New York-1948: Steamboat Sailing On Water Towards Land Expels Steam Plume

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1948
Decade1940s
LocationNew York, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1948 New York

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Steamboat Sailing On Water Towards Land Expels Steam Plume — Clip Details

A vintage 8mm film clip from 1948 captures a steamboat navigating calm waters toward a shoreline in New York. The vessel, with its prominent smokestack and brass fittings, emits a plume of steam as it moves steadily forward. The scene is framed by a dark border, characteristic of home movie footage, with a distant view of buildings and trees along the waterfront. The blue-tinted color palette and film grain evoke a nostalgic, mid-century atmosphere, offering authentic archival footage of early 20th-century maritime life.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Exterior
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127560741

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Editorial use is the safest path. For commercial use, a clearance review is recommended for the flags below.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 2269 · 8mm · 3″ reel
Original reel label: wedding,decoration day,wj nolan jr
Reel-level year note: 1948
Reel-level location note: geneva new york
Date: 1948 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: New York, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1940s New York home-movie footage useful for maritime, harbor, waterfront, or nostalgic travel sequences needing a small steam vessel on open water.
Period detail: The visible steamboat-style stack, railings, lifeboat gear, and waterfront buildings support a mid-century harbor setting, with the 1948 date supplied by clip metadata.
Home-movie behavior: The framing feels visitor-shot from shore or another vessel, holding on the boat as it moves across the water and releases steam.
What appears in frame: A dark-hulled steamboat, tall smokestack, white steam plume, rippled blue water, distant shoreline, waterfront buildings, trees, and film-frame borders are visible.
Film character: The 8mm scan shows coarse grain, blue color shift, soft focus, exposure variation, and contact-sheet framing that retain the texture of physical home-movie film.
Edit role: Editors could use this as a harbor cutaway, travel insert, transition between waterfront scenes, or brief memory beat for New York maritime atmosphere.
Historical context: The clip documents a leisure or working harbor view from a civilian camera, showing a steam vessel near a built shoreline without identifying the exact pier or route.
Research note: People appear small on or near the vessel, so likeness review may be needed even though no logos or private interiors are visible; copyright and vessel/location rights should be assessed separately.
Research search match: Researchers may find this through searches for 1948 New York 8mm steamboat footage, vintage harbor boat, steam plume on water, or mid-century waterfront home movie.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1948 New York waterfront material, and then broader vintage harbor, ferry, dock, or steam vessel footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1948 New York home-movie frame showing a small steamboat on water with a distant shoreline and waterfront structures. — A steamboat approaches across the water with shore buildings in the background.

The vessel is centered in a 1948 New York harbor view, with railings, stack, and distant waterfront visible through soft 8mm grain. — The steamboat remains centered as it moves over rippled water toward the shore.

A soft, grainy 8mm frame shows the steamboat expelling steam while crossing blue water near the New York shoreline. — Steam lifts from the vessel as it passes through the harbor view.

The 1948 New York harbor shot shows the steamboat closer in frame, with steam above the stack and another small vessel edge visible below. — The steamboat fills more of the frame as steam drifts above its stack.

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