JAN - Northern Pacific

On January 1, 1919 the Northern Pacific, a passenger ship commissioned to be a troop carrier, ran aground off Fire Island. The ship was carrying close to 3,000 passengers, a majority of which were veteran soldiers returning from Argonne, France. Initial attempts with small boats were unsuccessful, and the breeches buoy was implemented, but many preferred to not use it, as they were injured. A small fleet of Submarine Chasers assisted the rescue effort on January 3 and 4. The Northern Pacific stayed grounded for almost 18 days before it was refloated. The ship was decommissioned on August 20, 1919 and transferred to the Army Transport Service.

FEB - Louis V. Place

On February 8, 1895, the 163 foot schooner Louis V. Place ran aground 400 yards off the shore near the Lone Hill station Cherry Grove after being encased in ice. Rough seas washing over the deck forced the 8 crew members, including 58 year old captain William Squires of Bridgehampton, to climb the rigging of the ship. Nearby efforts for another wreck [John B. Manning] delayed the rescue of the crew members, and it wasn’t till hours later when the Lyle gun was shot in an attempt to set up the breeches buoys. Because of the numbing cold and hypothermia, no lines were secured, and bystanders, numbering close to 1000, could do nothing but watch. Captain Squires was the first to succumb to the cold and the sea. It was only 40 hours later when the sea was calm enough for lifesaving crews to launch rescue boats, by which time only 2 crew members remained. They were rescued, treated in Sayville, and then brought to a hospital on Staten Island, where only one man survived.

MAR - Miles M. Merry

The Miles M. Merry, a 1600-ton four masted schooner, was no stranger to the bars off of Long Island. Built by Percy & Small in Bath, Maine [home of the world’s largest schooner, Wyoming], the Miles M. Merry originally ran aground off Fire Island in 1907. The ship was quickly recovered, but 2 years later, it didn’t fare so well. On March 4, 1909, Miles M. Merry ran aground 300 feet from the shore near Moriches Inlet. Easterly gales and waves battered the ship, and by the next morning, it laid at a 45 degree angle, missing much of its planking. Eleven were saved via breeches buoy, including salvagers. The ship burned to the water line on March 15.

APR - Peter Rickmers

On April 30, 1908 the four-masted German bark Peter Rickmers ran aground on a shoal near Zach’s Inlet. The ship, which was carrying kerosene and crude oil to Burma for the Standard Oil Company, was blinded by heavy seas and strong gales. Pounding waves kept the crew from launching life boats, and the ship was too far offshore for any attempts with the breeches buoy. 30 lifesavers from multiple stations waiting on the shore as multiple wrecking steamers aided the rescue. In order to lighten the load, crewmen hoisted some of the kerosene off the vessel, which was then picked up by residents on the shore. A week later, the ship still remained grounded, and declared a total loss, as heavy surf continued to tear the ship apart. But that wasn’t the final fate. Local oystermen, fearing of leaking oil contaminating shellfish [much of which was still on the ship], set the ship ablaze, which burned for days. It later broke up in the surf.

MAY - Lindbergh’s Flight

On May 20, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, previously known as Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, in Westbury, New York for the first ever solo transatlantic flight. What started as a competition by New York hotelier Raymond Orteig attracted many pilots, all of which were unsuccessful. Some never made it past the take off. Others disappeared over the Atlantic. Lindbergh, who was an unknown mail delivery pilot, sourced money from two St. Louis businessmen, and together with $2000 of his own money, helped design and build a single-seat, single-engine fabric covered monoplane. It was assembled by Ryan Aircraft in San Diego and dubbed “Spirit of St. Louis.” Lindbergh barely slept the night before the flight, and morning rain and clouds hampered the takeoff, which was assisted by men pushing the plane down the runway. The flight was not uneventful, with ice formations threatening his safety, hallucinations, micro sleep and possible fuel blockage. 33.5 hours later, Linbergh touched down at Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris, France where over 150,000 people awaited him.

JUN - Long Beach

Happy Summer Solstice! The outfits may look a little bit different, but the people are still the same in Long Beach. Some snapshots from the early 1900s, a few years after William Reynolds developed and built the boardwalk. Reynolds envisioned an "Atlantic City for New York" and built a casino on the corner of Shore Road and Long Beach Blvd before the construction of the boardwalk. To break ground on the construction, Reynolds marched elephants in from his seaside amusement park, Dreamland, on Coney Island, as a publicity stunt. In 1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt had the boardwalk rebuilt and the first jetties installed as part of the Works Progress Administration.

JUL - The 4th

Happy Birthday, America! Some patriotic #tbt for this beautiful 4th.

AUG - Herman Melville

Herman Melville, the American author most notably known for Moby Dick, was born August 1, 1819 in New York City. He grew up with an opulent lifestyle in New York, but was descended from true American patriots; his one grandfather took part in the Boston Tea Party and the other commanded the defense of Fort Stanwix in 1777. Bouncing from one profession to the next, it was in 1839 that Melville first took to the sea as a green hand. Inspired by a piece he read in the Knickerbocker magazine, Melville traveled to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he and a friend signed up for a whaling voyage on the Acushnet. The vessel traveled as far as the South Pacific, and Melville spent almost 2 years on board before jumping ship. It was this time that would become the basis for Moby Dick. Melville’s second claim to fame [other than the numerous other stories and poems that were published] was the town on Long Island that was renamed in his honor in 1854. He died September 28, 1891.

SEP - Gilgo Beach Surfing Championships

An awesome poster from the personal collection of the Gilgo Beach Surfing Championship. No date, but the best guess is 1970. If anyone has any further information, please drop it in the comments. Might do a recreation of this in the coming months.

OCT - Babe Ruth

On October 18, 1930, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played an exhibition game against the Lindenhurst Athletic Club’s “Lindy Nine”. Ruth and Gehrig were both regulars at Lindenhursts’ Barnacle Bills, the “largest clam bar on Long Island”, where they both ate and fished on their charters. Addie Klein, another Barnacle regular who was also the manager for the Lindy Nine, became friendly with the two. As many players did at the time, Ruth and Gehrig formed teams of other major leaguers and “barnstorm”, arranging exhibition games against local teams during the off-season. Klein arranged for the Babe Ruth All Stars to play the LAC. The game took place mere steps from the Points East studio, at the Meridale Park diamond, next to Montauk Highway. The final score was 10-4, with Babe Ruth’s All Stars taking the win.

NOV - Camp Upton

Camp Upton, located in Yaphank, opened in November 1917 as a World War I training facility. It was one of 16 National Army cantonments established to prepare draftees for overseas combat. The camp was named after Major General Emery Upton, a notable Civil War military strategist. It played a critical role in mobilizing and training soldiers during the war, processing more than 40,000 troops, many of whom were part of the 77th Infantry Division. One of the camp's most famous residents was Irving Berlin, who wrote the musical “Yip Yip Yaphank" while stationed there. The production, staged with soldiers as performers, was both a morale booster and a fundraiser for the war effort. The song "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" became especially popular, capturing the universal sentiment of reluctant early risers in the military. In 1921, the federal government sold the buildings and equipment but kept the land. In 1925 the site was designated as Upton National Forest, but was rescinded in 1927. Many of the structures from the camp were transported to form the first large scale settlement at Cherry Grove, Fire Island. The camp is now the current site of Brookhaven National Laboratories.

DEC - Shinnecock Light

On December 23, 1948, the Shinnecock Bay Lighthouse, sometimes called the Ponquogue Light, was demolished. Originally constructed in 1856 and first illuminated on January 1, 1858, the lighthouse stood 168 feet tall and housed a first-order Sautter Fresnel Lens. It addressed a critical gap along the coastline between the Montauk Point and Fire Island lighthouses, prompted by a request from C.R. Mumford, commander of the packet-ship Wisconsin, in response to a letter from the U.S. Lighthouse Board. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1931 and replaced with a metal tower and electric light, which was destroyed during the Hurricane of 1938. Despite the hurricane, the original tower remained undamaged. However, in 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard decided to demolish it, even though engineers had deemed the structure safe and stable. To carry out the demolition, workers chiseled away a section of the brick walls at the tower's base and replaced it with wooden timbers. The timbers were soaked in gasoline and set alight by 88-year-old Ellsworth Howland. As the fire consumed the supports, the tower gradually leaned and eventually collapsed to the ground.

2024 #tbt