Yankee Ferry, left; Mary Whalen, right
Two articles within two days are making me wonder if re-purposed historic vessels might be becoming trendy in design circles around New York City. Curbed, a New York real estate blog featured the 1907 Yankee Ferry in “Hudson River’s Coolest, Oldest Floating Home” – “Taking transportation nostalgia to the next level, a couple has retrofitted an old Ellis Island Ferry as their very own floating home. Photographer Navid Baraty boarded the good ship last month to shoot what may be one of the best styled abodes west of on the Hudson.“
“The 1907 Yankee Ferry was affixed with guns and canons and was first used by the U.S. Army to patrol the Boston Harbor during World War I. In the 1920s, the Yankee was used by Ellis Island to transport newly arrived immigrants from the island to Manhattan, many of whom were kept below decks on their transatlantic voyage and are said to have obtained their first views of New York City from the decks of the [ship].”
Yesterday, Wendy Goodman’s Design Hunting blog in New York magazine featured the Tanker Mary Whalen, which the PortSide New York organization uses as headquarters and offices, in Behind Closed Doors: Good Views, Spacious Deck, Loads of Natural Light. The blog is described as “inside access to the city’s most exciting homes, design studios, parties and more from New York magazine’s design editor.” Who knew a coastal tanker would be so interesting to a design editor? The Mary Whalen is indeed lovely but we never expected the design cognoscenti to figure that out.
I am trying to decide whether this story is more funny or scary. As there were no serious injuries, I am leaning toward funny. Thanks to Dirk Bal for passing it along.
One year ago, 
Just over a week ago 
Last July, a 
In June 
I am glad that I am of the age to have seen ships constructed the old fashioned way. Not all that long ago, shipyards still built ships from the bottom up. The shipyard first fabricated the double bottom sub-assemblies and then started adding framing blocks and so forth. When the hull was fabricated, assemblies welded and painted, they launched the ship down the ways into the water with a satisfying splash, using technology that had been first developed by the ancient Egyptians.
The most interesting question about the recently revealed cheating scandal on personnel training exams on the nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, 
Having recently
On August 15th, 1653, the 
In May, we posted about 