6,000-PASSENGER FERRYBOAT ANDREW J. BARBERI
ENTERS STATEN ISLAND FERRY SERVICE

Text & Photos by Theodore W. Scull

The Ferryboat ANDREW J. BARBERI entered revenue service between St. George, Staten Island and Whitehall Street, Manhattan on October 5, 1981. The brand-new boat and soon to be sister, SAMUEL I. NEWHOUSE, were built by the Equitable Shipyards of New Orleans, Louisiana, and with a passenger certificate for 6,000, they could carry more souls than any passenger-carrying vessel in the world. The pair had no provision to transport vehicles, the first to be designed as such. Cycloidal propellers at either end allowed the ferry to spin on its own axis and if properly handled, could dock without using the wooden slip racks, thus saving on maintenance. The BARBERI was named after a popular Staten Islander who had been a star athlete, high school football coach and developer of recreational athletics. The PVT. JOSEPH F. MERRELL, one of the three ferries the BARBERI-class was replacing, represented the last boats built at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard on Staten Island and the final steamboats. The Ferryboat MERRELL and sisters CORNELIUS G. KOLFF (1951) and the VERRAZZANO (1951) could take up to 3,106 passengers and had a main deck for vehicles. The MERRELL was named after a Staten Island-born U.S. Army Private, who at age 19 killed 22 Germans during a World War II battle near Nuremburg and was subsequently shot by a sniper. Posthumously, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. When the Ferryboat SAMUEL I. NEWHOUSE entered service in 1982, the steamboats were retired, and the giant new ferries operated in conjunction with the 1965-Texas built JOHN F. KENNEDY, AMERICAN LEGION and THE GOV. HERBERT H. LEHMAN with certificates for 3,533 passengers and a main deck for vehicles. The passenger reception the two new boats received was mixed as while they had ample seating under most conditions, they had very limited outdoor deck space and no permanently open side promenades. In warm weather, saloon deck windows could be opened but the space still seemed enclosed.