Boatyard of Broken Dreams

October 10, 2005 10:26 AM

Staten Island Ship Graveyard. A fascinating gallery of photographs of abandoned and decaying ships.
posted by dersins (20 comments total)

[Via, embarassingly enough. Please don't tell anyone I still go there sometimes.]
posted by dersins at 10:31 AM on October 10, 2005

Nice. The other galleries of decay are worth checking out as well.
posted by Staggering Jack at 10:39 AM on October 10, 2005

Very spooky but fascinating, I wouldn't want to be out there at night.
posted by fenriq at 10:40 AM on October 10, 2005

awesome! thanks
posted by matteo at 10:46 AM on October 10, 2005

I don't know if this is the Rossville ship graveyard or not, but if so there are some more photographs (along with some much older ones) here. That website is a great place to learn about much of the hidden history still hanging on in modern day NYC.
posted by ducksauce at 10:54 AM on October 10, 2005

I don't think it was this site, but I remember seeing photos of the area on another site, where the author/photographer mentioned that the area was littered with burned-out car frames, because it's something for the kids/teens in the area to do. Definitely not the sort of place I'd like to be at night.

dersins, your secret is safe with us. I haven't read Fark in a little over six months now, but amusingly enough, I found the perfect Christmas gift for my girlfriend last year during the month I tried TotalFark. So it isn't all bad.
posted by Godbert at 10:56 AM on October 10, 2005

Hard to believe someone isn't scooping all that steel up given what scrap is going for these days.
posted by flummox at 10:59 AM on October 10, 2005

Another exquisite and thorough gallery here.

Six months? It's been more like three years for me, since the post 9-11 rightwingification of the place.
posted by Item at 11:07 AM on October 10, 2005

item: i still go for the links on occasion, because ervyone once in awhile there'll be a great one (like this one), but the discussions stopped being of interest to me at about that time as well...
posted by dersins at 11:17 AM on October 10, 2005

So I wonder what it looks like from the air...
(just guessing that those are the right locations)
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 11:19 AM on October 10, 2005

Or maybe this one
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 11:21 AM on October 10, 2005

When you tire of spookie ships and looney bins [technical term], check out these abandoned London underground stations.
posted by DrDoberman at 11:26 AM on October 10, 2005

Even more surreal (and evironmentally unfriendly) are the Bangledeshi and the massive shipbreaking yards along the shallow beaches of Alang, India. These are popular travel destinations for freelance photo journalists. There is a surreal photo in every direction.
posted by StarForce5 at 11:38 AM on October 10, 2005

When I lived in Brooklyn we took a trip out to see this place. By the time we found it, it was too dark to see a whole lot though.

There's a sweet diner right next to it though with an attached "gentlemen's club." Way weirder than the wrecks.
posted by joegester at 12:04 PM on October 10, 2005

This is a good post... especially all the contributed links...
posted by cusack at 12:44 PM on October 10, 2005

The aral sea left behind some spooky ships when it started receding.
also: Ghost Ship
posted by flagellum at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2005

Edward Burtynsky has also taken some amazing photographs of shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh.
posted by Token Meme at 1:35 PM on October 10, 2005

Slightly related: this photo gallery of Plaquemines Parish in the immediate aftermath of Katrina shows many boats in odd places.
posted by dhartung at 8:32 PM on October 10, 2005

I was there a in September. It's a deathtrap. Enjoy the pictures but don't mess with this place, it'll kill you.
posted by exhilaration at 9:11 AM on October 11, 2005

An excellent post, thanks. I was browsing around the photos for a long time and then came to make a post, and was glad to see it was already up.
posted by OmieWise at 1:24 PM on October 14, 2005