The ''Thomas Willett'' was a

fireboat A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipmen ...

operated by the

FDNY The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

. She was launched in 1908 and retired in 1959. She was built as a steam-engine powered vessel with coal-fired boilers. She was converted to oil-fired boilers in 1926.

Operational history

On August 14, 1927, a tugboat of the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

, towing two barges of railway rolling stock, collided with a train of rock barges towed by the '' Henry F. Wills''. The ''Thomas Willett'' responded, when one barge was sunk and others damaged, saving their crew. Circle Line XIV September 2019

The FDNY retired ''Thomas Willett'' in 1959 and put her up for public sale. She was acquired by

Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is a boat-based sightseeing and entertainment company in Manhattan, New York. Its principal business is operating guided tours of New York City from its base at Pier 83 in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. History Ci ...

, who converted here into a tour boat and renamed her ''Circle Line XIV''. As of 2021 she is extant in Morris Canal Basin,

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Statue Cruises.

References

{{coord, 40.711020, -74.050684, display=title Fireboats of New York City 1908 ships Ships built in Newburgh, New York