TUG BOAT: THOMAS WILLETT
BY DON DOUCETTE
I had known for some time that the City of New York once employed a fire boat named the THOMAS WILLETT – that the vessel had once helped save lives during a collision episode of several tug boats with barges in tow in New York harbor i.e. barges consisting of New York, New Haven and Hartford rail boxcars and of stone.
I read WIKI more closely yesterday and learned that the THOMAS WILLETT may still be a floating office for a touring firm located in northern New Jersey!
I also noticed yesterday curiously that Thomas Willett passed away the year prior to the outbreak of the King Phillip War – Willett passed away in 1674; the King Phillip War years tragically spanned 1675-76.
Although Willett had commanded troops for Plymouth Colony and “wore a number of official hats,” command notoriety during the King Phillip War befit Benjamin Church.
We are visiting Willett’s burial site on Thursday i.e. Little Neck Cemetery in Riverside, Rhode Island, hometown for the Pomham Rocks Lighthouse.
Sub-sachem Pomham, a Narragansett, was slain during the King Phillip War.
Don Doucette
“Ten Mile River Rambles”
Friends of the Ten Mile and Bucklin Brook
Citizens of the Narragansett Basin