Every
place of human habitation needs a good housecleaning every so often, and our home
is no exception. With plans to retire,
relinquish the property, and relocate to a milder climate in the not-too-distant
future, the time has come not only for a good housecleaning, but a major
downsizing as well. With this thought in
mind, I’ve packed up and given away many household items in recent months, but
of course, more still needs to go. Nothing
in the house, not even the family archives, may be exempt from inspection and
possible ejection.
Last
month’s project, then, involved a thorough examination of the children’s
picture albums. They had about a dozen
of these, all filled mostly with mediocre photographs taken with toy cameras
and with some duplicates of pictures taken with more sophisticated equipment. It was a motley collection, but it did contain
a few gems that I wanted to save. The
bulk of the collection was jettisoned, as we had much better quality
photographs of the same subjects. Redundancy
is a wise course in both archival work and shipboard engineering systems, but it
can sometimes be taken to unreasonable extremes.
Not
surprisingly, the photographs that I saved are of ships and ship-related
subjects. Some are quite good. A few are not so good but unique. All of them bring back memories, and I’m
happy to present them here. Let’s start
with a visit to the Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth 2 as she reposes at
the passenger ship piers on the West Side of Manhattan.
The
bow of any large passenger liner is an impressive sight when viewed from the
street. Here, the great, curved, black
steel port bow of the QE2 rises magnificently from the placid Hudson on Saturday,
July 3, 1999. It’s awe-inspiring to
think that this great bow was designed to cut gracefully yet purposefully through
the largest waves and swells of the Atlantic between New York and Europe. Few, if any, of the ship’s pampered
passengers would give this matter a thought.
This
great bow, like every other part of the ship, requires regular maintenance. Here, on the same day, we see two seamen on a
camel rolling on a fresh layer of black paint.
Not a job for the faint of heart!
In
these two photographs, taken on Sunday afternoon, September 1, 1996, from the
top level of Pier 90, we have a close-up view of the Queen’s port side superstructure.
From this vantage point, we can look through
the oversize windows into the ship’s public rooms and promenades and admire her
luxurious accommodations.
Leaving
the West Side piers now and taking the subway down to the Battery, we next
embark on the Staten Island Ferry. Always
a family favorite, these half-hour voyages are great fun, and it’s easy to lose
track of the time and spend half the day sailing back and forth. The first picture here shows the pilothouse
of the American Legion on an overcast Saturday, April 3, 1999.
A
year later, we see the same view of the Gov. Herbert H. Lehman on a bright
and sunny Saturday, March 4, 2000. The
blue sky and sunshine make all the difference in these two photos.
Switching
vessels on the same day, here we view the southbound Gov. Herbert H. Lehman
from the northbound American Legion as the two ships pass “at sea” on
the Upper New York Bay.
From
the ferries we watch the shipping world go by.
First, we see the anchored bulk carrier Amphitrite on Saturday, April
3, 1999.
Next
we see the anchored container ship Maersk Valentia on Saturday, March 4,
2000.
Later
on the same day, we watch as another Maersk Lines container ship emerges from
the Kills between Staten Island and New Jersey.
She is rounding Saint George and will soon pass through the Narrows and
head out to sea.
Leaving
New York now, we go next to Maine. The
Portland area is always a great place to see ships. First, we admire the academy training vessel State
of Maine as she rests alongside the Bath Iron Works pier in Portland on a
cloudy and warm Saturday, July 11, 1998.
Next
we enjoy a close-up view of the tanker Orkney Spirit at the Portland
Pipeline pier in South Portland on a hazy Saturday, May 6, 2000. The adjacent waterfront area and nearby
breakwater are excellent vantage points from which we can watch everything that
enters and leaves Portland Harbor.
Heading
south now to Massachusetts, we watch the Dutch freighter Schippersgracht
discharging cargo in Fall River on Monday, August 27, 2001. Free to roam the pier and watch the ship unload,
we did not know on this date that our unrestricted access to the docks would hereafter
be curtailed as a result of the terrorist attacks that were only two weeks away.
Moving
farther south to the Delaware Bay, we have an noontime view of the northbound New
Jersey silhouetted in the sunlight from the southbound Delaware on Sunday,
Christmas Eve of 1995. When driving to
Virginia to visit family, the voyage across the Delaware Bay comes as a welcome
break from the holiday traffic!
Returning
now to New England, let’s visit some lighthouses. First we have the storied Portland Head Light
in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on Saturday, August 30, 1997. A popular tourist attraction, this site
commands a magnificent view of Casco Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. One can spend many hours there and never tire
of the scenery.
At
the farther end of Maine, we have this view of the famed West Quoddy Head Light
in Lubec on a cloudy and foggy Monday, June 23, 2003. This site is often cloudy, foggy, windy,
damp, and cold, and it has a rugged beauty.
It’s also peaceful and quiet, with very few visiting tourists, even at
the height of the summer season.
In
Massachusetts again, we see next the diminutive Plum Island Light at the mouth
of the Merrimack River in Newburyport on Friday, June 23, 2000. Blue sky and sunshine abound at this lovely site
which is often overlooked by Boston area residents who flock to Maine instead.
In
New York again, this time on the spring vacation from school, the children go
with their grandparents to the iconic Fire Island Light on a brilliant April day
in 2001. My sons Steven and Michael pose
on the boardwalk that leads through the dunes to the light.
Finally,
we return once more to New England, specifically to the Piscataqua River that
forms the boundary between New Hampshire and Maine. The Memorial Bridge spanned this waterway for
about a century before it was replaced with a more modern structure. When the children were little, they were
thrilled to walk across this bridge from New Hampshire to Maine and back and watch
the tidal current rushing beneath their feet.
This view is taken from nearby Prescott Park on a beautiful but chilly Monday,
October 8, 2001.
All
these photographs from so many years ago bring back a sea of happy memories for
everyone in the family. We are indeed
fortunate to have these memories, just as we were fortunate to go on so many
family outings to the oceanfront when the children were younger. Perhaps even more to the point, we were extremely
fortunate to have a house full of happy and healthy children in the first place.
So many blessings, and so many reasons
to be thankful! The psalmist said it
well when he asserted, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord” (Ps.
92:1), and when he exhorted, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into
his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Ps. 100:4).
