Click on the title to see the photos.  Inspector was an official New York State vessel so named for the service she provided.  Any guesses on her age? Her disposition? Power?  Crew positions?  Where might this photo have been taken?  There are clues.  Answers at the end of this post.   

#2. Where was this? 

#3. Location?

#3a. Would there by enough life jackets for all the gentlemen aboard?  CSNY members in 2024 dress similarly on study tours, right?

#3b.  What language is that on the buildings?

#4.  Actually, I have no idea about this location.  Maybe some of you might be familiar enough with the canal banks to place it based on the terrain.  

Here are some answers.  Consolidated Shipbuilding of Morris Heights NY  built her for the state in 1909 as hull #2166.  Where the shipyard was once located is now called Roberto Clemente State Park.  Inspector never worked anywhere but in New York State, given that she was stripped and abandoned in 1946.  Would that have been in Waterford NY?  Does anyone know of photos of her taken in the 1930s or 1940s?

More answers to #1.  Note on the canal bank off the stern of the boat a electrical box with a number 35?  That would place this in Lockport.

#2 I would place in somewhere on the west side of Manhattan.  In the distance, that would be the cliffs we call the Palisades and a string of towns like Weehawken, Edgewater, Fort Lee, etc.  Then ships anchored in the river there;  now it’s tugs and barges.

#3 would be the Harlem River, which to this day has swing bridges of that style.  Someone more familiar than me would be able to identify the bridge.  I see at least 27 people on Inspector, and I don’t know what the life jackets rules were back then.  I’m concluding that the photos were all taken before 1930, at which date Inspector II was acquired by the state.  The language had me confused until I realized the slide was flipped;  when I pulled out a mirror, I read the advertising on the building as Leonard Coal Co., over on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

#4 I’d love to hear your thoughts about the location of this photo.