The Noble Maritime Collection presents

Tugboats Night & Day
March 1, 2008 through December 2009
East Gallery, Print Gallery, and the Noble Maritime Library

Tugboats Night & Day is an art and history exhibition inspired by those beloved icons of New York Harbor. It features a replica of a 19th century tugboat wheelhouse named the Susan A. Noble, constructed by master craftsman Russell Powell and his Island Housewrights staff, Don Defillo and Ron Grossberndt.

George Matteson, a former tugboat captain and the author of Tugboats of New York, curated As Tugs Go By, the section of the exhibition devoted to the history of the towing industry. Twelve contemporary artists contributed their tug interpretations in paintings, photographs, fine prints, and murals to the show. They include painters Steve Cryan, Griselda Healy, Patricia Melvin, Chris Protas, and John Stobart, R.A.; photographers Jonathan Atkin, Eric Holmes, Jin Lee, Michael McWeeney, and David Plowden; printmaker Alan Petrulis; and designers Daniel Adams and Sean Noyce. Several New York Harbor towing companies have lent their support to the exhibition. They include Reinauer Transportation Companies, which is celebrating its 85th year in the maritime industry this year; Moran Towing & Transportation; McAllister Brothers Towing; K-Sea Transportation Partners, LP; Thornton Towing & Transportation, LLC ; and Penn Maritime Transportation Company. The exhibition also features information about the tugboat Pegasus, which is currently being restored as an historic education vessel that will take students out into the Harbor to learn about the maritime industry under the watchful eye of its captain, Pamela Hepburn. Noble’s Tugs, an exhibition staged in our second floor library, features rarely exhibited prints and drawings of tugboats by John A. Noble (1913-1983).

Crosswalk Gallery
Boneyard and Factory

A 12,000 square foot mural of the maritime industry along the banks of the Kill van Kull, by artist Chris Protas, is the backdrop for a series of photographs produced from John A. Noble's negatives by Michael Falco.

A Dormitory Room

See a recreated mariners' room circa 1900 as it might have looked in a part of the museum that was once a dormitory. Original furniture, bed linen, and chairs show how the retired seamen lived in Sailors' Snug Harbor, the oldest charitable institution in America. Several friends of the museum donated additional maritime artifacts of the period to complete the recreation.

The Noble Crew Exhibition

The Noble Maritime Collection recently dedicated an exhibition to firefighter John A. Santore, who started its volunteer corps, the Noble Crew. From 1992 until 2001, when he was killed at the World Trade Center, Santore was the heart of a volunteer effort that realized over one million dollars worth of donated labor and materials for the rehabilitation of "Building D", the home for the museum. As the project neared completion, Santore suggested that one of the rooms on the third floor of the building be left untouched so people could see what the Crew had done. The "before and after" look of the Noble Crew Exhibition, and the long list of Crew accomplishments it includes are fit testimony to the Crew and to Santore.

The Crew has established the John A. Santore Fund for Education. The museum's education department will use the contributions to enhance the education program and provide scholarships for classes from needy schools.