The Tugboat, Workhorse of New York Harbor

In the 19th century, New York became a railway hub, and steam tugs aided in transporting rail freight down the river into Manhattan, guiding boxcar barges. By 1929, there were over 700 tugs working in busy New York Harbor. Towing has been largely a family business in the past and many of the tugboat captains you'll hear in this episode work for McAllister Towing, founded in 1864 and still a leading name in New York tugboats. In fact, McAllister won last year's Annual Great North River Tugboat Race, which took place at Pier 84. 

In this short piece, you'll hear the sounds of the harbor, the toot of tugboats, and you'll hear from the hard-working captains who head out into the harbor tirelessly time and time again. At the time of this recording, the tugboats in New York Harbor were running on diesel, and not steam as they first did. A tugboat can have a life of almost three quarters of a century, so it is possible that one of the McAllister tugboats heard in this episode may still be towing today. 

Below you can hear two clips from the raw tape of the Cinema Sounds interview with Brian McAllister. He describes what it is like to steer a tug and what tug captains do in the event of a disaster in the harbor. You can hear Brian speak more recently about the towing business in a 2005 interview published by the Ireland House Oral History Collection, Archives of Irish America at New York University.

"New York is a city of the sea. It's strength and greatness come from the sea. And the sounds of the waterfront beat like a pulse in the sound of the city."

This is New York Harbor in 1904. The steam tugboat Primrose with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.(vanderbiltcupraces.com)