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June, 2005 • MarineNews 41
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Using his electrician's skills, Mr. Krevey installed a system of batteries that could hold enough of a charge from the generators to keep the lights and appliances run- ning. "It was quiet, and the boat is big enough that you don't rock with every wave." Anchored offshore, the lightship became the Kreveys' home for a half-dozen years, from which they commuted to towns like Annapo- lis, Philadelphia, and Cape May by rowboat. "We were pretty nomadic," he recalls. Finally he made New York, taking a berth adjoining the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space
Museum. "I was looking for an office for R-2 Electric, my elec- trical business, and found the location at Pier 63," which is 23rd Street and the North River, just north of the struc- tures now known as Chelsea Piers. "At the time they were trying to build Westway, but were being stopped by concerns over the snail darter, or something like that. So they were giving only short-term leases. We've been here mostly for 30-day terms, never more than a year official- ly, since 1979. More recently, instead of Westway it's been the Hudson River Park. Under the legislation that created the park, we've got to go," as does Basketball
City, an emporium and mecca for basketball culture with its six available courts, which became Mr. Krevey's land- lord years ago.
An eviction, if enforced, would be harder on the bas- ketball facility than Pier 63 Maritime, for that structure is not exactly a pier. It's an old Erie-Lackawanna Railroad spud barge, inspired by the use of similar structures by the Intrepid museum. "We had the hardest time finding a barge," Mr. Krevey recalls, "and had to go from dock to dock on a search. We finally found this one, rusty and rot- ted, used by an automobile dealership on Staten Island."
If required for the future, the old spuds can be raised and the operation moved from 23rd Street. Pier 63 could become Pier Something-Else, and still play host to its ships of fools.
A pier which is itself an historic floating structure is bound to be a magnet for other historic floating struc- tures. The North River Historic Ship Society has formed with John Krevey's dock as its locus, an assemblage of private restorers of rusting relics. Members of the orga- nization characterize it as a means to champion the com- mon ground (or water) of like-minded enthusiasts, who otherwise compete for the limited resources available to them.
The competition for dockage could be severe in
Gotham, as real-estate speculation along with parklands gobble-up the shoreline (although the legislation creating the Hudson River Park does allow for "compatible" com- mercial waterborne uses). The problem was somewhat relieved by Pier 63 policies, which include low tie-up fees and a requirement that tenants do something useful, such as giving free public cruises, tours or lectures in the public interest. Contractually compelled to mount their own soapboxes, the restorers rise to their obligations.
The centerpiece of the pier, or more exactly its end- piece, is Frying Pan, the lightship that started it all. Soon the 1887 tugboat New York Central 13, ex-Hay-De, will return to the pier, after a couple years ashore for hull restoration. The tug Bertha, with a complete rebuild from the main deck up (See "What's In John Garner's Pocket,"
MN, May 2004 issue) will resume its station at Pier 63.
New York Water Taxi uses the pier as its Chelsea stop (see MN, March).
But unlike the sterile terminals of the formal ferry ser- vices, whose purpose is to usher people quickly between harbor and city, Pier 63 has a restaurant and a bar, some- times live entertainment, and a railroad caboose. That, and the John J. Harvey.
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The John J. Harvey brought a lot of grief to a lot of fires in the years since 1931, its 18,000 GPM pouring through eight monitors and hose connects like these. (Photo: Don Sutherland.)
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