavy storms? Some of those boats and barges appear to be more than 100 years old when this was shot -- perhaps not long after the Civil War.
Raptorman0909 You’re probably right about pieces breaking off during storms. But these pictures are only four or five decades old- it wouldn’t have been possible to take aerial photos like these in the nineteenth century.
@@thelessimportantajmichel287 -- Well of course they wouldn't have aerial photography in the nineteenth century -- I wasn't talking about the nineteenth century. The ships would have been there since about the Civil War though the photos of them date to 1985/ But, for those ships to have been there in 1985, a period where aerial photography was a given, they would have had to survive numerous big storms including some hurricanes and it's this fact that puzzles me.
@@Raptorman0909 When these ships sailed they were made of wood.... The men that sailed them were made of iron
Sad to see ship and barges that used to have thousands of men working on them just rotting at their moorings.
Mafia would have enjoyed the lovely facilitys
Stupid question time. How come noone stepped in to clean that mess up? A couple of wood chippers and a few weekends with the Boy Scouts would have gone a long way. What's keeping people from doing something?
For one, chippers get indigestion from steel bits.
the United States Army Corps of Engineers who wanted to blow up the island to ease navigation by vessels coming down from Port Newark
A lot of 'barn board' there!
Funny,I had the same idea.
The vast extent of wooden piling and long gone warfage tell of times gone bye.
The dozens of covered wooden barges of railroad company’s and lighters of ships.
Little surprised after a long hot baking summer, all this wasn’t burned down to tide.
The wooden steam tugs out of service viability ended up at salvage yards for scrap.
Later WW2 ship remnants got beached into the mud, but not cut till many years later.
All the fuel would have been pumped out for use, so only the dregs to pollute later.
what was Shooters Is used for? Anyone tell me please.
It was a boat yard. Yachts were built there.
It was also used as a hunting ground
wood was aboundant back then
many dead men left here by you know who
not bad ...but it needs music
wow the one time someone doesnt use shitty music and you actually want that? what the fuck is wrong with you???
@@keithbu Couldn't have said it better.
No! The silence intensifies the experience