Operational history
Described as unusually luxurious for a day-voyaging vessel, [4] Yankee was built in 1907 by the Philadelphian shipbuilding company Neafie & Levy for the Casco Bay and Harpswell Line. [5] There is some confusion about her original name, with some sources listing it as Dida. [5] It is unclear however, if the ship ever operated under that name, since she is commonly referred to as Machigonne from an early point in her career.
Machigonne began her service life ferrying passengers between Portland, Maine and the Calendar Islands in Casco Bay. In 1913, she was sold to the Nahant Steamship Line of Boston, Massachusetts, and used on the Boston, Nahant and Pines Island route. [6]
Following America's entry into World War I, Machigonne was acquired by the United States Navy on 2 October 1917 under charter, and commissioned 15 May 1918 as USS Machigonne (SP-1043). During the war, the ship was armed with two one-pounder guns for defense, and used to transport men and supplies between Boston and Bumpkin Island Training Station. [5]
After the end of hostilities, USS Machigonne was decommissioned and resumed commercial service. In 1921, the ship was purchased by John E. Moore and transferred to New York Harbor. For the next eight years, Machigonne was used to ferry newly arriving immigrants from their incoming ships to Ellis Island, and thenceforth to the mainland. [6] These immigrants, many of whom were kept below decks on their transatlantic voyage, are said to have obtained their first views of New York City from the decks of Machigonne. In this period, the ship was also used to ferry tourists to the Statue of Liberty. [4]
In 1929, the ship was sold to a Captain Daniel F. McAllister, and renamed Hook Mountain. For the next ten years she operated as a tour boat, carrying passengers from Battery Park to Bedloe's Island and Governors Island. [6] Hook Mountain was sold to a Rhode Island company in 1939, and renamed Block Island. [5] [6] She also operated under the name League Island when requisitioned for World War II service. [7] In 1947, the vessel had her original steam propulsion replaced with a 900 Hp GM diesel from a LST, was renamed Yankee and used to transport vacationers from Providence to Block Island, a task that apparently continued for several decades. [8] The vessel was finally retired from commercial service after the 1983 summer season which included a charter to the America's Cup Races off of Newport, RI. It was then laid up in Montville, CT for several years. It was later towed to Providence, RI and docked very close to where she used to depart from for Block Island service and was neglected and became a target for vandals. [4]
Restoration
In 1990, the by-now dilapidated Yankee was bought by a private citizen, Jim Gallagher, who towed it to Pier 25, Tribeca, Manhattan, where he began working on its restoration. In an unusual arrangement, Gallagher was permitted by the local authorities to live on the boat in order to continue with his work. To help pay for the job, Gallagher rented the boat out to weddings and parties. The vessel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. [2] [9]
In 2003, Gallagher sold the boat to new owners who pledged to continue with the restoration work. [4] In 2006 the boat was moved to Hoboken, New Jersey while the local council carried out an upgrade to Pier 25. [10] Although operational, the boat is apparently not used for actual voyages since it lacks a seaworthiness certificate. [4]
Yankee is one of several vessels built by Neafie & Levy to be either still operational or operating until very recently. Another Neafie & Levy vessel that is still operational is the tugboat Jupiter. A third vessel, the tugboat Tuff-E-Nuff (originally the Thomas Cunningham Sr.), built in 1895, was remarkably still in commercial service in its original role as of May 2007. [11]
In 2003 Yankee was bought by Richard and Victoria MacKenzie-Childs, and moved to a dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2013. While interior repair and restoration work is ongoing, the ship is in need of drydock space/funding to have its hull inspected, repaired, and deemed seaworthy again.
In 2018, while in drydock in Staten Island after further hull work, the Yankee was listed for sale by Franklin-Ruttan: "The oldest existing Ellis Island Ferry. Built in 1907, acquired by Victoria & Richard Mackenzie-Childs in 2003 and renovated with their creative touch. 150 foot historic vessel listed on National Register of historic places. Currently configured as residence with 11 bedrooms. Potential as public exhibit, Event Venue / Restaurant. "Either afloat upon the waters, OR mounted upon the land, or cresting a building like an elegant. Crown! A most intriguing vista from without and from within. Ship has undergone hull restoration in 2017. $2.37M." [12]
Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship built in 1841 that was active during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships of this type were used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil which was commonly used in lamps. Charles W. Morgan has served as a museum ship since the 1940s and is now an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut. She is the world's oldest surviving (non-wrecked) merchant vessel, the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet, and second to the USS Constitution, the oldest seaworthy vessel in the world. The Morgan was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Puget Sound and Northwest Coast maritime heritage, expressed through educational programs and experiences available to the public aboard its ships. The organization owns three large historic vessels docked at the Historic Ships' Wharf in Seattle's Lake Union Park; the tugboat Arthur Foss (1889), Lightship 83 Swiftsure (1904), and the halibut fishing schooner Tordenskjold (1911). These vessels are used as platforms for a variety of public programs, ranging from tours and festivals to restoration workshops and vocational training.
Eureka is a side-wheel paddle steamboat, built in 1890, which is now preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. Originally named Ukiah to commemorate the railway's recent extension into the City of Ukiah, the boat was built by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company at their Tiburon yard. Eureka has been designated a National Historic Landmark and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1973.
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Casco Bay Lines is a publicly run transportation company that services the residents of the islands of Casco Bay, Maine. These islands include Peaks Island, Little Diamond Island, Great Diamond Island, Diamond Cove, Long Island, Chebeague Island, and Cliff Island.
Equator was a two-masted pygmy trading schooner known for carrying passengers Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson on a voyage through the islands of Micronesia in 1889. She was later used a wire drag vessel for the Coast and Geodetic Survey organization, and finally as a tugboat along the Puget Sound until her abandonment in 1956. Equator was left to decay as part of a breakwater before she was saved in the 1960s. Efforts to restore her ultimately failed, leaving her remains under an enclosed structure in a decaying state.
Neafie, Levy & Co., commonly known as Neafie & Levy, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shipbuilding and engineering firm that existed from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Described as America's "first specialist marine engineers", Neafie & Levy was probably the first company in the United States to combine the building of iron ships with the manufacture of steam engines to power them. The company was also the largest supplier of screw propellers to other North American shipbuilding firms in its early years, and at its peak in the early 1870s was Philadelphia's busiest and most heavily capitalized shipbuilder.
SS John Oxley is a steamship that previously served as a pilot boat and lighthouse and buoy tender. The ship was built in Scotland in 1927 for the Queensland Government. The vessel was requisitioned by Royal Australian Navy during the World War II. Returned to her duties after the war, John Oxley remained active until 1968, when her deteriorating condition made her unusable. In 1970, the ship was donated by the Queensland Government to the Lady Hopetoun and Port Jackson Marine Steam Museum for preservation, but due to other projects, work was sidelined until 2004. The ship has undergone restoration for the past 20 years at Rozelle Bay on a floating dock. In April 2022, she was towed to dry dock at Garden Island, re-floated successfully and returned to Rozelle Bay for further restoration work afloat.
Sabino is a small wooden, coal-fired steamboat built in 1908 and located at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. It is one of only two surviving members of the American mosquito fleet, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. It is America's oldest regularly operating coal-powered steamboat.
Emma C. Berry is a fishing sloop located at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, United States, and one of the oldest surviving commercial vessels in America. She is the last known surviving American well smack. This type of boat is also termed a sloop smack or Noank smack. The Noank design was imitated in other regions of the United States.
Wapama, also known as Tongass, was a vessel last located in Richmond, California. She was the last surviving example of some 225 wooden steam schooners that served the lumber trade and other coastal services along the Pacific Coast of the United States. She was managed by the National Park Service at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park until dismantled in August 2013.
Luna is a historic tugboat normally berthed in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Luna was designed in 1930 by John G. Alden and built by M.M. Davis and Bethlehem Steel. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. In 1985, the Luna was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
SS Ste. Claire is a steamer located in Detroit, Michigan. Built in 1910, she was one of the last propeller-driven excursion steamers to be operated on the Great Lakes. She was declared a US National Historic Landmark in 1992. In 2018, a devastating fire destroyed the upper decks, leaving only the steel structure.
USS League Island (YFB-20) was a 166-foot-long commercial craft acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. It was primarily used as a ferryboat on the Delaware River, transporting military personnel between the Philadelphia Navy Yard, located on League Island, and military activities and contractors on the New Jersey side of the river.
Reaney, Son & Archbold was a 19th-century American iron shipbuilding company located on the Delaware River at Chester, Pennsylvania. The company was established in 1859 by Thomas Reaney but it was undercapitalized from the outset, and like many other American shipbuilding companies, fell victim to the shipbuilding slump that followed the American Civil War.
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RML 497 is a former Royal Navy Fairmile B motor launch from World War II. She was named Western Lady III on her entry to civilian service, as a passenger motor vessel for Western Lady Ferry Service. From 2009 to 2015, she operated as The Fairmile for Greenway Ferry on their day cruise route from Torquay and Brixham to Dartmouth and Greenway. In May 2013, she was returned to her original wartime appearance. Torbay's "ferry wars" forced her removal from service, and in December 2015, RML 497 was acquired by the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
TSS T/T Calshot was a tug tender built in 1929 by John I Thornycroft & Co, and completed in 1930 for the Red Funnel Line. Calshot was one of only three surviving classical tender ships which served the great ocean liners, another example is the SS Nomadic, which tendered the ill-fated RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage at Cherbourg, France. The third being the Manchester Ship Canal's Daniel Adamson. In her career, Calshot has tendered some of the most famous ocean liners ever built, such as the RMS Caronia, the Cunard Queens RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary, the SS United States, and the White Star Line ship RMS Olympic. During World War II she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for servicing troop ships and took part in D-Day. She was a registered vessel of the National Historic Fleet of the United Kingdom, holding Certificate No. 1.
RNLB Lucy Lavers was an RNLI lifeboat which was on No. 2 station at Aldeburgh from 1940 until 1959 when she was placed in the reserve fleet until 1968 when she was retired. The Rescue Wooden Boats Charity is currently undertaking restoration of the vessel. The Lucy Lavers is entered in the National Historic Ships register and has the Certificate No 2206.
United States
