Gerard Rokosz is a man deeply in love with his former job as the last dry dock manager at Todd Shipyard. At the time of this 2005 interview, he was working for a marina and nostalgic about the shipyard: "seeing my old office collapsing makes me...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Temperatures dropped so low in the winter of 1893 that business was frozen to a standstill. Six hundred canal boats, schooners, brigs and barks were locked by ice in Red Hook's Atlantic and Erie Basins. This was less of an inconvenience for the...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
This article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday, March 12, 1911, recounts the winter-time lives of Erie Canal barge families who winter in Erie Basin. Colonies of Cozy Canal Boats Cluster for Winter City of Inland Navigators Prepares for Annual...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
No man ever, perhaps, got so much the best of old Beard as did Louis Heineman, the housemover of the Twelfth ward” (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 19, 1891) When Louis Heineman died in 1904, he was reportedly 104 years old, and likely the oldest...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The O'Connell organization is one of the largest property owners in Red Hook and owns inland and waterfront property. They have a small marina for recreational vessels. The marina generally has no vacancies.
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Bird's eye view of Red hook showing the Red Hook Houses and Erie Basin View the image here
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A huge fire destroyed Beard's Wharf in Erie Basin. The steamship Idlewild was destroyed, but luckily drifted away and prevented further damage to other ships.
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Joshua Slocum and his sloop SPRAY arrived in Erie Basin, October 2, 1900 to Manning's Dock. He is said to be the first person to sail around the world alone, without even a cat or dog for companionship. Joshua Slocum was unfortunately lost at sea 10...
Michael Gallagher, last General Manager of New York Shipyard, successor to Todd Shipyard, interviewed two weeks before selling the site to IKEA, talks about the shipyard, its history and final days. Gallagher represents the 5th generation of his...
Well after this interview below, Captain Tom Teague published a book "Tales from a Tugboat Captain" and became a social media rock star with Facebook posts with photos and videos and explanations of the job and tuglife. See the following links:...
