Here are the final reports of some of the more notable disasters that have occurred within New York Harbor and its vicinity. They make for some heavy but informative reading.
The General Slocum, June 15th 1904 NY East River and Hell’s Gate (935 kb)
The Esso Brussels and Sea Witch, June 2nd 1973 NY Upper Bay and Narrows (4,351 kb)
The Texaco Massachusetts and the Alva Cape, June 16th 1966, The Kill Van Kull, Bergen Point, N.J. (841 kb)
The Marine Electric , February 12th 1983 30 nm East of Chincoteague, Va. in approx 120′ of water. (7,054 kb)
The Tug Scandia and Barge North Cape, January 19th, 1996 Off Rhode Island, Moonstone Beach. (1,582 kb)
[...] . . . Chemical Pioneer, not far from where it, as Sea Witch 37 years ago lost its steering and created its fireball and a major oil spill, by sixth boro [...]
My wife’s grandfather, Henry Harold Johnson, was a coal Barge deckhand & later a captain on the Burns Brothers Barges plying the Hudson River. Later he bacame a Tugboat captain for the McCormick line & the Tracy Barge towing line. This would be back in the 1920′s to 1940′s. The story my wifes family was told, is that one winter day when it was extremely foggy, Henry called in sick and someone else went in his place. Due to the poor visability, an ocean liner crashed into the tug and some or all of the crew were killed. Henry was saved due to his not being on the job that day. My question is: Has anyone heard of this loss of a tug & crew due to a collision with a ship back in this time period? And is there a way to find out if those company’s mentioned have records of their crews? Appreciate any help i can get. Thanks.