Francis J. Duffy of Port Jefferson: Dedicated maritime historian, writer
Francis J. Duffy, seen in an undated photo, was honored in 2010 by the Steamship Historical Society of America for "recording and preserving the legacy of ships, New York shipping and the United States Merchant Marine." Credit: Thomas W. Duffy
As a maritime historian living on Long Island, Francis J. Duffy helped make sure the 1904 General Slocum steamboat fire — then considered the biggest disaster in New York City history — wouldn't be forgotten. The raging fire aboard the ship claimed more than 1,000 passengers on their way to picnic grounds in Eatons Neck.
For years, Duffy put together an annual observance held at a Manhattan monument honoring the many victims, the greatest loss of life in the city until the 9/11 terrorist attacks nearly a century later.
“We come down here every year to try to keep the General Slocum alive in people’s minds,” Duffy told The New York Times in 2006, as executive vice president of the Maritime Industry Museum of the State University of New York Maritime College in the Bronx.
A different kind of tragedy claimed the life of Duffy. On April 26, he died at age 90 inside a South Setauket assisted living facility of COVID-19, the disease that has taken more lives than any New York disaster.
"The fact that my father commemorated one tragedy and fell victim to another tragedy is both sad and poetic," said one of his sons, Thom Duffy, a senior editor for Billboard magazine. Recalling his father's lifelong love of the sea and waterways near the family's longtime Valley Stream home, he said: "All of Long Island was a maritime community to my father."
Duffy was a founding member of the Long Island chapter of the Steamship Historical Society and served as New York editor of its publication, Steamboat Bill, for nearly 30 years. In 2010, the Steamship Historical Society of America honored Duffy for "recording and preserving the legacy of ships, New York shipping and the United States Merchant Marine."
Upon retiring from the New York City Board of Education in the mid-1980s as a supervisor of custodians, Duffy remained active with numerous maritime organizations and wrote for various publications, including Newsday. He co-authored "The New York Harbor Book" with William H. Miller and authored "Always On Station: The Story of the Sandy Hook Ship Pilots."
In addition, Duffy founded his own company, Granard Associates — named for his mother's hometown in Ireland — which provided photography and public relations services to the New York shipping community. On one photography assignment, Duffy climbed on scaffolding to the torch of the Statue of Liberty to document its renovation.
In 2003, Duffy moved from Valley Stream to the Port Jefferson area with his wife, Joan, who died in 2012. In addition to his son Thom, of Brooklyn, Duffy is survived by four other children, Mary Frances Duffy, of Manhattan, Michael Duffy, of Newtown, Connecticut, Eileen Duffy Traslavina of upstate Staatsburg, and John Duffy, of Valley Stream. He is also survived by his brother Daniel Duffy, of Irvine, California, as well as eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Funeral and burial arrangements are pending.
