Memories of pier 56

[Doc Vernon]

McAll scan094.jpg

Inresponse to the posting on Piers 54 & 56, our good friend Capt Ed Squirepromptly got back to us:

I liked your photo of Pier 56. I had memories of this pier next to the formerGrace Line Pier 57, North River. There was a small Norwegian freightercompany known as Cosmopolitan Line, I believe it was one of the last shippinglines to use this pier. On Thursdays and Friday, when the new SantaRosa and Santa Paula were docked on the south side of Pier 57with a large oil barge alongside, it got quite crowded with Cosmopolitan Linefreighters on the north side of Pier 56 and Grace Line vessel using the southside of Pier 57.

I was in my last years of high school at the time and when aboard the SantaRosa or Santa Paula, I would be on the bridge of theSantas when one of the Cosmopolitan line freighters were sailing ordocking with Grace Line's port captain, taking the name of the ship departingand tug names helping the Cosmopolitan Line ship away from their berth, makingsure the ship and the large Esso fuel barge alongside didn't make contact. Itwas real close and the tug docking pilots handled the situation veryprofessionally. I believe it was the original Dalzell Towing company, boughtout by McAllister in mid 1960's.

Cosmopolitan Line later moved to Brooklyn, to new Pier 5 PortAuthority around 1964 and eventually went out of business, like the famousMeyer Line of Norway using Pier 2 Port Authority Brooklyn. These companies wereearly victims to Sea land and the new consortium Atlantic Container Linescontainerization in the 1970's. Yes, those were the busy days in New Yorkharbor, at Pier 56 and up to pier's closing by the end of 1960's. There are photos with Cosmopolitan Line ships and the Santa Rosa atPiers 56 and Pier 57 together in early 1960's. I thought you might enjoy amemory of this pier in its heyday.
PS: Thank you, Ed, and I haveadded an aerial photo from the 1960s of the Santa Rosa (at Pier 57), thoseCosmopolitan Line freighters (and which had names like Lista, Horda & Rondaand all owned by the Mowinckel Co of Norway) at the bottom, at Pier 56 -- andof course other Grace Line & United States Lines freighters docked as well,at piers 58, 59, etc. What busy, wonderful, ship-filled ships theywere!

[Dennis McGuckin]

The days when ships looked like ships.

[Captain Kong]

In the 50s every Pier on the West Side was always full of ships, in 2008 I drove along 12 th Avenue, the dock road, and all the Piers were empty.
Even Cunard abandoned the Pier 90s etc and built a new one in Brooklyn for the QM2 etc.
A long way to go now to get to Times Square and Broadway. With a cruise ship in for one day very little time or none at all now to see the sights.
In the old days of Pier 90 just a short walk up W52nd Street and there it all was, The Clubs full of Celebs, the Big Bright lights of Broadway and Times Square, it was like being in the movies walking along there in the 50s.
Happy days , Glad we experienced it before Progress disappeared it all.
Brian

[OliviaMay]

A little sad, that I didn't see piers full of ships with my own eyes... things have changed a lot