fireboat
A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, 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 ...
operated by the
Fire Department of New York City
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fire Suppression Services, S ...
from 1890 to 1931. She was launched on in the presence of
Fire Commissioner
A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department.
Nomenclature
Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner ...
S. Howland Robbins.
Her pumps were capable of projecting 13,000 gallons per minute. As the Fire Department's most powerful vessel she was considered the fleet's
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
, until her retirement in 1931, when she was replaced by .
Operational career
On January 18, 1909, the crew of ''The New Yorker'' rescued a young woman who had slipped on the ice on the seawall near their boat, and fallen into the river. Two observers had jumped in after Albertine Decquer, and the fireboat's crew rescued all three.
On June 9, 1922, ''The New Yorker'' rescued Fannie Schecht, a well-dressed young woman who was seen trying to make her way to shore, in the middle of the Hudson.
See also
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Fireboats in New York City For much of the late 19th and early 20th century, New York City maintained a fleet of ten fireboats. In recent decades technology has improved to where smaller boats can provide the pumping capacity that required a large boat in the past. These smal ...