Built in 1932, the recently-retired Marion M., marked the end of an era as the last wooden-hulled chandlery lighter employed in New York Harbor. The Marion M. was originally built as a small motor freighter, for operation on Long Island Sound out of Greenport, Long Island. She was built for Jesse M. Monsell (1899-1963) of Greenport, but was enrolled at the Port of New York. Monsell christened the boat for his wife Marion Udell Monsell. After oyster beds further west were shut down, largely due to pollution, Greenport at the east end of Long Island became the center of oystering in the region.

   Marion M. is first listed as a freight vessel in the annual volumes of U.S. registrations and enrollments. James Monsell, a surviving cousin of Jesse, remembers that the boat was used in transporting oyster shell, and sometimes seed oysters. At other times it carried potatoes, lumber, cordwood, and stones for jetty construction. Trips were made across the Sound to Connecticut, Rhode Island, and even Massachusetts. In 1956 Jesse Monsell sold the Marion M. to Leonard Nelson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

   Two years later she was acquired by the Standard Boat Company of New York, and her use is again listed as freight. Capt. Jesse Monsell moved to Cape May, New Jersey and went into offshore fishing. He died there in 1963, and is buried in the Monsell Family plot in Southold, Long Island. Standard Boat was in the business of getting supplies to ships lying at anchor in the harbor. The small vessels they used had open decks on which to stow the cargo, and a simple set of hoisting gear. They were called "chandlery lighters" because the wide variety of items carried was similar to the inventory of a typical ship chandlery. It could range from lubricating oil in 55 gallon drums, to various provisions in cardboard cartons. The Rando Family that owned the Standard Boat Company, based on the Kill van Kull shore of Staten Island, had operated these boats for three generations.

   When they gave up the business, all the surviving wooden boats, with the exception of Marion M. which was in sound condition and fully operational, were demolished as no longer usable. The Marion M. was acquired by the South Street Seaport Museum in October 2000. She is maintained in operating condition, as a working vessel supporting the other ships in the museum's fleet, and as a floating exhibit.