John Purroy Mitchel (fireboat)

Last updated
History
Flag of New York.svg New York City Fire Department
NameJohn Purroy Mitchel
Owner New York City
OperatorNew York City Fire Department
BuilderStandard Shipbuilding Corporation
Cost$200,000
In service1921
Out of service1962 or later.
General characteristics
Class and type fireboat

John Purroy Mitchel was a New York City Fire Department fireboat. [1] [2] 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.

John Purroy Mitchel was the city's first fireboat powered by fuel-oil, not coal. [2] She was 132 feet (40 m) long, and her pumps could throw 9,000 gallons per minute, at pressure of 300 pounds per square inch. One of her water cannons was mounted on top of a 26 feet (7.9 m) tower.

Standard Shipbuilding Corporation of Shooter's Island built John Purroy Mitchel. She was budgeted at $220,000 but was completed under budget at $200,000. [1] [2]

John Purroy Mitchel helped William J. Gaynor fight a cargo fire aboard the ocean liner Byron in 1926 Vasilefs Constantinos en Piree APOR094304.jpg
John Purroy Mitchel helped William J. Gaynor fight a cargo fire aboard the ocean liner Byron in 1926

On October 5, 1926, the crew of the ocean liner Byron discovered a fire in one of her cargo holds. John Purroy Mitchel assisted William J. Gaynor, which was the first fireboat on scene. The two fireboats pumped water into the burning hold, and Byron reached the quarantine station under her own power. [3]

At 02:00 hrs on July 5, 1927, a fire was discovered among cotton bales in the number 6 cargo hold of RMS Ebro as she approached New York. She docked in the North River just before 10:00 hrs, disambarked her passengers, and then John Purroy Mitchel and Thomas Willett fought the fire. It was extinguished by 14:00 hrs. [4]

The boat was still in service in 1962, when the John H. Glenn Jr. joined the fleet. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Purroy Mitchel</span> American politician

John Purroy Mitchel was the 95th mayor of New York, from 1914 to 1917. At 34, he was the second-youngest mayor and he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York." Mitchel is remembered for his short career as leader of reform politics in New York as well as for his early death as a US Army Air Service officer in the last months of World War I. Mitchel's staunchly Catholic New York family had been founded by his paternal grandfather and namesake, John Mitchel, an Ulster Presbyterian Young Irelander who became a renowned writer and leader in the Irish independence movement and a staunch supporter of the Confederate States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fireboat</span> Firefighting vessel

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.

<i>Edward M. Cotter</i> (fireboat) Fireboat for the Buffalo Fire Department

Edward M. Cotter is a fireboat in use by the Buffalo Fire Department at Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally named William S. Grattan, it was built in 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. Due to age, it was rebuilt in 1953 and renamed Firefighter upon its return to service. The following year it was renamed Edward M. Cotter. its namesake, Edward Cotter, was a Buffalo firefighter and leader of the local firefighters union who had recently died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Adamson (FDNY Commissioner)</span>

Robert Edward Adamson was an American journalist and public official. As Fire Commissioner of the City of New York, he proposed a modern fire alarm system for the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1917 New York City mayoral election</span> American election

The 1917 New York City mayoral election replaced sitting mayor John P. Mitchel, a reform Democrat running on the Fusion Party ticket, with John F. Hylan, the regular Democrat supported by Tammany Hall and William Randolph Hearst.

<i>John H. Glenn Jr.</i> (fireboat)

The John H. Glenn Jr. is a fireboat stationed on the Potomac and Anacostia rivers in Washington, D.C. Her bow was reinforced in 1984, allowing her to also serve as an icebreaker during the winter.

RMS <i>Ebro</i> Irish-built ocean liner

RMS Ebro was an ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1914. With changes of ownership she was renamed Princesa Olga in 1935 and Serpa Pinto in 1940. She was scrapped in Belgium in 1955.

<i>Abram S. Hewitt</i> (fireboat)

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.

<i>Zophar Mills</i> Former New York City fireboat

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.

<i>The New Yorker</i> (fireboat) Fireboat of the Fire Department of New York City

The New Yorker was a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City from 1890 to 1931. She was launched on April 5, 1890 in the presence of Fire Commissioner S. Howland Robbins.

<i>Bravest</i> (fireboat) FDNY Fireboat

The Bravest is a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York City. She was commissioned on May 27, 2011.

<i>Kevin C. Kane</i>

The Kevin C. Kane was formerly an FDNY fireboat and is currently being refitted as a long-haul tugboat. She was built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Massachusetts, and delivered on December 8, 1992. She participated in two high-profile events: responding to al Qaeda's attack on the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001; and the rescue of passengers from US Airways Flight 1549, the airliner that landed on the Hudson River in January 2009. She was auctioned off after she incurred damage during Hurricane Sandy. The vessel was named after a firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty.

<i>William J. Gaynor</i> (fireboat)

The Fire Department of New York operated a fireboat named William J. Gaynor from 1914 to 1961.

<i>Thomas Willett</i> (fireboat)


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.

<i>David A. Boody</i> (fireboat) Former New York City fireboat (from 1892 to 1914)

The David A. Boody was a fireboat operated on the North River, the lower portion of the Hudson River, within New York state. She was built and commissioned in 1892 for the Brooklyn Fire Department and was operated by the BFD until Brooklyn's fleet was merged with that of nearby New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Duane (fireboat)</span>

The James Duane was a fireboat operated by the Fire Department of New York from 1908 to 1959.

<i>Governor Alfred E. Smith</i> (fireboat)

Governor Alfred E. Smith was a fireboat first operated by the Fire Department of New York in 1961. She was the last of four sister ships. In 1970 the Department planned to retire her, but, instead, she was placed in reserve. She was finally retired on October 21, 2016. Governor Alfred E Smith was built by John H. Mathis & Company at Camden, New Jersey, yard number 216 in August 1961.

SS <i>Statendam</i> (1924) Steam turbine ocean liner of the Holland America Line

Statendam was a steam turbine transatlantic liner. She was the third of five Holland America Line ships to be called Statendam. She was built to replace the second Statendam, which the UK Government had requisitioned as a troop ship in 1915, and which had been sunk in 1918.

SS <i>Byron</i>

SS Byron was a transatlantic ocean liner that was built in England in 1914 and scrapped in Italy in 1937. She was launched as Vasilefs Constantinos, named after Constantine I of Greece. In 1919 she was renamed Megali Hellas, the Greek name for the Ancient Greek settlements in Sicily and southern Italy. In 1923 she was renamed Byron, in recognition of the role of Lord Byron (1788–1824) in the Greek War of Independence (1821–29).

SS <i>Cabo Machichaco</i> Steamship whose cargo of dynamite exploded in Santander, Spain in 1893 and 1894

Cabo Machichaco was an iron-hulled cargo steamship that was built in England in 1882 as Benisaf, and renamed Cabo Machichaco in 1886. She was destroyed by two explosions in her cargo in 1893 and 1894 in the port of Santander, Spain. The first explosion killed several hundred people in the city of Santander as well as on the ship, and was Spain's worst peacetime disaster in the 19th century. The second explosion killed a number of workers who were salving the remainder of her cargo from her sunken wreck.

References

  1. 1 2 "New Fireboat to Cost $220,000" . The New York Times . 1921-03-30. p. 8. Retrieved 2017-03-24 via Times Machine.
  2. 1 2 3 "Fireboat Named With Wine; The John Purroy Mitchel Is First Oil Burner in City's Fleet" . The New York Times. 1921-07-24. p. 21. Retrieved 2017-03-24 via Times Machine. The new city fireboat, the John Purroy Mitchel, named in honor of the late Mayor, was launched yesterday at the plant of the Standard Shipbuilding Corporation on Shooters Island.
  3. "Fire-swept liner lands 697 safely" . The New York Times. 1926-10-06. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 2022-06-12 via Times Machine.
  4. "Conceals ship fire from passengers" . The New York Times. 1927-07-06. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-03-05 via Times Machine.
  5. "City's Latest Fireboat: The John H. Glenn Jr" . The New York Times. 1962-03-10. p. 15. Retrieved 2020-06-01 via Times Machine. There are eight fireboat's in the city's fleet and the Mayor's office customarily gives a short biography or explanation for the name chosen. The boats in service are: Senator Robert F. Wagner; Alfred E. Smith; John Purroy Mitchel; H. Sylvia Wilks; The Fire Fighter; and three craft named after Fire Department heroes-- Harry Archer, John J. Harvey and John D. McKean.