At long last, I'd like to announce my latest project. I've been commissioned by International Marine/McGraw-Hill to write a book about the evacuation of half a million people from Manhattan by boat on September 11, 2001. Within minutes after thick gray smoke started...
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Fireboat John J. Harvey faces Hurricane Irene
The news about the impact of Hurricane Irene on the Manhattan waterfront was grim so we fired up engines aboard fireboat John J. Harvey at 0500 on Saturday morning and headed upriver with a skeleton crew (Huntley Gill, Karl Schuman, John Browne, Tommy Whyte, and I),...
Looks like we caught another one
What a pleasure to stumble across this post, "If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It," by Ry M. Sal on her For the Birds blog. Sal writes: "I haven’t had the pleasure of riding on a tugboat yet… but after reading My River Chronicles, by Jessica DuLong — I have a...
“America needs an industrial policy” says brooklynbadboy on Daily Kos
My dad is a mechanic specializing in Porsches, and I grew up hearing him rave about the German car maker's fine craftsmanship and engineering. Could that be part of why I liked brooklynbadboy's Daily Kos post "America needs an industrial policy" so much? After a brief...
Fireboat heading into port one last time
For an engineer on an old fireboat that came back to life after being sold for scrap, this Boston Globe story by David Filipov, about an aging fireboat that "has responded to thousands of distress calls in its half-century of service" and is now poised...
Gotham Center for New York City History posts excerpt of My River Chronicles
I'm so grateful to the Gotham Cener for New York City History for posting an excerpt from Chapter 1 of My River Chronicles on their fascinating Gotham History Blotter, "devoted to showcasing short, non-fiction essays about New York City history." Here's...
Crossing Over: Blue-collar to white-collar and back again… Ideas?
I've always felt a bit conflicted between my blue- and white-collar worlds. But my work both on the boats and on the book have taught me that not only do I need both worlds, our country does too. And the stakes today—as doubts loom about the dollar's future...
Saving the SS United States, World’s Fastest Ocean Liner
The historic ships community owes The Wall Street Journal's Jesse Pesta a huge thank-you for spotlighting on a national stage the importance of maritime preservation, raising a critical question in this consumerist, throw-it-away society: What do we save and why? He...
Women’s eNews: “Crew of Retired Fireboat Answers Sept. 11 Call”
Crew of Retired Fireboat Answers Sept. 11 Call In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the retired fireboat John J. Harvey was called back into service to fight blazes and aid survivors. Jessica DuLong, the boat's engineer and a freelance journalist, recounts this...
How I came to appreciate the Hudson River School of art
“Drawn by New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings at the New-York Historical Society,” presents 81 drawings and watercolors from the mid-16th century to the present, with subjects including natural scenery, original settlements and citizenry as well as...