​Located in Cohoes, New York, at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, the Matton Shipyard turned out barges, tugboats and other medium sized craft between 1916 and 1983. The yard is situated on low flat land on the west bank of the Hudson River on Van Schaick Island just below the mouth of the third sprout of the Mohawk River. The yard occupies approximately seven acres and during its operation, it was served by road, navigable waterways and by rail. Drawbridges and bascule bridges between Waterford and Albany posed no practical vertical clearance issues for Matton-built boats during the years in which the yard was active but the Federal Lock in Troy limited the overall size of craft produced or serviced by the yard to the dimensions of the lock chamber.  
​

​The Matton family built a canalboat yard on the Champlain Canal in Waterford in 1899. In 1916 as the completion of the New York State Barge Canal neared, John E. Matton seized the opportunity to relocate the yard to the Hudson River where it would be better positioned to build and repair the larger capacity boats that could soon transit the new and greatly enlarged canal. Matton built a dock, and office, a planing mill, carpenter’s shop and floating drydock on the site and named it the John E. Matton Barge Plant. The yard benefitted from an almost immediate demand for tonnage as a result of inland shipping demands during World War I and over the next 10 years built more than 40 wooden canalboats and barges. In addition to these, the yard also built a small ferry in 1922 and a small tugboat in 1929.
​

​John Matton’s son Ralph joined the firm after graduating from the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in 1922 and the name of the yard was changed to John E. Matton & Son, Inc. During the 1930s, additional land was purchased and new storage buildings and shops were added to the facility. The site was prone to seasonal flooding but its buildings and facilities proved largely resilient.
 
In 1938, the Matton yard began the first of many steel tugboats. The 119-ton tug was launched the following year and named for John E. Matton who suffered a debilitating stoke that year. Thereafter, Ralph Matton assumed control of the firm’s operations.  John E. Matton died in 1959.
 
The shipyard expanded its physical plant and workforce during World War II as it accommodated the demand for military contracts. During the war years, the yard produced 12 tugboats, an oil barge and six 110 foot long wooden submarine chasers under government contracts. New facilities were added to the plant including a warehouse and lofting building, a stores building and a watchman’s office, kennel and perimeter fencing for security. Barracks were built for military personnel assigned to the yard.  By the end of the war, the yard employed 340 men.

  
​The Matton yard launched a 210 foot-long oil barge for the Oil Transfer Co. in 1949 on new steel ways that led into the Hudson River. Military contracts for tugs, scows and lighters were let during the Korean Conflict and in 1954, Matton took over a contract to build 15 tugs from American Boiler Works in Erie, Pennsylvania. Commercial tugs continued to be built until Ralph Matton’s death in 1964. The yard was sold to Bart Turecamo of Turecamo Towing shortly thereafter but continued in operation as the Matton Shipyard Co. Turecamo, based in Brooklyn, operated the yard in a manner similar to his predecessors. Oral histories suggest that the manual process of lofting boats and cutting out full scale framing templates continued and that the antiquated belt driven machinery in the planing mill also continued in use. Boats were still launched using a team that drove wedges to transfer the weight of a boat from the building ways to the launching ways. Launches were traditionally scheduled for Friday mornings so that employees could have a catered lunch and then take the afternoon off.
​

​
​Between 1966 and 1983, Turecamo built nine commercial tugs and four launches for the New York City Police Department. The last boat built by the firm, the 106-foot tugboat Mary Turecamo, hull no. 345, was launched in 1982. The yard was subsequently sold to a commercial sandblasting company which operated on the site briefly before selling it to the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation for use as future parkland.
 
The lightly-framed shipyard buildings did not seem to have a future in the context of parkland development and little effort was made to maintain them. Most became ruins as roofs fell and flooding episodes gradually took their toll. Attitudes slowly changed and an appreciation for the site’s significance in regional history grew. A preservation forum was hosted by New York State Parks in 2008 and the shipyard site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. And in 2016, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor’s Heritage Fund launched the Matton Shipyard Project. This initiative has brought city, state, federal agencies and local citizens together to develop an approach to the use of the shipyard that preserves and celebrates its history, architecture and archaeology, remediates hazards and establishes public access to recreational opportunities along the Hudson River. Phase I of a three-phase plan is currently underway and addresses the removal and mitigation of hazardous materials and the stabilization of the important surviving buildings. Phases II and III anticipate the establishment of visitor facilities, shoreline stabilization and restoration and interpretation project.

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics.

“In the years between the end of the War for Independence and the War of 1812, British warships interfered with American ships on the high seas, sometimes seizing their cargoes or their crewmen. Among the ships most affected by this form of piracy were the whaling ships that sailed out of Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford. The Yankee skippers began to look for a new home port that would be safe from British interference and at the same time remain close to the primary market for oil. It wasn’t long before they decided that the Hudson River offered the security they were looking for, and before the end of the eighteenth century they had established themselves at the city of Hudson – almost 150 miles from the sea. Hudson Valley farmboys signed up for duty on the whalers and were soon hunting whales in every one of the seven seas. This is one of the best-known whaling ballads, sung as often on the Hudson as at Nantucket or New Bedford.” https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf

"THE HUDSON WHALERS" LYRICS
‘Tis advertised in Boston
New York and Buffalo
Five hundred brave Americans
A-Whaling for to go

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

They’ll take you down to Hudson town
That famous whaling port
They’ll had  you to those land sharks
To board and fit you out

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

They’ll tell you of those whaling ships
A-going in and out
And say you’ll take five hundred sperm
Before you’re six months out

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Well now we’re out to sea, my boys
A wind comes on to blow
While half the watch is sick on deck
The other half below

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!
 
The captain’s on the quarterdeck
A squintin’ at the sails
While up aloft the lookout cries
He sights a school of whales

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Well lower away the boats, my boys
And after him we’ll travel
But if you get too near his fluke
He’ll kick you to the devil!

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Now he’s finished off boys
We’ll tow him alongside,
It’s over with our blubber hooks
To rob him of his hide

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Next comes the stowing down, my boys
Twill take both night and day
And you’ll have fifty cents apiece
On the 190th lay

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Well now we’re homeward bound, my boys
And we are thorough our sailing
A winding glass around we’ll pass
And damn this blubber whaling.

Chorus: Blow ye winds in the morning
And blow ye winds, high-o!
Clear away your running gear
And blow, boys, blow!

Welcome to Week 12 of the #HudsonRiverscapes Photo Contest! We asked members of the public to submit their best photos (no people) of the Hudson River and tributaries, and just look at all the beautiful shots they delivered. 

We are delighted to share with you these wonderful images of our beloved Hudson River. If you would like to submit your own photos to this contest, you can find out more about the rules - and prizes! - here. ​

​This is a contest, but all voting takes place on Facebook. To vote, simply log into your account, click the button below, and like and/or comment on your favorite. At the end of each week, the photo with the most likes and comments wins a Household Membership to the Hudson River Maritime Museum. If you don't get to vote this week, keep liking and commenting anyway - all photos are entered into the Grand Prize at the end of the contest - a free private charter aboard Solaris for 2021!

​Thank you for everyone who participated this week!

Editor’s Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article featuring stories by Captain William O. Benson (1911-1986). Beginning in 1971, Benson, a retired tugboat captain, reminisced about his 40 years on the Hudson River in a regular column for the Kingston (NY) Freeman’s Sunday Tempo magazine. Captain Benson's articles were compiled and transcribed by HRMM volunteers. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here.
This article was originally published July 2, 1972.

When I was a boy of 10 in 1921, my brother Algot was home over the Fourth of July. At that time, he was chief mate on the steamboat “Onteora” - and brought with him about $10 worth of fireworks, which before these present days of inflation was a lot of fireworks! They were all in the big box sitting out on our porch.

For the fun of it, he threw a very small firecracker under me as I was leaning over. When it went bang, I jumped up real quick and everybody laughed. Not to be outdone, I threw a firecracker at him. Instead of going off, it sizzled and scooted across the porch right into the box of fireworks. How everybody ran for cover when the whole box went up - night works, roman candles, torpedoes, salutes, sparklers, everything! The glorious explosion was all over in about three minutes.

Was my mother angry at me for doing such a thing to my brother and for causing all the fireworks to explode! But my brother was good about it all. He laughed and said, “Come on Bill, let’s go down along the shore.”

 I was crying by now, thinking I would be all day without any firecrackers.

On the Strand
Algot took me and our rowboat and rowed over to the Strand and bought $10 more of fireworks - and gave them to me. He sure was a wonderful brother to me. I shall never forget him, even though I was only 11 years of age when he died the following year.

Also at that time, on Sundays and holidays I remember going out to Kingston Point with my father. We would watch all the people and the big boats come and go and unload and load their passengers. Phil Maines, former mate of the “Mary Powell,” was dockmaster. Phil always saw to it that we got inside the gates where there were no people and could get a good view of the boats coming in and going out.

Jim Murdock was the keeper of the Rondout Lighthouse at the time, and he also would be over there. I can still remember how he would be dressed. He always wore a straw boater hat, a light gray suit, a red tie and black patent leather shoes with white laces. Always, his hat stayed high on the back of his head, seemingly because he has so much hair.

I remember one day the mate of the steamer “Washington Irving,” Thurlow Davis of Kingston, was going to push Jim Murdock out of the private gangway into the crowded one.

“Just a minute there, I am the keeper of the Rondout Lighthouse,” Mr. Murdock said. That ended that! The mate gave him a scowl and went his way. Thurlow Davis was an excellent mate for passenger boats. He could do carpenter work or anything in the line of maintenance that came up to do on a steamboat.

How my father loved the Fourth of July! How he loved to have his boys enjoy firecrackers and fireworks so they could properly celebrate the Glorious Fourth. I often wonder how he would have reacted today when fireworks are not allowed. I suppose, like myself, he would uphold the law - but not really think much of it.

On September 11, 1609, when Henry Hudson’s sailing ship Half Moon entered the river later named for its captain, crew member Robert Juet recorded the river’s physical characteristics—its depths, shoals, winds, tides and currents. He noted a rich array of fishes, “...they tooke four or five and twentie Mullets, Breames, Bases, and Barbils...” and trees, “...goodly Oakes, and Wal-nut trees, and Chest-nut trees, Ewe trees, and trees of sweet wood in great abundance...”1  Native tribes who had settled the shores of the river long ago, called it Mahicantuck, translated as “river that flows both ways.” Mahicantuck is an apt description of the Hudson River estuary–a long arm of the sea in which saltwater meets fresh water running off the land, moving back and forth by tidal currents.

A sailor would find the river very different today than it was in Henry Hudson’s time. Human activities are a lingering threat to the health of the Hudson and streams in its basin. Is the river clean? Swimmable? Will it ever again be what Henry Hudson experienced? We can’t dial back four centuries, but we can do our best to restore the Hudson so people can enjoy the benefits of clean water.

Pollution and Early Clean-Up
“The river from Troy to the south of Albany is one great septic tank that has been rendered nearly useless for water supply, for swimming, or to support the rich life that once abounded there.” Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 19652

As cities grew within the watershed of the Hudson, their sewage discharges increased, especially at New York City in Westchester County and the Albany Capitol District. Untreated sewage, tannery and paper mill discharges, and industrial and commercial chemicals routinely entered the river in these and many other cities. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) also caused untreated or poorly-treated waste to flow into the Hudson. In 1965, New York State voters passed a billion dollar Pure Waters Bond Act to fund sewage treatment. In 1972, the federal Clean Water Act made cleanup a national priority, providing billions more, and the Hudson benefited.
Water quality has greatly improved since state and federal actions of the 1960’s and 1970’s made water quality improvement a priority. For example:

· Around Manhattan, 150 million gallons of raw sewage entered the river daily until 1986. When the North River sewage treatment plant began operating off Manhattan in 1986, bacteria concentrations dropped significantly.

· Near Albany, sewage treatment plants did not disinfect their discharges; these organic wastes fed bacteria that in turn depleted the river’s oxygen. In the summer of 1970, a study found so little dissolved oxygen that the few fish seen were “swimming slowly at the surface, gulping air, and disturbing an oil film which covered the water surface.”3  After treatment plants came online near Albany, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) monitoring programs in the area collected 3,314 fish representing 27 species in the summer of 1975.
              
In addition to requiring sewage treatment, the Clean Water Act limited discharges from factory waste pipes. North of the City at Tarrytown, the Hudson’s color once matched the paint applied to vehicles at a General Motors plant there. In the years following the law’s passage, industrial and municipal discharges gradually came into compliance.

The entire stretch of the Hudson estuary was designated a “No Discharge Zone” in 2003, prohibiting discharge of vessel waste from the Troy Dam to the Battery in Manhattan. As part of this designation, 15 pump-out stations along the river are now available to recreational boaters.

In recent decades, conditions have improved for fish and other river creatures.  At last count, 222 species of fish had been recorded in the Hudson and its watershed.

River Habitats
Nearly 300,000 acres of tidal wetland and shallow water habitat in New York Harbor has been lost to landfill and dredging since European settlement began. Between Catskill and Albany, nearly one-third of the river has been filled in, starting in the mid-1800s as engineers created a single, deep shipping channel through a complex of islands, shallows, and wetlands. Railroad construction also greatly altered habitat, burying wetlands and cutting bays and coves off from the river. A permitting system established under the Clean Water Act has slowed the pace of wetlands loss. Unfortunately, few of these historically altered habitats can be restored to their former condition, so protecting what still exists today is a priority.

Management of the Hudson River Estuary
Another boon to river clean-up was the passage in 1987 of the Hudson River Estuary Management Act (ECL 11-0306) which created the Hudson River Estuary Program, administered by NYSDEC. The program focuses on the tidal estuary and its adjacent watershed from the federal dam at Troy to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. The program is guided by the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda which aims to achieve six key benefits the public receives from our work: clean water; resilient communities; a vital estuarine ecosystem; conservation of fish, wildlife, and habitats; preservation of the river’s natural scenery; and enhanced opportunities for education, river access, recreation, and inspiration.4
              
Delivering these diverse ecological and human benefits requires an approach that is watershed-wide in scale and addresses the region’s streams and tributaries as well as the main stem of the Hudson.  The Estuary Program relies on partnerships with federal and state agencies, as well as local municipalities, non-profits, academic and scientific institutions, businesses, trade organizations, landowners, and dedicated volunteers to accomplish its mission. 

Legacy Contaminants—The PCB Cleanup
In 2008, a contaminant reduction model was developed under the Contaminant Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP), in partnership with the NY-NJ Harbor and Estuary Program, to assess priorities for clean-up by addressing dioxins, heavy metals, DDT and PCBs in water and river sediments.  The model identified PCB pollution in the river as the number one chemical contaminant issue.

Between 1947 and 1977, General Electric (GE) released about 1.3 million pounds of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the river from plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls. After 1977, PCBs continued to enter the Hudson from subsurface contamination beneath the Hudson Falls plant, adding to the burden of earlier discharges in the river bottom. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) settled on a cleanup plan with GE.

Years of sampling, feasibility studies, and design work followed before sediment removal began in 2009. After six years of dredging, approximately 2.75 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments, containing 150 tons of PCBs, had been removed from a 40-mile stretch of river between Fort Edward and Troy.

DEC challenged the effectiveness of the dredging and officially requested EPA to conduct a reevaluation, citing that unacceptably high concentrations of PCBs remain in river sediment. Beginning in the summer of 2017, DEC collected hundreds of new sediment samples and nearly 230 fish samples from 1,700 locations. The agency’s comprehensive analysis confirmed that elevated levels of PCBs remain in the surface sediment of the Hudson River and that fish concentrations are not recovering at the rate anticipated by the EPA. As of this writing, the EPA has delayed the issuance of a Certificate of Completion to General Electric.

CSOs and Water Quality Improvements
CSOs continue to be a major source of contaminants to the Hudson River. Annually, CSO discharges into the Albany Pool area total 1.2 billion gallons, while 27 billion gallons discharge into New York City waters. However, communities with CSOs are required by the state to develop long-term control plans, and almost all communities along the estuary have done so.  Implementation of these long-term control plans will reduce the future contaminant loading to the river from many of these CSO areas.

In 2012, NYSDEC and New York City signed an agreement to develop 10 waterbody-specific, long-term control plans, plus a citywide plan. This agreement should reduce CSO discharges into New York City waters by approximately 8.4 billion gallons a year.
              
In 2008, NYSDEC partnered with the Capital District Regional Planning Commission to address more than 100 CSOs in the Capital District, contributing more than $2 million for planning and engineering studies. Updated permits now require municipalities in this area to achieve the goal of swimmable water quality. The Rensselaer sewer district began disinfection in 2013, and disinfection came online at two large Albany plants in 2014. The Albany Pool plan, announced early in 2014, is expected take 15 years to implement and cost $136 million. The plan includes $5.8 million for green infrastructure projects and $2.13 million for tributary enhancements.5

Investments in Clean Water
Funding is an important element of the revitalization of the Hudson. One source of funding, New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), includes a line item for the Hudson as well as water quality improvement projects. The EPF increased from $25 million when it was created in the 1990s, to a historic $300 million for each of the last three years, the highest level in the fund’s history. This investment prioritizes programs to protect New York's water bodies, promote stewardship projects in parks and on other state lands, revitalize municipal waterfronts, and build community resilience to climate change.

In addition, Governor Cuomo is advancing a $10 billion Green Future Fund to support clean water infrastructure, which includes $5 billion in total for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure—building upon the $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act and effectively doubling the state's investment in clean water over the next five years. In 2018, DEC announced over $103 million in grant awards for 124 projects through its annual Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) grants program. The projects will improve water quality, reduce the potential for harmful algal blooms (HABs), and protect drinking water across the state.

Another source of funding comes from state Environmental Bond Acts.  Several New York State Bond Acts have provided substantial grants to support water quality improvements, including millions invested in municipal facilities and infrastructure, brownfield cleanups, and open space programs since 1965. The state also assists with individual grants to municipalities for seasonal disinfection of waste water discharges and the development and implementation of Long-Term Control Plans to address CSOs. 

Looking Ahead
Investments in clean water infrastructure over the past few decades have dramatically improved water quality. On many days, in many places throughout the Hudson River Estuary, water quality is excellent for swimming. In 2018, nearly 6,500 people swam in organized public swim events in the Hudson River Estuary and New York Harbor, and thousands more swam at public beaches or other water access points. After periods of dry weather, the Hudson River Estuary is safe for swimming in many locations. But after rain, the water is more likely to be contaminated, especially in areas affected by combined sewer overflows and street water runoff.

While there has been much improvement in recent years, the water quality in the Hudson Valley will never be as unblemished as it was when the region was a wilderness. Human influence is pervasive and threats remain. In the watershed, water resource recovery infrastructure and separated/combined sewer overflows along the estuary and its tributaries require significant investments to continue to improve water quality for the future. On a larger scale, climate change and changing weather patterns are affecting all aspects of water management, including the impact of sea-level rise on water resource recovery infrastructure in shoreline communities. The good news is that investments toward improved water quality are making a difference.

We don’t have to turn back the clock to have a drinkable, swimmable, and fishable Hudson. By protecting and restoring streams that replenish the estuary and nourish its web of life, and through continued investment in water resource management strategies, we can continue on the path of restoring the water resources critical to the health and wellbeing of the state’s residents.

A Sailor's Prayer is presented here by Mosaic Whispers. In a time of uncertainty and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of Mosaic Whispers from throughout the years unite to sing their alumni song Sailor's Prayer virtually. 85 voices, 29 years. Sailor's Prayer is written by Rod MacDonald, arranged by Jon Krivitzky, and sung by past and current members of Mosaic Whispers, the oldest all-gender a cappella group at Washington University in St. Louis. Sound mixing by P. Daniel Newman, video editing by Reynolds Whalen.

A Sailor's Prayer Lyrics

Though my sails be torn and tattered
And my mast be torned about
Let the night wind chill me to my very soul
Though the spray might sting my eye
And the stars no light provide
Give me just another morning light to hold

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore

If the only water left
Is but salt to wound my thirst
I will drink the rain that falls so steady down
And though night's blindness be my gift
And there be thieves upon my drift
I will thank the fog that shelters me along

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore

Though my mates be drained and weary
And believe all hopes are lost
There's no need for their bones
On that blackened bottom
Though death waits just off the bough
We'll not answer to him now
He shall stand to greet the morning light without us

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore

Welcome to Week 10 of the #HudsonRiverscapes Photo Contest! We asked members of the public to submit their best photos (no people) of the Hudson River and tributaries, and just look at all the beautiful shots they delivered. 

We are delighted to share with you these wonderful images of our beloved Hudson River. If you would like to submit your own photos to this contest, you can find out more about the rules - and prizes! - here. ​

Anchoring and lowering the topmasts in Delaware Bay

We assigned pairs to a series of one-hour anchor watches for the evening to make sure that our anchor held and to quickly identify any other potential emergencies. At midnight, the wind was really howling and the ship heeled over alarmingly several times, bringing a few others including feline crewmember Mrs. Freeboard up on deck. The anchor held, and by 4:00 AM, the wind subsided and the stars came out.
 
After a hearty breakfast, we set about the task of lowering our topmasts and topgallant poles so that we could take the ship into Wilmington later in the day. We underestimated the difficulty of accomplishing this at anchor with inexperienced volunteers. Taking each mast in turn, the plan was to attach a line to the topmast heel, pass it over the grooved mast cap and run it aft to a fife rail where a snatch block was rigged to direct the line to the capstan (a big rotating drum turned by handspikes or bars and used for heavy work). The crew would man the bars, take the strain and lift the topmast an inch so that the fid piece securing it could be knocked out. The crew would then gently walk the capstan backward until the crosstrees were in the tops.
​

​It was a sound plan. We began with the foretopmast. As soon as the strain came on the line, the wooden block at the fiferail shattered and the mast jumped down a good distance before the capstan took the shock. A small piece of the block’s wooden shell dropped harmlessly to the deck while the larger chunk whistled off at 100 mph toward New Castle. Fortunately the capstan and the crew held. The mast was lowered the remainder of the way without the block.
 
The maintopmast proved to be a bigger challenge. We used a modern steel block for this episode. When the bars were manned, Mike knocked out the fid block, and we lowered the topmast down several feet where we discovered that it was unable to drop clear of the main yard. We secured the line and rigged tyes (safety lines) to the yard in preparation for lowering. It would not budge. The yard had not been shifted since installation in Albany, and the necklace, securing it to the mast was now thoroughly infused with varnish. I had to harness up, cut some of the seizings, and then jump on the yard to get it to move. After getting Mike on the yard with me and spraying WD 40 on everything, we were able to work the yard down far enough for the topmast to drop into position well below the point where the topmast would drop.
​

​The next challenge was recovering our anchor so that we could get underway. We motored up to the anchor, pulling in the heavy cable along the way until we were “up-and-down,” that is the cable was now vertical between the hawse hole in the bow and the anchor down below. We attached a messenger line to the cable and led it back to the capstan. We manned the bars but the anchor was apparently buried deep in the mud. Last night’s high winds were surely a factor in burying the anchor so securely. We had to wait for slack tide before we could successfully bring it up. We were going to be late for the grand arrival.
 
It was dark when we entered the Christiana Creek leading into the Wilmington waterfront and our running lights failed. We sent the first mate out in the dink with a flashlight to find the way to our dock. He returned and led the ship there with his flashlight. We cleared a highway bridge with inches to spare, and had difficulty docking in the dark. The crowd that had planned to greet us was gone and all that remained were a few organizers and some warm beers.
 
Afterword

After a day in Wilmington, the Half Moon continued south to Washington, D.C. I had to get back to work and took the next train home to New York. Returning from Washington, tugboat captain Chip Reynolds came aboard. He took command of the ship during the return voyage and began a long and distinguished association with the ship marked by a much needed emphasis on safety. Countless school children sailed with the Half Moon on educational “voyages of discovery” between New York and Albany, and many of the lessons were filmed live to home classrooms by Skype. Reynolds had a crew of schoolchildren aboard the Half Moon in New York harbor when the planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center in 2001. He kept everyone calm, and brought the children safely up the river where they could be reunited with family.
 
I joined the ship one last time in 2006 at the end of the sailing season to bring the ship to her winter berth in Verplank. We sailed much of that distance before a stiff and cold northwest wind. It was an exhilarating experience as we raced down the river between the Catskills and the Highlands during peak autumn color.
​

​In 2015, the voyages of discovery were suspended, Captain Reynolds was discharged and the Half Moon was sent to the Netherlands, arriving in August. She then proceeded to the Westfries Ship Museum in Hoorn where she was exhibited. There has been discussion about returning the ship to the United States in the near future but to date, no specific plan has been announced.
​

​​Building and sailing replica ships offers rare insight into worlds which no longer exist. Design details that at first seem frivolous or impractical are often revealed to make perfect sense as construction proceeds or as experience is gained operating the ship. Replicas help us to understand that our ancestors were not only daring and courageous, but equally ingenious and practical. Getting kids involved in these projects offers lessons in discipline, leadership and self-confidence and is a sure way to cultivate a deep appreciation for our maritime heritage. 

Editor's Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column. Articles transcribed by HRMM volunteer Adam Kaplan. See more of Murdock's articles in "Steamboat Biographies". 

                                                No. 252- Washington Irving
The flagship of the Hudson River Dayline fleet- the “Washington Irving”- is a steamboat that is better known to the present generation, although her whistle no longer echoes among the Highlands of the Hudson; for it was 14 years ago that the pride of the Dayline met with an accident which ended her career.

The steel hull of the “Washington Irving” was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company at Camden, N.J., in 1912. Her keel was 405 feet long with an overall length of 416 feet, six inches. She had a breadth of beam of 47 feet, over the guards she was 84 feet, and her hold was 23 feet, seven inches deep. The gross tonnage of the “Washington Irving” was 3,104 and net tonnage 1,664. Her engine was constructed by the W. & A. Fletcher Company Iron Works of Hoboken, N.J., and was the incline double expansion type with three cranks and three cylinders. Two of the cylinders measured 70 inches in diameter and the third measured 45 inches, with a seven foot stroke. Steam was supplied by four single and two double ended scotch boilers carrying 170 pounds of steam and generating 6,000 horsepower.

The flagship of the Hudson River Dayline was launched at Camden, N.J., on Saturday, December 7, 1912- this date marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Dayline by Commodore Alfred Van Santvoord.

Destined exclusively for service as a day-boat between New York and Albany, the “Washington Irving” was by long odds the largest and most exquisitely furnished inland passenger vessel in the world. She had a passenger carrying capacity of 6,000, and made her first trip on Saturday, May 24, 1913, under the command of Captain David H. Deming with Thomas Hall as chief engineer.

Running in line with the Dayline fleet which consisted of the “Mary Powell,” “Albany,” “Robert Fulton,” “Hendrick Hudson,” and the “Alexander Hamilton,” the “Washington Irving” continued in service on the Hudson river until June 1926 when she met with an accident which closed her career.

On June 1, 1926 the “Washington Irving” left her pier at the foot of Desbrosses street, New York, bound for Albany with 200 passengers aboard. A heavy fog made the visibility very poor and the whistle of the “Washington Irving” kept up a constant din as she left her berth and headed upriver. The pilots of other vessels were also experiencing difficulty in navigating due to the fog, and thus it happened that the tug “Thomas E. Moran” of the Moran Towing Company, hauling two iron oil barges, hove into sight of the “Washington Irving”- too close to avoid a collision. One of the barges struck the “Washington Irving” aft of the wheel on the port side- smashing the side in completely.

Captain David H. Deming, commander of the pride of the Dayline, realized immediately the seriousness of the accident and tied down the whistle of his vessel for the purpose of summoning aid from other craft in the harbor. Passengers were ordered to the top deck to don lifebelts, and the continuous blasts of the “Washington Irving’s” whistle soon brought more than a dozen other vessels to her side. The ill-fated dayboat reached a pier on the Jersey shore where passengers were able to scramble to safety. Two lives were lost in the accident- a Mrs. Arthur Hoag and her three-year-old daughter of Long Island City.

The “Washington Irving” sunk along side of the pier- coming to rest on the end of the Holland Vehicular Tunnel. On February 14, 1927 the vessel was raised and later taken to Bayonne, New Jersey where she was tied up. In September 1933 the wreck of the “Washington Irving” was sold for junk to the Northern Metal Company of Philadelphia where she was taken and broken up.

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes.

"Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay," the album's title track, recounts the life of sailing sloops and Schooners coming in and out of Newburgh Bay, at the north end of the Hudson Highlands. The song references "Worragut," also known as "Weygat," which is Dutch for "wind gate," meaning the northern entrance to the Hudson Highlands, bound on one side by Storm King Mountain and Breakneck Ridge on the other. The stretch of river between Newburgh and Stony Point is bound on both sides by high mountains, and the river twists sharply. A difficult passage for sailors and known to contain tricky winds which required much tacking, the Hudson Highlands were best approached with caution. 

From the album liner notes, written by William Gekle, "And so it very often happened that sailing sloops, sometimes fifty or a hundred of them, anchored in Newburgh Bay just outside the passage, waiting for the right wind or the right tide - or both." 

"Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay" Lyrics
Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
Waitin' for the wind and tide,
Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
With the anchors over the side.

The skippers all sit on the rail to yarn,
Same as farmers out by the old red barn,
​The boys in skiffs have gone ashore
To ruckus outside the village store.

Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
Waitin' for the wind and tide,
Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
With the anchors over the side.

Now the wind comes up with a mighty roar,
Whitecaps roll from shore to shore
So it's anchors up and sail away
Down the Worragut from Newburgh Bay.

Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
Waitin' for the wind and tide,
Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
With the anchors over the side.

Now the sails are full and the sloops run free,
Beatin' through the Gate to the open sea,
There's Breakneck Hill on the looward side
And Storm King Mountain makin' up the tide.

Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
Waitin' for the wind and tide,
Fifty sail on Newburgh Bay
With the anchors over the side.

Thanks to HRMM volunteer Mark Heller for sharing his knowledge of Hudson River music history for this series.

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