Another fabulous fall day! The colors are really starting to show as we travel further north on the Hudson River.
Passed the scenic Athens Lighthouse. At first when I started to see lighthouses it was so exciting. But I had no concept as to how many of them there are out east. Now I don’t even care what the name of it is! But this one is pretty, especially with the fall colors. I did identify it on the Internet but there wasn’t any fun back story on it.
We saw this tall chimney and could see ruins of a brick building next to it. We laughed because it was so old that there was a tree growing out the top of the smoke stack. We couldn’t imagine what it had once been being so close to the water’s edge. I so love the Internet!!! After a little Googleing, I had the scoop. It is known as Newton Hook. Built in 1885, it had originally been called Nutten Hoek by the Dutch. It is the remains of the smoke stack and powerhouse used to operate 6 conveyor belts for ice harvesting. At one time there was a windowless wooden building as large as a football field and 200 feet high behind this. Ice harvesting came to an end with the advent of electric refrigeration and also because of contaminated ice causing typhoid outbreaks because of sewage upriver from Albany.
We arrived at the Albany Yacht Club where we will spend the night. Across the river from us is the destroyer
SLATER. We hopped in the dinghy, crossed the river and went for a tour.
Over 500 of these escort destroyers were built for WWII. The
SLATER is the only one remaining. She was used to protect ship convoys from German U boats. She had a crew of 211 and 12 officers.
Our guide, Tom, was an 80 year old volunteer who had served on the aircraft carrier
MIDWAY. He was a spitfire I tell you! Our little group had to scramble to keep up with this guy as he led us up and down and through the ship.
These are known as Hedgehogs. All 24 canisters would be shot out at one time. If one of them hit a U boat it would explode, causing the remaining canisters to explode.
Officers Quarters. The items in the quarters were personal memorabilia of individual officers who served onboard.
The radio room.
There were two of them. One fore and one aft, so if the ship took a hit up front and they lost that radio room they had a backup radio room in the stern of the ship.
The galley where they were cooking up food round the clock as this was a 24/7 operation.
Notice the metal grid over the burners. This kept the pans from sliding off the stove when the ship was underway.
The Navy’s secret recipe for SOS.
This is the Officer’s Dining Room. The table would also be used for surgery. Notice the surgical lights above the table.
After the tour we headed a bit further up river to take a photo of the
HALF MOON. This is a reproduction of the 1609 ship that the Dutch gave to Henry Hudson when they hired him to find a shorter passage to the Orient than around Africa. He never found it but did open up the Hudson River area. He explored and mapped this area 2 years after the Jamestown Settlement and 10 years before the Pilgrims arrived. I don’t think his ship had a dinghy hanging off the side of it though.
Some of the rigging and a weathervane of the
HALF MOON on a building behind it.
On our way back downriver we noticed out tour guide, Tom, taking down and folding the Flag for the night.
As we sat on the back deck of the boat to enjoy the sunset, we watched two skulling boats and their training coach work out on the river.
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