News From Fort Schuyler

February 18, 2001 - Volume 5, No. 06

ENGINEERUM LITERATUS - An email from BOB ANDERSON, Class of 1962, with this head's up: "I wanted to call to your attention that BILL ROWEN, Class of 1958, and ex-instructor/TSES Watch Engineer is mentioned/quoted in an article on turbines in .... the ASME magazine, Mechanical Engineering." (Check it out at http://www.memagazine.org ) "Also, FRANK WICKS, Class of 1961, is a frequent author in the same magazine. Frank, a professor at Union College in Schenectady, NY, authors biographical articles on outstanding engineers of 50 - 100 years ago (e.g. Westinghouse, Goddard, Carrier). He has written about 5 or 6 articles to date over the last 3-4 years and they are always interesting and well written." You can find out more about Frank at http://tardis.union.edu/me_dept/faculty/wicks.html

GIBBINS ON CBS - An alert alumnus, JERRY HASSELBACH, Class of 1969, writes: "I was watching the telly the other day, (Charlie Rose show) and they were interviewing some lady [Ruth Gruber], who used to be with the Interior Department during WW II and was assigned by Secretary Harold Ickes, to accompany a load of Jewish refugees from Italy to the United States. What caught my attention was the fact that the ship that they used for this was the troop transport HENRY GIBBINS. This is the same HENRY GIBBINS, I assume, that later became T.S. EMPIRE STATE IV. It was a mixed load of returning wounded GI's and Jewish refugees that President Truman allowed to enter the US, after a long debate. Ruth Gruber said that ... the 13 days she spent on the HENRY GIBBINS were the most memorable of her life. I wonder if she knew that for many years she could have seen her rescue ship sitting under the Throgs Neck Bridge ?"

The show, starring Natahsa Richardson, Anne Bancroft and Hal Holbrook, was titled, "Haven." The Liberty Ship, JOHN W. BROWN, starred as the GIBBINS. "Haven" was shown by CBS on February 11 and 14.Check the July 7, August 14 and August 20, 2000 issues of NFFS for information and links about the role of the GIBBINS in this bit of American history at: http://www.fsmaa.org Sorry we missed including a head's up in NFFS about this show. Keep an eye out for re-runs.

OTHER HISTORIC SHIPS -The survival (and preservation) of significant old ships of all types is the subject of the Luce Library's newest acquisition, "The International Register of Historic Ships," donated by its author, NORMAN J. BROUWER, Marine Historian of the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan. Now in its 3rd edition, the Register is regarded as "the" authority in the field. Norman knows his ships inside and out, from a "hands on" and from an academic historian's perspective. Although he is not a graduate of Fort Schuyler (Maine Maritime, actually) Norman did compile a history of SUNY Maritime for his master's thesis in the mid-1970's and still makes regular use of Luce Library resources. Norman is also involved in the preservation efforts for Fort Schuyler's sister fort across the East River in Queens, Fort Totten. A recent article by Norman about Fort Totten is posted at: http://www.baysidehistorical.org/brouwer.htm

FOUR IF BY LAND ONE IF BY SEA - Throgs Neck neighbors of Fort Schuyler are debating four routes proposed by Iroquois Pipeline Company to bring a pipeline to its distribution grid in the mid-Bronx. Three plans run under various local streets in Throgs Neck, while a fourth alternative brings a pipeline down the Long Island Sound, under the peninsula and down the East River until landfall near the Whitestone Bridge. Now, according to the February 15 issue of the Bronx Press Review, a new route has been proposed by Engineering Department Chairman, Charles Munsch, Class of 1973. "Munsch ... has released a report which states that an all-water route, around the peninsula into the East River, is the best possible route for the proposed pipeline, stating that the route is economical and removes the great risk associated with a land-borne natural gas pipeline." According to the paper, local politicians "came out in support of the new study and hoped that it could persuade the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...to send the pipeline through the water." To view a RealVideo clip of local cable TV coverage of hearings recently held at Fort Schuyler, go to http://www.news12.com Stay tuned.