1968 Mary A. Whalen aground

S.T. Kiddoo - her original name

Monmouth County Museum, NJ

Mary A. Whalen

1966 from collection Dave Boone

1978 from collection Dave Boone

1980s photo by Barry Masterson

1989 photo from Bob's Place

History of tanker Mary A. Whalen
(originally named the S.T. Kiddoo)

May 2011, The Mary A. Whalen was deemed eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places!

See the enthusiastic Determination of Eligibility Letter (includes our application) here.

According to the 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, a Red Hook shipyard and fuel terminal (more on Bushey below).

The Whalen made history
Mariners today benefit from a legal case "United States v. Reliable Transfer Co" involving the the Mary A. Whalen.  She went aground on the Rockaways, here in New York, on Christmas Day 1968.  (see old Daily News clipping at left)  A Coast Guard light was out and the Whalen's owners blamed the Coast Guard.  The case went to the Supreme Court, which split the blame between both parties and - for the good of all of us - ruled in 1975 that in the cases of marine accidents, damages should be apportioned according to blame.  Sounds logical, but prior to this lawsuit, damages were split 50/50 regardless, and those at fault could shirk the financial consequences of their actions.

This 1975 decision overturned US maritime law in effect since 1854 and had the USA finally join maritime practice common in other nations.  US Courts had been struggling for decades to make this change, with the famous Judge Learned Hand dismissing US admiralty law on these cases as an "obstinate cleaving to the ancient rule which has been abrogated by nearly all civilized nations." 

November 2008, during a cocktail party, we learned that Charles Cushing went aboard the grounded Whalen as a young naval architect to figure out how to get the boat afloat.  The Whalen's grounding was one of the first jobs taken by C.R. Cushing & Co which subsequently grew into an international firm of note.  Charles remembered the event well!  More info to come from that quarter.

The historic Supreme Court case involving the Whalen is often in the news. See a superbly written piece in Professional Mariner.

In the Beginning
Originally called the S.T. Kiddoo, the Mary A. Whalen was built for Ira S. Bushey & Sons and is 172’ long. 

"Bushey's" was a shipyard and fuel terminal at the foot of Court Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They did not build the Whalen, though she appears to be one of their designs. She was built by Mathis in Camden, New Jersey, a builder of many fine yachts, naval vessels and workboats.  Two Mathis links: ship list and history.

For context:

• 1934 harbor video

• 1940s habor video

The Whalen delivered fuel products up and down the Atlantic Coast, as far away as Maine and Maryland, and up many rivers.  In her last years, she stayed close to home and often worked the Gowanus Canal or delivered fuel to ships. She went out of service in 1994.   In 1995, she came back home to Red Hook where she served in Erie Basin as a dock and office for Hughes Marine, a sixth-generation firm self-described as "the clearinghouse for marine difficulties."  September 2006, she became the home of PortSide NewYork. She was hauled out January-February 2007, and our offices moved aboard in July 2007.

Restoring the Engine:
The Mary A. Whalen went out of service in 1994 because her crankshaft was scored at the aftmost journal.  Soon thereafter, Eklof sold the boat to Erie Basin Associates (Hughes Marine & Reinauer Transportation). Because the fuel moving business is so competitive, Eklof had cannibalized the engine, removing the heads, pistons and rods.

In late 2008, PortSide was tipped off by Bernie Ente that a younger Bushey tanker was being scrapped in Seattle. Read about it on our blog.  We got 6 cylinders, 6 heads, 6 pistons, 1 connecting rod, a whole fuel pump assembly, the lower half of the engine block with a crank (once it arrived we found it to be damaged too) and flywheel, and 2 davits. What we lack now are 5 connecting rods and 1 davit, and we need more research to determine the crank repair strategy. Our new acquisitions include stuff we didn't need, so we can sell some parts to defray costs.  If you want to help us find more, we need 5 rods for a Fairbanks Morse 37E12, six cylinder, direct reversing engine. 

Fixing the Whalen's engine will happen down the road. Right now, we are focused on securing a lease, growing our board, program development and fundraising.  Engine parts like these, however, need to be acquired when found (if cheap) as they are scarce as hen's teeth and disappearing fast when old boats get scrapped. 

Ship plans
thanks to the Independence Seaport Museum
Mathis 124-135-1 -- Hull 124 Tonnage offsets (5.3 MB)
Mathis 124-203-1 -- Hull 124 Molded lines (9.6 MB)
Mathis 124-480-1 -- Hull 124 Plan of elevation for main engine room (11.8 MB)
Mathis 125-207-1 -- Hull 125 General arrangement (12.4 MB) 

The Whalen is Mathis hull #124. The F.A. Verdon was hull #125 and had 38' longer cargo tanks.  During the 1940's, Bushey considered adding 30' to the Whalen's cargo tanks, and we have several blueprints from this period. The expansion was never completed.  We'd like plans to the Whalen. The Verdon was scrapped in 1976.

Unusual original name
The Mary A. Whalen began life with an odd name, S.T. Kiddoo.  We had no idea who Kiddoo was until the day before her 70th birthday party in December 08, when Mary Habstritt, President of the national Society of Industrial Archeology, emailed us this info: "I was boning up on history of Whalen and saw that her old name S.T. Kiddoo was a mystery.  I searched just the last name and got several threads about the surname on www.Ancestry.com that mentioned A history of the Kiddoo family in the United States, 1780-1981 which is full text on the Brigham Young University libraries digital collections site.   On p. 188, it tells of a Solomon Thomas Kiddoo (1883-1965) who, after a career in banking in, of all places, Wall SD, became Secretary-Treasury of Fairbanks Morse.  Hmmm.  I think it cannot be a coincidence that the ship had the same name as an officer of Fairbanks Morse and the ship has a FM engine."  We also know that Bushey was a distributor of Fairbanks Morse engines, so we are quite sure this is the person for whom she was first named.  The Kiddoo family has been in touch as a result of this webpage.

Mary A. Whalen Facebook page here

Other Bushey tankers

A.C. Dodge, collided, exploded & sank 1952, from collection Dave Boone

Bushey YO-4 trial photo from Gerry Weinstein, Archive of Industry

R.J. Perry, later John J. Tabeling 1966, Patricia N. Gellatly 1992, then Nemo and scrapped 2005, from collection Dave Boone

George Whitlock II, later Reliable II 1990, scrapped 2005, from collection Dave Boone