24 August 2003

Historic fireboat to tour Hudson

by Khurram Saeed

A former New York City fireboat pressed into service after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks needs donations to help keep it afloat.

The 72-year-old John J. Harvey needs about $700,000 in repairs and maintenance, said Huntley Gill, a Manhattan resident and one of the historic boat's 17 owners.

Two other owners, Eric and Bonnie Weisler, are married and live in New City, while another, Chase Welles, resides in Nyack.

Concluding its 12-day, 15-stop tour, the boat will be in Rockland and Westchester this weekend to provide free tours, but also to draw attention to its plight.

"Along the way, we're reminding people that resources like this vessel are few and far between," Carter Craft, program director for the John J. Harvey, said from his cell phone yesterday afternoon as the fireboat made its way south on the Hudson River from Albany.

A nonprofit group that oversees operation of the boat, made up exclusively of its owners, recently applied for a $350,000 matching grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The boat was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. A decision on the award is expected by late fall.

Craft said $10,000 has been raised on the tour so far, and that the rest is expected to come from individual and corporate donors.

This is the third year the John J. Harvey has traveled the Hudson from its home in Manhattan to Albany and back. Last year, it gave more than 50 free tours, serving some 3,000 people along the way.

In 1994, the boat was destined for the scrap heap after it was taken out of service by New York Fire Department. However, it was saved at a silent auction five years later, and its owners and supporters have since invested more than $200,000 in repairing it.

Still, much needs to be done.

The boat's diesel engine must be rebuilt, repairs are needed on the hull and rusted equipment on deck has to be replaced, Gill said.

The fire department did a good job of maintaining the boat but let some routine preventative maintenance go, believing it was about to be turned into scrap, he said.

"So now we're doing some serious catchup," Gill said.

Although the John J. Harvey had been out of service for eight years, it was called into action Sept. 11, 2001. Not only did it help evacuate some 150 people trapped at the seawall near the Battery, but it also played a critical role in pumping water to fight fires at the World Trade Center for 80 hours.

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