The 'Lilac' Tour at Pier 25: Maritime History from Stem to Stern
Left: The 'Lilac' in an undated photo before she was decommissioned. Right: At her home at Pier 25 in Tribeca.
.jpg "Mary Habstritt, head of the Lilac Preservation Project, in the boat's bridge. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib")
To board the Lilac, gently rocking for the past five years off Tribeca's Pier 25, is to return to a time when lighthouses were manned by keepers, and boats known as lighthouse tenders plied the coast bringing food and fresh water and the oil needed to fuel the powerful, lifesaving beams.
The Lilac, America's only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender, has let down its gangplank once again for summer and fall free tours. Visitors can hold the ship's wheel, measuring nearly five feet across, see where the crew ate and the kitchen with its original stove, walk the catwalk around the magnificent engine room and even descend to the lowliest sleeping quarters where sailors bunked with little or no ventilation.
Through July 31, there is also an exhibit of photographs by Richard W. Golden that documents the fortifications that ring New York Harbor. Rachel Lussier will be onboard from July 5 to July 21, making paintings of the Lilac, and visitors to the ship can watch her and discuss her work with her. From Aug. 1 through Labor Day, artist Adam Payne will show his work that includes messages spelled out in nautical signal flags.
.jpg "A buoy being lifted onto the deck of the Lilac. This buoy could have weighed up to 18,000 lbs, its mooring chain and anchor another 20,000 lbs. The Lilac's boom could lift up to 40,000 lbs, which is why she looks like she is listing to port. Maintaining buoys was always, and continues to be, one of the most dangerous jobs in the Coast Guard, requiring a well-trained crew operating from specially designed boats. Photo by Captain John Midgett and provided by his son Ray Midgett.")
Launched in 1933 (it was christened with a bottle of water instead of Champagne due to Prohibition), the Lilac tended lighthouses and buoys along the lower Delaware until it was decommissioned in 1972. Taking care of buoys was a big part of its job, said Mary Habstritt, head of the Lilac Preservation Project (the boat is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), which had been in charge of the boat's restoration since 2004. Lights needed to be changed and batteries replaced. Often storms and ice moved them and tenders would have to return them to their proper place.
In recent years, Habstritt said, some of the ship's original accoutrements have been making their way back home. Former crew members, turned nostalgic, have gone online and, to their surprise, found the Lilac is still afloat.
"We got back the original ship's wheel about a year ago," Habstritt said. "One of the captains had taken it home, put glass on top and made a dining table out of it." Other artifacts have been sent back—the mouthpiece for the voice tube through which the helmsman communicated with the engine room. (He was using it as a paperclip holder). The boat's nameplate and bell also were returned.
.jpg "The Lilac's engine room. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib")
A dramatic moment in the boat's restoration project happened just last month. An engineer who volunteers once a week was able to get one of the engines going by hand, the first time since 1972.
"It will be a long time before we can produce steam,” Habstritt conceded, "but getting all the parts working on the engines and making sure that nothing needs to be replaced is the first step towards us running again." When they do, Habstritt wants to put the Lilac back in service. Her dream? "We want to do steam excursions up the river."
Until then, visitors can tour the boat dockside on Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 2 to 7 p.m. until the end of October. There is no admission.