Edward M. Cotter (fireboat)

Infobox_nrhp | name ="Edward M. Cotter" (fireboat)
nrhp_type = nhl


caption =
location= Buffalo, New York
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 51
lat_seconds = 40.74
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 78
long_minutes = 50
long_seconds = 41.25
long_direction = W
locmapin = New York
area =
built =1900
architect= Crescent Shipbuilding Co.
architecture=
designated = June 28, 1996
added = June 28, 1996cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Local
refnum=96000968

"Edward M. Cotter" is a fireboat in use by the Buffalo Fire Department at Buffalo, New York, United States. The original name of the ship was the "William S. Grattan", and she was built in 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth City, New Jersey. Due to age she was rebuilt in 1953 and was renamed "Firefighter" upon her return. The following year she was renamed the "Edward M. Cotter". Her namesake, Edward Cotter, was a Buffalo firefighter and leader of the local firefighters union who had recently died.

The "Edward M. Cotter" is considered to be the oldest active fireboat in the world and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=414&ResourceType=Building
title=Edward M. Cotter|date=2007-09-11|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service] citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/96000968.pdf National Historic Landmark Nomination: Edward M. Cotter] |163 KiB |author=James P. Delgado|date=January 27, 1989 |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/96000968.pdf Accompanying 11 photos, exterior and interior, from 1920-1989.] |585 KiB ] Along with her firefighting duties, during the winter the "Edward M. Cotter" is used as an icebreaker on Buffalo's rivers. The "Cotter" mounts five fire monitors that are capable of pumping 15,000 US gallons per minute (950 L/s).cite web
url=http://www.penndixie.org/events/03cruise/2/source/12.html
title=Fireboat Edward M. Cotter
publisher=Penn Dixie's Miss Buffalo Nature Cruise and Buffalo Lighthouse Tour
date=June 8, 2003
accessdate=June 6
accessyear=2007] cite web
url=http://www.dyngusdaybuffalo.com/worldslargestsquirtgun.html
title=The World's largest Dyngus Day squirt gun
date=April 4, 2007
accessdate=June 6
accessyear=2007] She can often be seen sailing out of her berth and south-west to Lake Erie, returning north through the breakwall and firing her fire monitors.

Construction

The ship that was to become the "Edward M. Cotter" was built in 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard of Elizabeth City, New Jersey. She was originally named the "William S. Grattan" after the first paid fire commissioner for the city of Buffalo.cite web | url=http://www.pbase.com/kjosker/cotter | title=Edward M. Cotter | publisher=pbase | date=February 8, 2005 | accessdate=June 6 | accessyear=2007] Construction was started on March 24, 1900 and she was christened on September 5, 1900 by Virginia Pearson, the young daughter of one of the city's fire commissioners. The final construction cost for the ship was $91,000.

The completed ship was convert|118|ft|m|abbr=on in length, a beam of convert|24|ft|m|abbr=on and a draft of convert|10|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on. A 1.5in thick belt line of Swedish steel was included around the hull for icebreaking duties. The "Grattan" was powered by two Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers with steam engines rated at convert|900|hp|kW. A single propeller provided propulsion. The rated speed of the ship was convert|13|kn|0|km/h|lk=on.

The ship was also equipped with three double action steam pumps that supplied water at 9,000 gallons per minute to the three fire monitors used for firefighting. Two of the fire monitors were mounted on the forward section of the ship and one was on the stern section.

History

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buffalo's waterfront was an extremely busy center of commerce. Grain elevators, warehouses and shipping traffic had overtaxed the two existing fireboats: the "John T. Hutchinson" (Engine 23) and the "George R. Potter" (Engine 29). Also, the city of Buffalo had shoreline hookups to allow the fireboats to serve as floating pumping stations supplying high pressure water to a fire hydrant system that covered the downtown area.cite web
url=http://www.emcotter.com/1898.htm
title=1898
publisher
date=2008-06-08
author=Buffalo Fire Department's Official Edward M. Coter Website
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008] The decision was made by city officials to order a third boat that would also have icebreaking capability along with her normal firefighting duties.

Upon completion she traveled up the Atlantic coast, down the St. Lawrence River, across Lake Ontario, through the Welland Canal and finally across Lake Erie in an uneventful trip that took 14 days. She was met three miles out of the harbor by her sister fireboats and escorted in.cite web
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4442/is_200602/ai_n17171995/pg_1
title=BUFFALO'S ENCHANTED FIREBOAT: Edward M. Cotter
publisher=Sea Classics
date=February 2006
author= Guadagna, Sam
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008]

1928 fire

On July 28, 1928 the "Grattan" responded to the oil barge "James F. Cahill", loaded with 5,000 barrels of crude oil, that was aflame. cite web
url=http://www.hhpl.on.ca/GreatLakes/Wrecks/details.asp?ID=24143
title=CAHILL, JAMES F. , (Barge), 1928 , Official No. U165740
publisher=The Great Lakes Shipwrecks database
date=June 8, 2008
author= William R. McNeil and Jack Messmer
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008] After burning 17 hours, the barge's mooring lines gave way and the barge began to drift. The "Grattan"'s crew tried to attach tow lines to the barge but it drifted into an oil company's dock where the empty oil tanker "B.B. McColl" was moored.cite web
url=http://www.hhpl.on.ca/GreatLakes/Documents/Scanner/04/01/default.asp?ID=c008
title=The McColl Frontenac Oil Company Limited
publisher=Toronto Marine Historical Society
date=Scanner, v. 4, n. 1 (October 1971)
author=
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008] The fumes on the "McColl" ignited and the "Grattan" was caught in the explosion and fire. Captain Thomas Hylant and his crew abandoned ship and swam through the flames to shore. However, Chief Engineer Thomas Lynch lost his life and seven other crew members were injured. The untended boilers on the "Grattan" soon ran dry and exploded, leaving the ship burned out and heavily damaged.

The "Grattan" sat boarded up for eighteen months while city and fire department officials decided whether to replace her at a cost of $225,000 dollars or rebuild her for $99,000 dollars, which was $8,000 dollars more than her original cost. The decision was made to rebuild her and in 1930 she was rebuilt at the Buffalo Dry Dock Company of Buffalo, New York. During this refit some improvements were made to the "Grattan". One improvement was that her boilers were converted from burning coal to burning oil. The engines were rebuilt and her firefighting system was updated and could now handle foam. Also, the pilot house was raised to the upper boat deck level and a fixed turret tower with a fire monitor was constructed on the stern of the ship. A fourth fire monitor was added to the top of the pilot house of the ship as well. As part of her acceptance ceremony she was recommissioned and participated in a race against the harbor tug "Kentucky", which was considered to be one of the fastest tugs on the lakes.

1953 refit

In the early 1950s, it was noticed that the "Grattan" was showing signs of age. Her boilers were only able to operate at 40 percent capacity and an engine room steam leak in 1951 injured part of her crew. During November 1952, the "Grattan" was sent to the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for a refit.

During this refit her boilers and steam engines were replaced by diesel engines, the pumps for the firefighting system were replaced, the single propeller was replaced with twin propellers, the fixed firefighting platform was replaced with a hydraulically operated platform and the twin funnels were replaced with lower dummy funnels. Upon her return in 1954, she was renamed "Firefighter". In 1955 she was renamed again in honor of Edward M. Cotter, a respected Buffalo firefighter and the leader of the local firefighters union, who had recently died.cite web
url=http://www.hhpl.on.ca/GreatLakes/rename/details.asp?ID=3744
title=Vessel Renamings: COTTER, EDWARD M.
publisher=The Great Lakes Shipwrecks database
date=2008-06-08
author=William R. McNeil and Jack Messmer
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008] After the refit the "Cotter" now mounts five fire monitors that are capable of pumping 15,000 US gallons per minute (950 L/s).cite web
url=http://www.penndixie.org/events/03cruise/2/source/12.html
title=Fireboat Edward M. Cotter
publisher=Penn Dixie's Miss Buffalo Nature Cruise and Buffalo Lighthouse Tour
date=June 8, 2003
accessdate=June 6
accessyear=2007] cite web
url=http://www.dyngusdaybuffalo.com/worldslargestsquirtgun.html
title=The World's largest Dyngus Day squirt gun
date=April 4, 2007
accessdate=June 6
accessyear=2007]

International firefighting

On October 7, 1960 the "Cotter" came to the aid of firefighting authorities in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.cite web
url=http://www.emcotter.com/1960.htm
title=1960
publisher=Buffalo Fire Department's Official Edward M. Coter Website
date=2008-06-08
author=Buffalo Fire Department
accessdate=June 8
accessyear=2008] Two days previously, on October 5, 1960, a set of grain elevators caught fire at the eight-story Maple Leaf Milling Company. The Port Colborne Fire Department did not have its own fireboat and they were unable to bring the fire under control. The Buffalo Fire Department was asked to send the "Edward M. Cotter" to lend assistance. Escorted by a United States Coast Guard cutter, because she had never needed navigational equipment of her own, the "Edward M. Cotter" proceeded across the international border. The voyage to Port Colborne took two hours with an additional four hours needed to bring the fire under control. This mission is said to have been the first instance that a United States fire boat had crossed an international border to help authorities in another country.

Noteable rescues

In 1978 the USS Little Rock, a retired United States Naval guided missile cruiser on display at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, began taking on water and listing. The "Cotter" and several Buffalo Fire Department fire engines pumped water out of the "Little Rock" for five days keeping the ship afloat and level while repairs were made. The "Cotter" also assisted the disabled United States Coast Guard cutter "Ojibwa" during the winter of 1983. The "Ojibwa", while on Lake Erie, had lost its steering and was taking on water. The "Cotter" towed the "Ojibwa" to its base in Buffalo and helped keep it afloat while repairs were made. Another rescue occurred on July 31, 1984 when the "Cotter " towed the Polish tall ship "Zawisza Czarny " off a sand bar during the ships visit to Buffalo.

Heritage

As commerce declined on Buffalo's waterfront, the "Cotter" was transferred from the Buffalo Fire Department to the Public Works Department in 1992 for icebreaking duties. In 1996 the "Edward M. Cotter" was designated a National Historic Landmark.cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=414&ResourceType=Building
title=Edward M. Cotter|date=2007-09-11|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service] citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/96000968.pdf National Historic Landmark Nomination: Edward M. Cotter] |163 KiB |author=James P. Delgado|date=January 27, 1989 |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/96000968.pdf Accompanying 11 photos, exterior and interior, from 1920-1989.] |585 KiB ] and was transferred back to the Buffalo Fire Department in 1997.

The "Edward M. Cotter" is considered to be the oldest active fireboat in the world. Often the "Cotter" can be seen sailing out of berth and south-west to Lake Erie and returning north through the breakwall while firing her fire monitors.

A non-profit group named "Friends of the "Cotter", founded in 2005, has been running fund-raising events to overhaul the "Cotter". Along with her normal duties the "Cotter" has been sent to various festivals and boat shows around the Great Lakes.

ee also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in New York
* History of Buffalo, New York

References

External links

*
* [http://www.emcotter.com History of the E.M. Cotter]
* [http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/cotter.htm Edward Cotter]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4442/is_200602/ai_n17171995/pg_1 Buffalo's Enchanted Fireboat]
* [http://www.emcotter.com/Contact_page.htm Friends of the Cotter Official Website]