Today at the PT Boat Museum in Newberry Hall, at Battleship Cove, an exhibit of PT 59 salvaged parts went on display. The part are presented in a custom recovery tank designed for the display and to preserve the wooden members. Each item of the display is tagged and identified as to what and where they would be found on an Elco 77' Series PT 45 - 68. There are other parts such as struts, props, prop shaft and stern tubes (not torpedo tubes) but prop shaft supports exiting the hull. These parts are being preserved separately, at least for now.
During a small live ceremony and online (Zoom) event, several dignitaries local and national were in attendance. Several of these made comments regarding the exhibit. Remarks were also given by guest speaker, William Doyle, forum member and author of "PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy" and a very active and avid advocate for the salvage of the 59. Bill was very gracious and gave praise to the members of forum for bring up the discussion and education as to condition and blithe of the 59. Thanks Bill.
Below is an imbedded video from Youtube:
Please be warned, there are some speakers that might make comments that are not necessarily accurate - please forgive and lets not get gnarly or even snarly!
Below is a photo of the display sent to me by Chris Nardi, the COO of the USS Massachusetts Memorial Committee, who was heading up the exhibit project.
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TED WALTHER
TOP BOSS
Posted on: Apr 16, 2021 - 5:08pm
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! BRAVO ZULU!!! to all that were involved in this Herculean effort to recover the remaining bits and pieces of this historic boat.
Take care,
TED
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TED WALTHER
TOP BOSS
Posted on: Apr 16, 2021 - 5:08pm
Duplicate msg.
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Thanks to all on the Forum for making this possible! Without you it obviously wouldn't have happened and I tried to make that clear in the short time I had to talk. It was a really amazing detective story by real experts and historians on the Forum. When I reconned the site in 2017 and leaned down out of the johnny boat and cut off tiny pieces for wood testing, I put an oar down and probed around. I felt sand/mud. I felt the occasional rock. And I felt what was clearly wood. As the tide rose I traced the wood around and it corresponded roughly to the size of large remnants of the hull area. Bingo! It was amazing to see the huge MTA's recovery-clearance operation last year. Fun facts -- the site is a few hundred yards from, and plainly visible from, the main north/south commuter train lines from Manhattan on the other side of the river -- the Hudson line, Harlem line and New Haven line tracks. Also the Major Deegan expressway. It was buried in plain sight. Also, in the 1960s living in Stuyvesant Town, my dad parked the family station wagon in a lot under the FDR drive a few dozen yards from the SEA QUEEN V berth at 23rd street pier. We should have chartered it! Thank you all again.
William Doyle
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Thanks to all on the Forum for making this possible! Without you it obviously wouldn't have happened and I tried to make that clear in the short time I had to talk. It was a really amazing detective story by real experts and historians on the Forum. When I reconned the site in 2017 and leaned down out of the johnny boat and cut off tiny pieces for wood testing, I put an oar down and probed around. I felt sand/mud. I felt the occasional rock. And I felt what was clearly wood. As the tide rose I traced the wood around and it corresponded roughly to the size of large remnants of the hull area. Bingo! It was amazing to see the huge MTA's recovery-clearance operation last year. Fun facts -- the site is a few hundred yards from, and plainly visible from, the main north/south commuter train lines from Manhattan on the other side of the river -- the Hudson line, Harlem line and New Haven line tracks. Also the Major Deegan expressway. It was buried in plain sight. Also, in the 1960s living in Stuyvesant Town, my dad parked the family station wagon in a lot under the FDR drive a few dozen yards from the SEA QUEEN V berth at 23rd street pier. We should have chartered it! Thank you all again.
William Doyle
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Great job Bill and to my fellow members that helped here on the message board. So nice to see what can be accomplished when folks work together to try and preserve History.
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Great to see the remains salvaged with plans to create a display that many will see! It will surely help keep the memory of PT boats alive. My thanks to all of you here that had a hand in pinpointing her location, and Dick Washichek for the further detective work of ID'ing the parts and creating those wonderful graphics, and William Doyle for getting the movers and shakers moving and shaking to bring this project together.
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Below is a copy of the location artwork, keyed to the number posts in the display tank. This is the artwork only, that appears on the panel on the right side of the display tank, see photo in above post. There are two other pieces of artwork, but we have all seen them here from time to time. The second panel on the left side includes a photo (upper left, behind Kennedy) Roy Forbes’ father took back in the 1968-69 time frame. it was a color photo seen earlier in this post and repeated below.
The numbers and nomenclature on the drawing may have changed since this artwork was sent. The final numbering was completed by the panel graphic designer.
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