Frank Trezza collection
Collection, MC/24
- Creator:
- Frank Trezza
- 1840 – 2010
- 1972 – 1989
- Quantity
- 2 boxes
- Language of Materials
- English.
- Call Number
- MC/24
- Administrative/Biographical History
-
Seatrain Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Seatrain Lines, was in operation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 1969 to 1979. During its operation the company produced four Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), eight barges, one ice breaker barge and two roll-on/roll-off ferries (Ro-Ros). They also began work on a repair and conversion a final ship, the Sea Witch, into a chemical tanker, which was ultimately completed at Newport News, Virginia. Facing economic difficulty, on January 20, 1975 Seatrain laid off half of its 3,200 workers. The remainder of the staff received layoff notices only a few days later. The company declared bankruptcy and shut down its operations in Brooklyn in 1981. The closure of Seatrain marked the end of large-scale shipbuilding at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Frank J. Trezza was hired by Seatrain Shipbuilding as a Mechanic Helper at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1973 as a Marine Electrician Helper and eventually worked his way up to the position of First Class Marine Electrician. Trezza worked at the Navy Yard until 1978 when he was injured on the job and told by doctors that he would never work in the shipbuilding profession again. He remained on the books up until Seatrain operations ceased at the Yard in 1979. Following rehabilitation from his injuries, Trezza relocated to Maine where he resumed working as a First Class Marine Electrician at Bath Iron Works and at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Later he worked in Europe for a Massachusetts defense contractor as a Supervising Installation Technician and in South America as a project advisor. In 1999, Mr. Trezza earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Southern Maine, and in 2007, he published the book, Brooklyn: Steel-Blood Tenacity, a memoir of the years he spent working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. - Scope and Content
- The materials in this collection were compiled as part of the research interests of Frank Trezza. The collection consists primarily of articles and web resources pertaining to the period Seatrain Shipbuilding Corporation operated at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its subsequent failure and closure. Other topics include the closure of the Yard as a Federal shipbuilding facility and the sale of the former Commandant’s house (Quarters A). Materials include copies of abstracts, correspondence, court proceedings, journals, oral history transcripts, reports, tax documentation, photos, and video material surrounding activities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Seatrain itself. A copy of Frank Trezza’s autobiography, Brooklyn Steel-Blood Tenacity, and a related appendix is also included in this collection.
- Related Materials
- Related Archival Materials: See Frank Trezza's oral history in the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project (SC/3).
- System of Arrangement
- The original arrangement of the collection has been maintained with the exception of folders 161 – 170, which entered the archive at a later date. Folder titles are Trezza’s own and in most cases reflect the titles as shown on the accompanying container list. Folder titles are changed only to improve access and content detail.
- Administrative Information
- Related Lots: 2011-D-001
- Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access This collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Reproduction Material in this collection is made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The use must assume full responsibility for any use of the material, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced material. Please see the BNYDC Archives’ Policy on Access and Use for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Any material used for academic research or otherwise should be credited using the citation below.
- Preferred Citation Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Frank Trezza collection; MC/24; Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation Archives, Brooklyn, NY.
- Related Collections
- Susan Detrich collection
- Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project
- Frank and Vincent Faiella collection
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