John J. Harvey (fireboat)

Fireboat John J. Harvey

John J. Harvey is a fireboat formerly of the New York City Fire Department in New York City, famed for returning to service following the 9/11 attack. 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 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 Normandie in 1942, the ammunition ship El Estero in 1943, and the collision of the oil tankers 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's National Register of Historic Places. 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.

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

September 11, 2001

John J. Harvey had an unexpected encore. Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the boat's owners asked FDNY officials for permission to assist in martime evacuations from Ground Zero. 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, Template:Ship and Template:Ship, 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.

Onboard view of John J. Harvey in Tauba Auerbach dazzle camouflage performing a water pumping demonstration in Oyster Bay, New York at Oyster Festival 2018

References

Notes

Further reading

• Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey, by Maira Kalman, 2002. Template:ISBN\