''John J. Harvey'' is a

fireboat A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipme ...

formerly of the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, famed for returning to service following the September 11, 2001 attacks. She is among the most powerful fireboats ever built, capable of pumping up to 18,000 gallons of water a minute. Launched in 1931, ''John J. Harvey'' had a distinguished career in the

FDNY The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

until her retirement in 1994. She was named for marine fireman John J. Harvey, killed when a ship exploded during a fire. Among the marine fires at which she assisted were the Cunard Line pier fire in 1932, the burning of in 1942, the ammunition ship in 1943, and the collision of the

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s ''Alva Cape'' and ''Texaco Massachusetts'' in 1966. Her official designation at the end of her career was ''Marine 2''. ''John J. Harvey'' was sold, at auction, in 1999, to a private consortium of marine preservationists determined to prevent her from being scrapped. In June 2000 she was added to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Her current owners have thoroughly restored her, and host frequent free trips on the river. She is currently moored at North River Pier 66, located at 12th Avenue and 26th Street on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. In 2018, she was repainted at the Caddell Dry Dock, Staten Island, in a red and white dazzle pattern as part of an art project by

Tauba Auerbach Tauba Auerbach (born 1981 in San Francisco, California) is a visual artist working in many disciplines including painting, artists' books, sculpture and weaving. They live and work in New York. Early life and education Auerbach grew up in San Fra ...

, in commemoration of the dazzle camouflage used on World War I ships.

September 11, 2001

''John J. Harvey'' had an unexpected

encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...

. Shortly after the attacks on the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, the boat's owners asked FDNY officials for permission to assist in maritime evacuations from

Ground Zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the groun ...

. Meanwhile, firefighters had determined that the vast scale of destruction had damaged many fire mains, depriving fire crews of water. Officials radioed ''John J. Harvey,'' asking if her pumps still worked. Responding that they did, she was told to drop off her passengers as soon as possible and return to the disaster site, reactivating her official designation ''Marine 2''. Alongside two other FDNY fireboats, and , she pumped water at the site for 80 hours, until water mains were restored. The National Trust for Historic Preservation gave ''John J. Harvey'' a special National Preservation Award to recognize this incident. ''John J. Harvey''s story was the subject of a 2002

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

References

Notes Further reading * ''Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey'', by Maira Kalman, 2002. \

External links

* * * * {{Museums in Manhattan, state=collapsed Service vessels of the United States Fireboats of New York City Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Museum ships in New York (state) Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan 1931 ships Museums in Manhattan Firefighting museums in the United States Port of New York and New Jersey Chelsea, Manhattan Ships built in Brooklyn