In my teens in the 60's I spent the summer on the jersey docks off loading
boats and into trucks; I was on shape up;but always got picked because my
sister dated some guy named Tony PRO; who years later went face down in the
spagetti sauce; but thats 'another story"..while at work I got to know some
other young boys who had got themselves jobs as security and maintenance
workers for the tugs kept in Hoboken at the abandoned piers C and D  of Marlin
Brando Waterfront fame; well as boys will be boys ; we had some wild pirate
partys on those tugs; all behind locked security gates in which they had the
keys. One weekend we had a large pirate party out on Ellis Island; with a big
bon fire, and ferryied "captives out" on some beautiful old life boats out of
the Hamburg line. We rowed and used bedsheets for sails.Ellis was beautiful
and at the same time haunting..in fact it was one of the most haunted places
Ive ever been; the party raged for two days; complete with egg fights;where
the party split into two camps; and would skirmish and charge each other with
dozens of eggs; then it was spin the bottle and S poker with girl
captives;.music...early morning     bed sheet sails to N.Y (for more beer), in
which a liner just missed cutting us in half in the 5am haze ...lets see there
was    " walking the plank"more nonsence involving swiming which goes with
teen drinking;.....( and you thought todays teens were dysfunctional ?)....
and believe it or not ...some of the local boys were catching;boiling and
eating local crabs( I passed on that ) Ellis was magnificent as a haunted ruin
to some long ago civilization..and a perfect backdrop for teenage hudson
pirates..years later when I worked there I couldn't help remembering how the
sun rise looked over N.Y and the Hudson when Ellis was just an Island ..and
pirates were still only make believe....thanks for jogging that memory for me
..regards   .Michael