I’m also 6’5” but the slight (and too familiar) discomfort of being crammed into a small space is worth getting off the hook for having to watch for the less-abled to whom I’d otherwise offer my seat even though it also means having to remember to duck around that other handrail.

Scabs, scars, non-union...
Did I break my funny bone?

How nuts and bolts are we talking here? Does this get into ballast and cargo handling and arrangement?

"... But since it acted as "thrust" or fwd or back it was quite intuitive although more muscle power was needed. And the control was for both units at the same time, which if not in sync caused issues."

and one final (and remarkable) note: " the Austin class, small ferries, were cable controlled. They had two wheels one for each end and then one big wheel that was mounted on the side of the cabinet such it faced to the side of the boat."

"...One wheel and one lever for each end.
All the ferries now have joy stick controls. One joy stick for each end. So much like any thruster control you push it in the direction you want the action to happen. Fwd push it fwd. push it to the left the end moves to the left."

Here's what my source tells me: "The SI Ferry Newhouse had the old style controls of two wheels and two levers. Wheels controlled directional thrust and the lever the pitch or amount of thrust."

That’s my understanding—but my understanding is not deep. I will ask my people at the ferry.

Meaning vessels with cycloidal props? What’s not to understand? Thousands of Staten Islanders (and tourists) see the value of them nearly every day as the boats thread into the Whitehall slips amid contrary and sometime confused tidal flows.

Or you could just head down to Red Hook and check out the Waterfront Museum and showboat barge; the upcoming production of The Royal Pyrate is delightful (even if it is a musical)

My first thought as well, but I’ve always doubted that story. I’d love some evidence of seafarers on the beach taking stage hand work. I’d think Eugene O’Neill would say something definitive though he seems late for establishing the superstition and nothing’s surfaced in my archives

In theatre today, there’s a story that it’s bad luck to whistle on stage because early stage rigging was run by seafarers (which seems unlikely) who communicated by whistle (a bo’sun call?) so the wrong notes could result in unexpected & unsafe scenery changes—all a bit far-fetched but a parallel?

How many former mayors of anything have ever won the presidency? I think there might have been three NY mayors who history looks on fondly and only one anyone can name. Show me a good analysis of the fascination with this question and be sure to mention William J. Gaynor and John Purroy Mitchel.

The only difference between a dangerous criminal and a law-abiding person is having committed a crime.