New-York tribune., 1920-09-28
E1arbor. Record
Broken When
Big Fog Lifts
Eight u. S. Warships and
80 Merchant Vessels Pass
Hook Within am Hour;
Liners Reach Their Piers
27 Others at Anchor
Woman Is Injured When
Two Ferryboats Crash;
Relief Is Due Tonight

out the forenoon yesterday by a te-
nacious fog that settled over the har-
Dor late Friday night and according to
the latest forecast of the Weather
Bureau, little relief may be looked for
until this afternoon.
thirty merchant vessels passed Sandy
Hook between 8 and 9 o'clock last night,
establishing a record for the number
OF ships to enter New York Harbor
within single hour. Most Of the yes
sells will dock this morning. About
noon, when the fog lifted for q few
minutes, twenty-seven vessels came
into Quarantine and went to their piers
or ahchorages.
Although ferry traffic was greatly
impeded throughout the forenoon no
serious accidents were reported. The
fog blanket, which is the thickest and
most persistent that has visited these
shores in three or four years, lifted
sufficiently at intervals to permit 8
fleet Of naarooned transatlantic and
coastwise vessels to come through the
Narrows and proceed to their piers.
According to statement issued yes
terday by the local Weather Bureau,
weather is good stiff breeze to blow
the fog away.
The fog," according to the Weather
Bureau, "is static condition of the
atmosphere. We are now in an area
CT high barometer and the winds are
light. The fog is caused by the min
Cling Of air of different temperatures
and we have not had sufficient wind to
blow it away. Tomorrow evening we
will have different condition. The
wind will shift to the west, the tenn
perature will go down, the atmosphere
will clear and the fog will 60 out"
The greatest ,inconvenience of the
unusual pail was felt in the Upper
Bay and in the North and East rivers,
where tug and ferry traffic was prac-
tically at standstill throughout the
forenoon.
Ferryboats groped Their way to and
from Manhattan to Hoboken, Brooklyn
and Staten Island under greatly re-
tarded schedules. Only one collision
was reported and that was without
serious damage to either ferryboat or
passengers. 1t occurred in the morn
of the West Shore Railroad, when the
fog was thickest.
The ferry boats in collision were
the Buffalo and the Syracuse. The
Ruffalo, crossing westward, was unable
to get into the northerly slip of the
Weehawken terminal and backed out
for another attempt. While making
this maneuver the Syracuse loomed up
cut of the mist and struck the Buff
| falo glancing blow on the stern,
splintering the lower railing of the
everbang and hurline a few panes of
glass into the woman's compartment
Miss Alice Curry, of this city, was
knocked down by the impact and slight
! ly bruised.
Nearly all the ferry services in both
rivers required nearly treble the time
to make their runs to and from Man
haitian. The Staten Island boats,
which in fair weather make the trip
between South Ferry and St. George
in twenty minutes, maintained a fairly
good schedule, each ferry being delayed
about fifteen or twenty minutes on
each single trip.
Outside the Hook q feet of some
thirty vessels were anchored awaiting
a rift in the fog. When a clearing
came, shortly before noon, the mer-
chairman feet got under way and came
through the Narrows without mshap
Prominent among the vessels to
come in were the French liner La
Savoie from Havre, the Ameri-
can liner Philadelphia from South
ampton and the Toloa from Havana.
Rio de Janeiro came abeam the Scot
Land lightship at 4:4s p. m, and was
prepared to come in, but the fog closed
in upon her and she sought an anchor
age off the Highlands.
[ According to the Naval Communica-
tion Service, there was little change
in the weather conditions late last
night off Sandy Hook. The bureau re-
ported a southeast wind of eleven
| miles, light sea and dense fog.