Please excuse me if any of my recollection is wrong. This trip was in the late 1960s.
I don’t have any of my own photos. I did have a camera in those days before miniature electronic cameras and mobile phones but I don’t think any prints survived. So I have chosen a few stock pics to illustrate the story
I was in Newark, NJ for the day while the ship was being refuelled. Refuelling a motor vessel takes up to 12 hours typically as the bunkering is for many tons of heavy fuel oil and a much smaller quantity of diesel fuel.
A typical cargo vessel has a slow running engine which turns at about 100 revolutions per minute. This means the propeller turns at the same speed so there is no need for a gearbox. The engine is started with compressed air and diesel fuel and once it is running the switch is made to heavy fuel oil.
Anyway as I was the Radio Officer and radio equipment other than local radio telephone is not permitted to be used in port I was not needed.
I took a train from Newark to Grand Central in New York City. Wow, what a magnificent building. It is only a short walk from here to The Empire State Building which at that time was the tallest building in the World.
I left the station and walked a little way up E 43rd Street and turned left into 5th Avenue and there it was. I paid for my ticket and took the elevators to the 102nd floor. A bit disappointing as on this dull day there wasn’t much of a view. In fact I couldn’t see the ground. But I had been there.
I took a trip to Macy’s which was the world’s largest department store.
I had an iced tea with lemon in an automat. This was the stuff of movies for a young man like me.
Then took the train back to Newark. I remember seeing the toll booths on the New Jersey Turnpike. The Paul Simon song reminds me of my short visit to New York. You would struggle to count the cars.
“Kathy, I’m lost”, I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
