Tow Boat was produced in 1969 for Moran Towing and Transportation, the dominant tugboat company in New York harbor at the time. It reflects a day in the life of a working “tow boat” moving barges, docking and undocking large vessels. Tow Boat culminates with undocking of the SS United States a Trans-Atlantic passenger liner that holds the record for the world’s fastest Atlantic crossing.
This film was originally created in New York harbor in 1968 by Chicago Films, an independent film company whose principals were Charter Weeks, Gavin MacFadyen and Richard Singer. The version you are seeing is called a “work print.” It is the first complete print from the original edit and intended to be a proof for final corrections. The whereabouts of the final version is unknown.
By necessity, restoration of a 50 year old film is, absent an unlimited budget, a series of compromises. I have chosen to favor color and sound quality in the overall presentation rather than the distracting noise and dust in the opening sequences.
This is an historical document that was, frankly, serendipitous in its creation. Who could have known that 50 years later it would be a remaining record of one of the greatest vessels to traverse the Atlantic and establish a trans-Atlantic speed record that has never been broken!
The SS United States Conservancy hopes this film will inspire you to contribute to the effort to preserve this fabulous ship from becoming scrap on some distant shore that would end once and for all a legacy of America’s unique maritime dominance after WWII.
All proceeds from the sale of this film to benefit the SSUS Conservancy. For more information or to contribute to the Conservancy effort, please go to
www.ssusc.org
SS United States Conservancy
Box 32115
Washington, DC 20007
© Charter Weeks 2016