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PortSide's ambassador
to the BlueSpace:
The Mary Whalen
made history:
The
Mary Whalen helps explain history: Distributing that fuel was the Mary A. Whalen's job, the job of a tanker working along the coast, and her work changed over time according to how our fuel consumption grew and changed. She "went outside" (in the Atlantic) delivering gasoline as far away as Maine from 1938-1958 (a testament to the small number of cars in Maine then). She did "creek work" delivering home heating oil to local fuel terminals up little waterways like the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek, and in the end she mostly fueled ships "bunkering" at dock and at anchor. Her voyages became shorter as we consumed more fuel and her size was ever smaller in relation to demand. We give TankerTours to diverse audiences. Bilingual TankerTours at a salsa concert:
Tanker Tours for college professors:
The
Mary Whalen's
present & future:
The tanker is being respectfully repurposed and enlivened by changing activities. She can hold many of the activities researched in our business plan, but not all. We need space ashore to launch other programs, especially the Flotsam Project. The vintage cabins, wheelhouse and galley will be restored. We have secured most of the parts needed to repair her engine. We have installed spudwells (huge steel sleeves through the hull) so we can use spuds (internal pilings) which we don't have yet. Having spuds will enable the Whalen to visit communities that lack a pier or piers with tie-up infrastructure. Many new waterfront parks have no cleats or bollards on their piers, and many communities lack a formal waterfront park at all. Though she is quite long, The Whalen is shallow draft and can therefore visit the many shallow areas of New York's shoreline.
Physical condition: Though she is built of steel, she has a lot of wood trim and the curved lines of a wood boat, meaning she has sheer (or a concave longitudinal curve) to her decks, camber (a convex transverse curve) to her pilothouse and foredeck, and she has "shape" or tumblehome to the sides of her house (as if the walls leaned inward). She was built before Americans wasted so much electricity, meaning she makes great use of natural light and ventilation -- some of the sustainability issues we explain on TankerTours. In comparison, many modern workboats have cabins or galleys with no portholes at all; they depend on electric lights and air conditioning.
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Mary A. Whalen Facebook page here
Built 1938 Mary Whalen deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places! May 2011, the NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) reviewed our application in record time and wrote back “Great application!” They also said they were pleased to hear from us, we’ve been watching the Mary Whalen.” More on her history page.
fact sheet
Where
to find her:
Calling all former crew! And your advice can help us put The Whalen back together.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hook%2C_Brooklyn