| abstract | - Long before the Great War, before the bombs destroyed the United States, New York City was a thriving metropolis. The Port of New York and New Jersey was one reason why, the busiest seaport on the east coast. Hundreds of ships sailed through the harbor daily, carrying tons of cargo and thousands of commuting residents and sightseeing tourists. The Mary Murray was one of those vessels, a 277 foot orange ferry operating between the New York City boros of Manhattan and Staten Island. In 1975, the vessel was decommissioned from the Staten Island Ferry fleet, and sold at auction to an eccentric businessman named George Searl, who owned a small marina in East Brunswick. Along the Raritan River right off Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike, one of the major highways cutting through the state. Searle sailed the vessel to his marina and moored it to the tidal swamplands, planning on turning the vessel into a floating restaurant. Various setbacks and delays interrupted his plans for years, and in the interim, the vessel began decaying, falling victim to the elements. By the turn of the new millennium, it had begun taking on water and was no longer seaworthy. Instead of being a floating restaurant as Searle had originally imagined it, the vessel became a local landmark, and something of an environmental hazard. Until his death shortly after the turn of the century, George Searle had to regularly chase local gawkers and urban explorers off his property, away from the ferry.
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