Loading ...Interesting WW2 Connection
This 6+ minute video describes in detail, but the bottom line is this. The Liberty ships that carried food and other aid to Britain in WW2 needed a certain amount of ballast to return back to the US for the next trip. Rubble from the German bombing of the British port city of Bristol, where the ships delivered their cargo, was used to provide that ballast. When it reached NYC it was off loaded and used to support the East Side highway that was being constructed at the time.(Later to be renamed FDR Drive)
Fascinating …thanks for posting CM
Mindboggling project
Human Ingenuity is only surpassed by Human Stupidity
Very interesting Chartsmaster. There is a similar story about Vancouver btw. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Vancouver hosted innumerable ships from England that had come to pick up timber, dried fish, coal, ores and other valuable cargo. They mostly came empty because British Columbia was not yet a wealthy importer of goods from overeas. But what they stuck in the cargo holds to serve as ballast was fascinating. They used hewn granite cobblestones, some cut deliberately for the purpose. When the ships arrived the stones were offloaded and served as the beds for most of early Vancouvers major streets. At one time all the downtown area of Vancouver was made up of a beautiful grey English cobblestone with tramcar rails embedded in the roads. These days its all paved over but whenever there is roadwork being done the old stones are turned up.