Launching of the Fireboat, William J. Gaynor

Launching of the Fireboat, William J. Gaynor

As announced in last week's issue of FIRE AND WATER ENGINEERING, New York’s latest fireboat, the William J. Gaynor, was launched at the shipyards in Elizabethport, N. J., on Wednesday in the presence of a party of New Yorkers and many visitors from surrounding cities. In the party which left the Battery on the fireboat New Yorker were Mrs. W. J. Gaynor and Miss Gaynor, wife of the mayor; Commissioner Johnson. Deputy Commissioners George W. Olvany and Philip Farley. Vincent Farley. Chaplain Vincent de Paul McGean, Chief Kenlon, Mrs. Keitlon. District Chief Joseph Crawley, Chief Harry Marston. of Brockton. Mass.; Dr. Harry M. Archer, honorary surgeon of the department; David Furgeson, supervisor of city records; James Leopold. Mrs. Leopold. Miss Leopold. Robert H. Mainzer. Mrs. Mainzer, John T. Sexton and Kilaien Van Rensselaer. At Elizabethport file party was met by Dr. Victor Mravlag, mayor of Elizabeth, and Charles H. K. Halsey, president of the Elizabeth chamber of commenrce, and officers of the shipbuilding company. Just at the last moment before starting, Mayor Gaynor found it impossible to accompany the party. The christening by Miss Marian Gaynor, daughter of the mayor of New York, was performed without a hitch. The flag-wrapped bottle of champagne struck the port side of the bow exactly at the psychological moment, and the foam splashed high in the air as the cradle began to slip down the greased ways. As Commissioner Johnson expressed it later: “Miss Gaynor is to be commended highly for the manner in which she christened the vessel. After receiving thfc 57 varieties of advice which were offered, like a true Gaynor she went ahead and did things her own way, which possibly was the best way the thing could have been done after all.”

Following the launching, a luncheon was served on the upper floor of one of the buildings in the shipyard. One hundred and twenty-five persons sat at the tables.