NY Harbor ferries (Staten Island, Governor's Island, NY-NJ)

[Mike C]

This is a very interesting fleet of boats. These are passenger only, and sort of resemble our "C" class ferries, or better yet, the Jumbo class of Washington State Ferries.

Observe.


Photo courtesey of Evergreenfleet.com

The route is Staten Island to the southern tip of Manhatten, with the 1 Subway trains connecting to the ferry terminal via South Ferry station.

Cheers,
Mikey

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Several of them are, or were, capable of transporting cars, eg the John F Kennedy, but since the World Trade Center attacks, cars have been unable to use the service.

The ferries have a great history, and have been around for over a century, I believe. Originally established to service the link between New York and Staten Island, they were originally a fee for service ferry. However, the Rockefellers wanted to leave a legacy for the people of New York and Staten Island, and established a trust fund for the ferry service. I believe this is the only free link between Staten Island and the rest of New York City; all other bridges and tunnels are toll based.

www.siferry.com/

[Queen of Nanaimo Teen]

Thanks for the link! One thing I like about this fleet is the look of the Michael Cosgrove. She (or he!) looks like a K Class. I would like to see these ferries someday!

[Dane]

Why can't cars go on? Are they going to Jihad downtown?

[FNS]

mainlander101 said:

This is a very interesting fleet of boats. These are passenger only, and sort of resemble our "C" class ferries, or better yet, the Jumbo class of Washington State Ferries.

Observe.


Photo courtesey of Evergreenfleet.com

The route is Staten Island to the southern tip of Manhatten, with the 1 Subway trains connecting to the ferry terminal via South Ferry station.

Cheers,
Mikey

Greetings, "Queen of Burnaby Teen"!

I have ridden aboard this ferry service several years ago. I liked the JFK-Class as these had character. Wooden benches and only about four years younger than I am.

The picture you have above the SPOKANE is a "BARBERI"-Class ferry. She can carry 6000 passengers and usually operates on commuter runs. She has a unique feature in that on her third deck, the side proms have windows that can be opened for warm sea breezes and closed when it's cool (as not to interfere with her huge capacity). She and the NEWHOUSE were built by Equitable of New Orleans, the shipyard that lost the contract to build the ISSAQUAH et al fleet. The two are 310 feet long (like the EVERGREEN STATE is) and have egg beaters (like what you see on tractor tugs) as propulsion, and can create a wobble ride effect if any of the blades below is uneven (or have marine debri on them).

The JFK-Class (JFK, LEHMAN, AMERICAN LEGION II) have been replaced by the MOLINARI, MARCHI, and SPIRIT OF AMERICA. The AUSTEN and NOBLE take turns as "night owls" on the overnight trips before turning things over to the bigger ones at dawn's first commuter runs.

I stayed at the Hotel Penn and used the 1 / 9 subway line. This line took me south to the ferry terminal and north to Times Square and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine where I saw Paul Winter, his Consort, and the clergy do the Missa Gaia Earth Mass and the Blessing of the animals (they parade the neat creatures down the long aisle of the massive structure measuring 601 feet long). This was at the first part of October.

I took 12 one way trips aboard the Staten Island ferry line. Two trips were taken at night (they let us look out the front windows at night then and I think they still do these days as well as aboard the ferries here on Puget Sound). Fun trips!

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

ferrynutseattle said:

I stayed at the Hotel Penn and used the 1 / 9 subway line. This line took me south to the ferry terminal and north to Times Square and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine where I saw Paul Winter, his Consort, and the clergy do the Missa Gaia Earth Mass and the Blessing of the animals (they parade the neat creatures down the long aisle of the massive structure measuring 601 feet long). This was at the first part of October.

I will have to get up to New York and take some photos of the renovated ferry terminals, and the new subway station at the ferry terminal in New York. They have performed some major face-lifts to the buildings over the last couple of years.

dane said:

Why can't cars go on? Are they going to Jihad downtown?

The official statement is "traffic control". A lot of knee-jerk policies were put into place after 9/11, but this one does have some practicality to it. With all the renovations on the New York terminal, not having to deal with the cars has probably been a blessing.

My definition of knee-jerk policies: any policy put into place without significant security repercussions, but with high public visibility i.e. pretty much a waste of time, just so its clear.

[whidbeyislandguy]

Once again...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Staten Island Ferry lost power and hit a pier Wednesday at full speed, resulting in one serious injury and nine minor injuries, a Coast Guard spokesman said.



www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/01/ferry.crash/index.html

[FNS]

Here's more:

www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/SI-Ferry-Bumps-Dock-Some-Minor-Injuries-Reported.html

The vessel involved was one of the new MOLINARI-Class ferries. The dock slammer this time was the MARCHI.

abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6894631

[Low Light Mike]

Some photos from my colleagues Leif & Jenn, from their December 2009 trip to New York.

Setting the scene:



Close-up of the ferry, with Statue of Liberty in the left-background:



Another close-up, with Liberty almost forming part of the ferry's mast. I tried to light up the picture so that you could see the inside of the deck.

[FNS]

Nice photo!

That's one of the new ones with four decks for passengers. Can't pick out her name, though.

Today, they operate:

MV GUY V MOLINARI 4400 passengers
MV SEN JOHN J MARCHI 4400 passengers
MV SPIRIT OF AMERICA 4400 passengers
These are the first SIF's to have elevators aboard.

MV SAMUEL I NEWHOUSE 6000 passengers
MV ANDREW J BARBERI 6000 passengers

MV JOHN F KENNEDY 3500 passengers
This classic ferry is retained from this retired class of ferries for continued service. The GOV HERBERT H LEHMAN and AMERICAN LEGION II have been retired.

MV ALICE AUSTEN 1280 passengers
MV JOHN NOBLE 1280 passengers
These are the night owls and take turns doing the overnight runs in place of the larger ones.

[Low Light Mike]

Here is a picture of the building that is next to the current terminal, on the New York City side of the Staten route.

My colleague Leif thinks that this is the old terminal building.

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Mar 1, 2010 20:08:12 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Here is a picture of the building that is next to the current terminal, on the New York City side of the Staten route.

My colleague Leif thinks that this is the old terminal building.

Flug, I think it was actually a terminal building for one of the other ferry services that used to run into Whitehall (South Ferry). There were a number of rail ferries that also docked there (and literally ran into in several occasions) over the 150 plus years of service into lower Manhatten. I know for certain that the Govenor Island ferry has a terminal right beside the Staten Island terminal that is still in operation. I'll have to look at my book on the history of the New York Harbour ferries and try to see if I can identify who would have actually constructed the building.

[Low Light Mike]

Mar 2, 2010 4:50:55 GMT -8 D'Elete BC in NJ said:

Flug, I think it was actually a terminal building for one of the other ferry services that used to run into Whitehall (South Ferry). There were a number of rail ferries that also docked there (and literally ran into in several occasions) over the 150 plus years of service into lower Manhatten. I know for certain that the Govenor Island ferry has a terminal right beside the Staten Island terminal that is still in operation. I'll have to look at my book on the history of the New York Harbour ferries and try to see if I can identify who would have actually constructed the building.

I've cropped the same photo, to reveal the name. Good call sir, as this is for Governors Island.



And here's a cropped look inside:

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

There was something else niggling away in the back of my mind about the Governor's Island ferry and with a little help from Google, I figured it out. The M/V Islander was purchased a couple of years ago, after being retired in favour of the new and improved M/V Island Home, to replace the ferry, Lt Samuel S. Coursen, which served the route for many years. This turned out to be a real fiasco, though, as the Islander has since shown she is truly worn out(www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/08/19/2009-08-19_cost_for_junk_ferry_could_sail_higher.html). This run has been recently supplemented by a passenger only ferry out of Brooklyn. Another quirk is that the M/V Governor which operated along side the Islander used to serve this route, too.

I still owe you a name on the company that first founded the building in the photo above.

[Low Light Mike]

We've renamed this thread, to be inclusive of the various different harbour ferries at New York:
- Staten Island
- Governors Island
- others

----------------

Thanks to the Texada-Jersey guy for the suggestion.

[Kahloke]

BTW - that's "Harbor" with an "O", and not the U. We're in America now (cue the southern, hillbilly accent) ;D

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Mar 3, 2010 10:43:14 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

BTW - that's "Harbor" with an "O", and not the U. We're in America now (cue the southern, hillbilly accent) ;D

heh heh heh...spelling suggested intentionally... ;D

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Mar 3, 2010 9:52:25 GMT -8 D'Elete BC in NJ said:

There was something else niggling away in the back of my mind about the Governor's Island ferry and with a little help from Google, I figured it out. The M/V Islander was purchased a couple of years ago, after being retired in favour of the new and improved M/V Island Home, to replace the ferry, Lt Samuel S. Coursen, which served the route for many years. This turned out to be a real fiasco, though, as the Islander has since shown she is truly worn out(www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/08/19/2009-08-19_cost_for_junk_ferry_could_sail_higher.html). This run has been recently supplemented by a passenger only ferry out of Brooklyn. Another quirk is that the M/V Governor which operated along side the Islander used to serve this route, too.

I still owe you a name on the company that first founded the building in the photo above.

A little more info on the building (the Battery Maritime Building) in Flug's photo above can be found here
and here. It was built in 1907 by NYC along with the South Ferry Terminal that serviced Staten Island (the original South Ferry building was extensively damaged by fire in 1991). It's purpose was to service the ferries running to Governor's Island and 39th St in Brooklyn. This location also serviced B&O's rail ferries out of Jersey City prior to the Battery Maritime Building's construction.

[Low Light Mike]

News story, with video, of the Staten Island ferries.

www.ny1.com/9-staten-island-news-content/top_stories/116922/-i-once-upon-a-time-on-staten-island---i--locals-commuted-on-boats-long-before-bridges

[BreannaF]

It looks like the Barberi was involved in an accident this morning. Crew went to reverse the engines approaching the Staten Island side...and nothing happened. From the AP, via Yahoo:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Staten Island ferry slams into dock; dozens hurt
By DENNIS WASZAK and CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK – A Staten Island ferry with a history of accidents malfunctioned as it approached its terminal Saturday and smashed into a pier with a jolt that tossed passengers to the deck and hurt as many as 37 people.

The accident happened at around 9:20 a.m. as the Andrew J. Barberi arrived at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew.

Passenger Jason Watler, 30, of St. George, said he became alarmed when the ferry approached the shore faster than usual and ran toward the back of the boat.

"It was not slowing down," he said. "He was going too fast."

Then, he heard a "a real big boom."

"I stumbled a little bit," he said. "People were screaming. People were crying."

The accident appeared to be the result of a mechanical failure, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said.

The ferry's throttle failed to engage as it prepared to dock, she said, meaning the crew was unable to use the engines to apply reverse thrust and slow down. The cause of the malfunction is still unknown, she said. The ferry was moving at about 5 knots, or 5.8 miles per hour, when it hit.

Coast Guard officials said the ferry suffered serious damage to its ramps and gouges in the decks above the waterline. Ramps on the pier were also damaged.

The Fire Department said 17 passengers were initially taken by ambulance to hospitals, but that none had life-threatening injuries. Later, they said 33 had been checked out at hospitals, after first being treated at the scene. One person complained of chest pains. Two police officers providing ferry security were among the injured, officials said, but no crew members were hurt.

The Andrew Barberi was also involved in a 2003 wreck that killed 11 people. That accident occurred when the pilot, suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers, passed out at the wheel and the boat hit the terminal in St. George at full speed. The ferry returned to service after a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation.

The pilot pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter and lying to investigators. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The city ferry director was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to negligent manslaughter and admitting he failed to implement or enforce a rule requiring two pilots during docking.

On July 1, 2009, a different ferry lost power and slammed into a pier at the St. George terminal, causing more than a dozen minor injuries among passengers. That accident was blamed on the failure of a transformer, which regulates power to the main propulsion engine.

The ferry runs across New York harbor between Manhattan and Staten Island. Ferries landing at the terminal approach fairly quickly, then slow by putting the engines in reverse. The boat coasts into a U-shaped slip and workers extend large ramps that allow passengers to exit. Most passengers assemble at the front as the ferry arrives.

In Saturday's accident, Sadik-Khan said, the crew discovered the mechanical problem in time to alert passengers to brace for a hard landing and move back, although it is unclear how many heard or understood the warning.

Dwayne Forrest, 47, of Knoxville, Tenn., was sitting in the front with of the ferry with his wife, Sheila. He said he heard a warning, buzzers sounded and then someone said "Red! Red! Red!" and about 15 seconds later, the boat hit.

"It was a hard jolt. ... Luckily we were sitting down," he said.

The Forrests were in New York City on vacation and were told they could get a better look at the Statue of Liberty if they rode the ferry.

Alex Gonzalez, 36, of the Bronx, said the ferry appeared to speed up, rather than slow, as it approached the dock. He said the impact threw a woman and child standing near him about 10 feet.

"It was the scariest thing of my life," he said.

Service on the ferry line was suspended after the accident, then restored by late morning.

The ferry itself was dislodged from the dock at the terminal about five hours after the crash, with the help of a tugboat, and taken to another nearby pier area.

The crash will be investigated, Gov. David Paterson said at the scene. He said it was important for him to be on site after the events of the past week had raised tensions in New York City.

"That's the byproduct of harmful acts, and it causes people to be worried about things like transportation," Paterson said.

[fargowolf]

Mar 3, 2010 10:43:14 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

BTW - that's "Harbor" with an "O", and not the U. We're in America now (cue the southern, hillbilly accent) ;D

GREETINGS Y'ALL AND WELCOME ALL YOU DAD BURN FOREIGNERS FROM OTHER PLACES TO THIS FORUM!!!! ;D

There. That redneck enough for ya Orcasnative?

Returning to the topic at hand...

I've been following the story on and off throughout the day. Are there any updates as to what might have happened in terms of not being able to slow down, since the engines/engine room never responded?

[FNS]

For those who are wondering, the ferry BARBERI is fitted with an "egg beater" at each end. Voith Schneider is the propulsion she and her sister NEWHOUSE have. This is also the propulsion of the "night owls" AUSTEN and NOBLE. The other Staten Island ferries have regular propellers and rudders.

That BARBERI is sure having bad luck these days.



Here's a launch video of one of the newer ones they have in service today.

I experienced a dock slamming myself. This happened on February 13, 1979. This was the day we had that ferocious windstorm that sank half of the Hood Canal Bridge. The KULSHAN could not be started that morning, so the ILLAHEE and RHODODENDRON were using the north slip at Clinton on the Mukilteo run. I was aboard the RHODY on my way to Whidbey. As I was at the top of her stairway on my way down to the car deck, I was jolted forward. Luckily, I had my hand already on the railing and held on. She had just hit and made a dent into the right wingwall of the north slip. We landed and got off normally. I was OK. I imagine the captain had to write a report. The wind must have fouled the approach this time.

Now, back to more stories of the Staten Island ferries (when they happen, of course).

[Low Light Mike]

New York Times story


More detail on the ferry:

Problems Even Before a Ferryboat’s First Voyage

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM and PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: May 8, 2010

The Andrew J. Barberi first set sail across Upper New York Bay in August 1981 after a pomp-filled send-off from Staten Island by Mayor Edward I. Koch. Its engine promptly failed, the steering mechanism went dead, and the vessel ran aground near Governors Island.

The mammoth orange ferry, the second-oldest in the Staten Island Ferry fleet, had problems even before that first voyage. And in 2003, the Barberi was involved in the worst accident in the ferry’s history, when a captain who had been taking painkillers blacked out and the ferry rammed into a pier at St. George terminal on Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring scores.

On Saturday, the Barberi again crashed on its approach to Staten Island, apparently because the system that slows the boat failed, causing the ferry to slam into a pier, injuring about three dozen passengers. Its hull cracked in two places, the Barberi was once more taken out of service.

The city’s Department of Transportation, which runs the ferry service, said early signs suggested a mechanical failure, and the transportation commissioner said Saturday’s crash was “a very different situation” from the 2003 disaster.

But accidents have punctuated the history of the 310-foot Barberi. An accident in 1995 involved a similar failure of its propulsion system, a sophisticated contraption that is considered expensive to maintain and was not installed on more recent ferries bought by the city, according to several officials and former employees familiar with the operations of the Staten Island Ferry.

The system, known as a Voith Schneider Propeller, is considered one of the most maneuverable in the maritime world. It resembles a circle of knives that hang straight down in the water. The blades rotate to create momentum and pivot individually to provide direction, essentially acting as their own rudder.

“It’s like an eggbeater,” said Theodore Costa, 85, a former pilot on the Barberi. The propeller is particularly agile, allowing for quick changes in direction. But three new ferries that began service in 2005 all carried a more conventional propeller.

“They are high-maintenance because there are a lot of moving parts,” said Steven Kalil, the president of Caddell Dry Dock and Repair, which performed the $9 million in repairs to the Barberi after the crash in 2003. Mr. Kalil’s company took apart and serviced the propeller as part of its repair work, though the bulk of the work focused on repairing the mangled steel hull and replacing seats and decks. Surveillance cameras and an improved public announcement system were also added, to conform to more stringent safety standards.

A plaque with the names of the victims of the 2003 accident was affixed to one of the Barberi’s bulkheads when the ship returned to service in 2004.

Some relatives of victims wanted the ferry renamed, but officials refused, citing the civic contributions of the boat’s namesake, Andrew J. Barberi, who was considered the greatest high school football coach in Staten Island’s history.

Mr. Barberi, who died in 1979 at age 64, was a star football player for Curtis High School, where he played a few blocks from St. George terminal, and at New York University. He returned to Curtis as the team’s coach, motivating players with a perennial cigar wedged between his teeth.

“They honored his name by putting it on a ferry, and now the name will go down in infamy because of the crashes,” said Anthony Bisignano, a lawyer who knew Mr. Barberi when he played on a rival school’s football team and who represented passengers suing the city after the 2003 crash.

Late Saturday, Mr. Barberi’s son, Bruce Barberi, a physical education teacher now living in Bennington, Neb., said: “Papa would be concerned about the ferry. He’d say, ‘If the boat has safety problems, get rid of it.’ ”

Mr. Koch announced in 1980 that the city planned to buy a new ferry to be named after Mr. Barberi. But the boat arrived two and a half years late, after failing early trials in the Gulf of Mexico.

With a capacity of 6,000 passengers, the Barberi is by far the biggest of the eight ferries that make the 25-minute, 5.2-mile run between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan.

Like the other ferries, the Barberi is inspected four times a year by the Coast Guard and undergoes a more extensive two-week examination once a year.

“On neither of those occasions did we find any reason not to certify the vessel as seaworthy and able to transport passengers,” said Charles Rowe, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Tara Canini, 33, whose father, Pio, was killed in the 2003 crash, said she tried to avoid the Barberi whenever she took the ferry. But when she does, said Ms. Canini, who lives on Staten Island, she sits near the plaque that bears her father’s name.

“Of course the crash today brings back memories,” Ms. Canini said Saturday. “We never wanted the boat to go back into service in the first place.”


Russ Buettner and Corey Kilgannon contributed reporting.

from here:
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/nyregion/09barberi.html?src=mv

[FNS]

I guess it's time to replace the egg beaters with regular propellers and rudders on the BARBERI and NEWHOUSE.

As I said some time ago in another thread, the BARBERI and NEWHOUSE were built by Equitable Shipyards of New Orleans. As some of you forum mates may remember, Equitable and Marine Power & Equipment of Seattle were in a fierce battle to build our "ISSAQUAH" Class ferries. Equitable grumbly lost and MPE did these ferries on the Duwamish River.

Interesting to note is that, when I did my trips aboard the SI ferries more than a decade ago, I saw a Staten Island advertisement aboard the ferries showing a facial drawing of an ISSAQUAH ferry rather than a Staten Island ferry. I guess that no one had readily available SI ferry artwork, so they used our ferry instead. Oh, well, they already had a former Puget Sound ferry within close proximity of the Staten Island ferry run. This was the KULSHAN and was tied to the dock at Governors Island when I did these trips then.

[fargowolf]

Having read that news article that Flugel posted this morning, I'm curious as to why it seems that particular ferry has had all the problems, while the other ferries seems to lead a much more sedate life.