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Looking Back 20 Years - The Staten Island Ferry and the Blizzard of April 6, 1982

Theodore W. Scull

The blizzard of April 6, 1982, the severest April snowfall in New York City's history, dumped one foot of snow on the city. Street traffic ground to a halt, and some elevated lines suspended service, but my Lexington Avenue Line was running, with the trains, originating above ground in the Bronx, arriving at my station covered in snow.

At Bowling Green I made my way south to the Whitehall Terminal and found the late afternoon ferries to be running but with substantial delays. Once aboard the steam ferry Cornelius G. Kolff, from the outer promenade, I could barely see the length of the boat.

The harbor was full of sounds including the Kolff's throaty steam whistle, hooting at regular intervals. The ferry moved ahead at about half speed, changed course and rang 'Dead Slow' a number of times.

I never saw another vessel but one could feel them out there in the swirling snow, and certainly hear both their whistles and their wash.

Two deck hands spent the crossing shoveling snow over the side into the harbor, and in the pilot house, the captain was glued to the radar while the pilot took the helm and another deck hand peered into the gloom.

On the vehicle deck, the first mate stared ahead from the bow.

The crossing took about 45 minutes, instead of the usual 22, and at the St. George Terminal, I disembarked and returned via the turnstiles to re-embark for Manhattan.

The timing could not have been better because I was in the final weeks of finishing up my first book - The Staten Island Ferry, Quadrant Press, NY 1982. The photos, some of them seen here, made a perfect end piece