My River Chronicles – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong : A Review

November 3, 2009 · Filed Under New Books, Reviews, Seastories 

jessicaMy River Chronicles – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson, is a fascinating voyage in the life of a young woman, who finds herself oddly quite at home in a most unlikely new job. It is also a journey through the history of America itself as it moves from an industrial past into an uncertain future.

While working for a dot-com startup, Jessica DuLong started volunteering on a retired fire boat, the John J. Harvey. She was the first woman ever to run the engines. When her day job disappeared, she was offered a position on the fireboat where she spent so many hours as a volunteer. Over time, she became a licensed engineer on the historic fire boat, as well as the pilot on another tug.

My River Chronicles is a deft mix of DuLong’s personal memoir, mixed with the history of the mighty Hudson and the towns that line the shore, with a judicious dose of commentary thrown in for spice. The writing is graceful and engaging and she balances the various elements of her account with remarkable skill.

The book begins and ends with the tragic fire and explosions on the passenger liner Muenchen on February 11, 1930 at the Hudson docks.  New York City fireboat pilot John J. Harvey died that day when the ship exploded. He was memorialized a year later when the John J. Harvey, the first New York City fireboat with an internal combustion engine was built and put into service.

Jessica DuLong is refreshingly straight forward as she describes the challenges of being the first woman engineer on the John J. Harvey. You feel for her as she struggles with the levers at the engine controls. Built for a taller engineer, she needs to stand on her tip toes and use both hands to push the engine order telegraph all the way up to Full Ahead. You also share her amused victory as she carries in the wooden box on which she will stand to solve the problem. We follow the fireboat with DuLong at the engines on trips up river and down. The John J. Harvey is also the first fire boat on scene on 9/11, pumping river water around the clock to the firefighters at Ground Zero. The collapse of the towers  cut all the water mains and the old “obsolete” fireboat proves herself invaluable once again.

For about half  of the book, we view the river through the engine room portholes of the John J. Harvey, a narrow but intriguingly focused view of the universe. DuLong writes:

“I caught my first glimpse of the Hudson River from an office in the Empire State Building. The river, like the building, has long transformed from an industrial site into a tourist attraction. Today standing in the belly of the fireboat that was born in the wake of steamship Muenchen’s demise, I look through the engine room portholes at the meager few finger piers which still remain. I register the gaps, like empty space beneath the teeth of a broken comb.”

As engaging as the view from the engine room is, it does begin to get slightly claustrophobic. Fortunately, Jessica DuLong also becomes a pilot on the tug Gowanus Bay and we are given the suddenly panoramic view from the wheel as she commands the tug.

As we travel the river, DuLong does something very interesting. While many mourn the passing of the pastoral, she mourns the passing of the industrial. As the river rolls by, she reminds us of what a dynamic place this great river valley once was, of all the jobs and of all that was created along the river banks.  Rather than looking back fondly at a simpler, greener time, DuLong gives us a glimpse of when the foundries, mills, quarries and brick yards quite literally built New York City and indeed, the nation. With her as our guide, it is hard not to feel a certain nostalgia for those smoky, dirtier days.

This perspective is exactly half of an argument that I have been having with myself for years. I first came to New York harbor just over 35 years ago to work for a traditional steam ship company, whose Brooklyn terminal was, by coincidence, next to the yard where the John J Harvey was built. In those days, the docks were crowded with break-bulk ships. Small armies of longshoremen loaded and discharged a myriad of cargoes, not in steel containers but in bales, barrels and bags. A fleet of tugs stood by to thread the ships in and out of the narrow piers, as well as shuttling oil lighters and heavily lift cranes, and all the deck and tanks barges that moved up and down the river. It was an exciting time on the waterfont, and it is all gone – the ships, many of the tugs and even quite a few of the piers.

As easy as it would be to wax nostalgic about the old days, I still haven’t forgotten, however, how the harbor smelled. It stank. Or how the pilings were set without creosote because the water was too dirty even for teredo worms to live.  The waterfront was ugly and often dangerous. No one in their right mind came down to the docks for pleasure, unless it was to seek low cost and probably high risk commercial sex.  Most New Yorkers turned their back on the harbor and for good reason.

These days, the water is cleaner if not still quite clean. Many of the old dilapidated warehouses have been replaced by parks. Bike paths and green-ways line several of the old waterfronts and families now come down to the harbor again to picnic, walk, ride bikes or just enjoy the view, and are reminded that New York is indeed a city of islands.

There is much we have lost and much we have gained. If there is a balance yet to be struck,  I will leave it  to others to strike it. In the mean time, I will enjoy the river and if I am lucky enough, I will see the John J. Harvey pass by and will understand, at least in part, why Jessica DuLong and so many others love the old fireboat, and why it is important to remember and honor our past, as we find our way into the uncertain and yet inevitable future.

Jessica Dulong’s My River Chronicles – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson is a remarkable book. Highly recommended.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Comments

One Response to “My River Chronicles – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong : A Review”

  1. sightseer on November 3rd, 2009 9:45 pm

    I’ll bet the view of the river from the Empire State Building was awe inspiring. Do the readers know how high the building is? http://www.sightseeingreview.com/empirestatebuildingtower.php

Leave a Reply




Video of the Moment

HMS Surprise and Star of India

Also featuring the Californian
and the Lynx

To be notified of blog updates
enter your email address:

  • Viagra ordre
  • Cialis en ligne
  • Levitra en ligne
  • Propecia acheter
  • Viagra acheter
  • Acheter cialis
  • Ordre levitra
  • Ordre propecia
  • En ligne viagra
  • Vente cialis
  • Levitra bon marche
  • Propecia en ligne
  • Viagra online
  • Buy cialis
  • Order Levitra
  • Buy propecia
  • Buy viagra
  • Cheap cialis
  • Cheap Levitra
  • propecia online
  • Viagra prescription
  • Cialis online
  • Buy Levitra
  • Order propecia