Thursday, December 10, 2020

Dredging In The Polluted Gowanus: Two Whole Cars Were Just Fished Out Of The Canal

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Mention the Gowanus Canal to anyone in the Gowanus neighborhood and they will inevitably wonder aloud what one may find buried beneath its fetid waters. History buffs have guessed that the toxic black sludge that has accumulated over decades at the bottom of the canal may hold artifacts from the Battle of Brooklyn which was fought nearby. Author Jonathan Lethem describes the Gowanus Canal as "the only body of water in the world that is 90 percent guns" in his book Motherless Brooklyn. 
And many old timers mention bodies....lots and lots of bodies, including, perhaps, that of famous teamster Jimmy Hoffa.

The speculations increased last month when dredging in the upper portion of the canal began this past November 16 as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund clean-up of the canal.  Since that day, excavators on barges have been digging up the contaminated material one shovelful after the other. It is a fascinating sight.

So, one can imagine the surprise of the excavator operator on site last Friday when he 'hooked' a whole car, possibly a Mercedes, on the East side of the canal between the 1st Street Basin and the Carroll Street Bridge (see the yellow dot on the map below).
What is even more amazing is that yesterday a second car was pulled out just feet away from the first one.
This one was located a bit nearer the 363-365 Bond Street development at Second Street, 
Car #2

The Police was called by the contractor, but apparently the detective in charge did not know what to do about the discovery and needed to talk to his supervisor.

In the meantime, both cars have been transported to an off-site facility to be cleaned. There are no reports of findings inside the cars yet, but we will keep everyone updated when we find out.

If you are as fascinated by all things IN the canal, you might want to read these PMFA articles.
From 2016:

From 2018:

From 2009: 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any license plates on them under that black muck?

Anonymous said...

OMG, How could they get into the canal? From where? What land use was in that location? Dumped? Something more nefarious???

Anonymous said...

Any bodies in the car? This used to be serious gangster territory.

BillNelson#1 said...

They can run the car's vin Number

Unknown said...

I recall once that a car being chased by police, didn't realize it was a dead end, and rammed right through the guard rail at Degraw St on the west side of the canal. Big surprise for the driver!

David said...

In the late 90s/early 2000s I lived on Carroll St. close to the canal. One of the local people who had grown up there told me that after WWII there was a pile of warplanes dumped/stacked in the canal for a while..

JJ said...

Carmine Persico grew up around here. Both his crew and the Gallo crew operated around here, and the canal was supposedly a common dumping ground for guns, the occasional body, and anything else they never wanted found again. I even think one of the Persico brothers was shot right on the street overlooking the canal.

Anonymous said...

These comments are disgusting, rife with stereotypes and blatant nonsense. Two old cars dredged out of the canal should not be the basis for these lowest common denominator comments, gangsters, bodies , crews, gangland shootings, guns, surnames, gossip from the streetcorner, etc. This is what happens when you watch too much TV JJ, JJ is the new Jerry Capeci of South Brooklyn.

Italian Americans continue to be free and fair game for this vitriol, but if the comments were about certain other ethnicities.. watch out...that's not permitted...

vicdevor said...

Katia. What’s the update on this investigation I’m dying to know. Make it up
If it’s not interesting 🤣😂

Katia said...

Will try to find out for you