Front:
AN HILLE
Back:
39
DONGAN HILLS
Built Mariners Harbor, N. Y., 1929 Length, 251 ft. 2,029 tons
By 1830, double-ended ferryboats were a standard feature of the American harbor
scene. Many still operate today. though tunnels and bridges have greatly reduced
their numbers. This ferry, the Dongan Hills, carries people and cars across New
York harbor- between Manhattan and Staten Island. Representing the ultimate
development of the typical steam ferry, she has two automobile gangways running
from end to end of the main deck, separated by the engineroom enclosure and
flanked by cabins on the guards” still marked "Men" and "Women,” though the
sexes no longer travel on opposite sides of the boat. Her upper-deck passenger
cabin is finished in wood "steamboat paneling,” where newer boats have utilitarian
metal surfaces. Her reciprocating engines turn a solid shaft with a propeller at
each end. The Dongan Hills and nine younger fleet-
mates offer one of the world's
great transportation bargains: a 25-minute boat ride for a nickel.
C. BRADFORD MITCHELL
