The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It was also the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) and a deck 127 ft (38.7 m) above mean high water. The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915.
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff and built by the Phoenix Bridge Company, the bridge has a total length of 6,855 ft (2,089 m). It is one of four toll-free vehicular bridges connecting Manhattan Island to Long Island; the nearby Brooklyn Bridge is just slightly farther west, while the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges are to the north.
A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipment. Older designs derived from tugboats and modern fireboats more closely resembling seafaring ships can both be found in service today. Some departments would give their multi-purpose craft the title of "fireboat" also.
Abram Stevens Hewitt was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887 to 1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from New York's 10th and chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1876 to 1877.
The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building is a 40-story, 580-foot (180 m) building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The structure was built to accommodate increased governmental space demands after the 1898 consolidation of the city's five boroughs. Construction began in 1909 and continued through 1914 at a total cost of $12 million.
David Augustus Boody was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician who served briefly as a United States representative from New York in 1891.
Esso Brussels was a commercial oil tanker built for the Esso Oil company in 1959. She was involved in a collision in 1973 in which thirteen of her crew perished. She was rebuilt and sailed under various other names until being scrapped in 1985.
Sea Witch was a MARAD Type C5-S-73b container ship built at the Bath Iron Works shipyard for American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines. She operated in the Atlantic trades for five years. So engaged on the evening of June 1, 1973, the vessel was involved in a disastrous collision with the oil tanker Esso Brussels in lower New York Harbor and was damaged so badly that she was removed from active service.
SS El Estero was a ship filled with ammunition that caught fire at dockside in New York Harbor in 1943, but was successfully moved away and sunk by the heroic efforts of tugboat and fireboat crews, averting a major disaster.
The Abram S. Hewitt was a coal-powered fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City from 1903 to 1958. She was the department's last coal-powered vessel and had a pumping capacity of 7,000 gallons per minute.
Zophar Mills was a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City from 1883 to 1958. She was the department's first iron-hulled vessel and had a pumping capacity of 6,000 US gal per minute.
The Seth Low was a fireboat built for the Brooklyn Fire Department in Brooklyn, New York, which operated from 1885 to 1917. Prior to her commissioning the Brooklyn Fire Department had relied on fireboats from neighboring municipality New York City. Unlike her opposite number of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), which had hulls of iron, or steel, the Seth Low was a wooden-hulled vessel.
The Fire Department of New York operated a fireboat named William J. Gaynor from 1914 to 1961.
John Purroy Mitchel was a New York City Fire Department fireboat. She was named after former mayor of New York City, John Purroy Mitchel. Grace Drennan, niece of Fire Commissioner Thomas J. Drennan played a ceremonial role in the boat's launch on July 24, 1921. Her launch was also attended by current mayor John Francis Hylan.
Thomas Willett was a New York City Fire Department fireboat. She was launched in 1908 and retired in 1959. She was built as a steam-engine powered vessel with coal-fired boilers. She was converted to oil-fired boilers in 1926.
In June 1966, the British oil tanker MV Alva Cape caught fire twice in New York Harbor, first in a collision with tanker SS Texaco Massachusetts, and next while unloading cargo, and was subsequently scuttled offshore. Thirty-three people were killed in the collision, the resulting spill of its cargo of naphtha and major fire that ensued. Four more were killed about two weeks later while the emptied tanks were being inerted with carbon dioxide in a misguided attempt to make the damaged vessel safe for transport.
The Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) was a professional fire department that provided fire protection and rescue services to the city of Brooklyn, New York, within modern-day New York City, from 1869 to 1898. The Brooklyn Fire Department, a paid firefighting force, replaced a 3,000-person volunteer fire department that was poorly equipped to serve Brooklyn's growing population.
Felicity Ace was a 60,000 tonne roll-on/roll-off cargo ship built by Shin Kurushima Dockyard in 2005. It was owned and operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines of Japan, and the ship was registered in Panama. She caught fire in February 2022 south of the Azores, whilst transporting vehicles from Germany to the USA. The ship then capsized and sank in early March with an estimated cargo worth over $400 million.
SS Vigilancia was a merchant steamship that was built in Pennsylvania in 1890. She sailed between New York and Brazil via the West Indies until 1893, when her original owners went bankrupt. The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, commonly known as Ward Line, owned her from 1894 until 1914, and ran her between New York and Mexico via Cuba. In 1898 she was a troopship in the Spanish–American War.
