The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-07-03
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York, July Sit is strange
and a little sad that the greatest
seaport in the world has so lit
tie flavor of the sea.
OF course, there are romance
and color, but you need patience
and time to hunt them down.
Lots of visitors to New York go
down along West street to see the
waterfront. They see, instead.
broad cobblestoned avenue full
of careening trucks. They zee
miles of an almost unbroken line
of pier facades completely hiding
ships moored at the docks.
! If they know the right people
to approach for passes, sightseers
can enter the great freight term
| inal in Brooklyn, where at least
a dozen cargo ships a day unload.
Hides, bananas, hemp, ivory,
reindeer meat, sandalwood, mon
keys, rubber, coffee, human hair,
spices, silks, cocoanuts-every
sort of goods from every sort Of
ship. Oriental crews are not al
lowed to leave their quarters
while their vesses are in port.
Immigration authorities see to
this, ! with armed guards and
searchights covering every gang
way. Thus thousands of men
have come to New York many
Ptimes without once seeing Times
Square or even setting foot upon
a city street.
The tourist who wants wider
view of the harbor scene should
go, not to the waterfront, but to
the top of the Woolworth build
| ing. This would astonish the
tower attendants, who have been
very lonely since Al Smith and
the Rockefellers reared their sky
touchers in mid Manhattan. But
the harbor panorama is just as
delightful as ever, and only from
here can one get fair view of
the ships nesting in their West
street berths, and the churning
traffic of the bay, full of tugs and
barges and freighters.
Strong Midgets
incidentally, It is unwise II, the
presence of a towboat man to refer
to his vessel as tug. Towboat
is lthe word, and 1t will get you
nowhere to argue that he squat
and powerful little craft do more
tugging than towing.
They push barges around in the
harbor and rivers, and they as
sist, but never tow, linerys to their
docks. The big ships themselves
provide most of the power with
their own engines while the tow
boats merely nudge the bow and
stern around at the proper mo-
ments. It's expensive to dock a
liner because none Of them re-
quires no less than six tugs-I
mean towboats-at $25 an hour.
The Majestic sometimes requires
Is because 1t Is especially difficult
| to manage in the narrow channel,
and the Leviathan once used 21.
The Normandie can reach her
berth with IL.
| Towboats always seem to be
very busy, usually putting and
snorting at prosaic barges carry.
ing freight cars, sand, lumber
and the like. But most of the
captains are harbor pilots and are
capable of guiding the big liners
in and out. Towboats often go to
/ SCup 5kVO, " OElAl6 Al ulSdDlCu tCJ~
sells. Although they look small.
the majority are capable of going
clear across the Atlantic; indeed.
whole fleets of them did go over
during the war.
Sea Food
On the east side of the island
| where the waterfront aventie is
confusingly called South street, thu !.
wandering pedestrian sees small
ships but gets more of the fiavols
of the sea-. Too much flavor, really,
because the fish markets are here.
But for people who can rise with
the sun-or more likely, who stay
up until dawn-I recommend a
visit to the scene. There are two
markets, really, dealing in fresh
and salt water fish, the former ca
tering almost exclusively to the
Jewish trade. Between them,
though, they buy and clean and sell
more than q half-miilion pounds
daily, and twice that amount dur
ing Lent.
Along the wharves usually are
tied about q dozen ships, with
| 4+ARSs AVo~AaSt0 AaLhn0Ao VA LnC
sea" sloshing around In hip boots
as they work furiousiy to unload
their cargoes from the redolent
bins and get the best prices from
the dealers. Hollow-eyed after
the sleepiess run to port, they
work. knowing that In an hour or
two they can curl up and sleep
In the welcome sun.
Regularly as the sun itself APP
pears . group OF nuns, each with
q large basket, picking their way
along the docks. I don't know
what thoughts they bring 10 the
minds Of busy fishermen. Some
must know that the nuns pray for
their safety during the lierce
storms on the uran6 Banks. 9th
ers may think OF the 0Fphanasaa
and hospitals ana converts that
need fresh food from the sea,
Anyway, iha fishermen stop their
work 10 ~ the baskets Of lhe
nllma-saaak Ham A ahafn Aatl1.n