Sullivan Takes Barge From River, Notes Party Request From Harvard

John Briston Sullivan, a Cambridge real estate developer, has removed his 131-foot long barge from the Charles River.

On Saturday morning Sullivan sailed the large, ugly boat down the Charles and tack to the shipyards where, he told the CRIMSON last night, it is now "undergoing extensive renovations."

For almost two weeks, Sullivan had his barge, the largest boat ever taken through the Boston locks, tied up at the riverwall next to M.I.T. He first threatened to sink the boat in the river, directly in front of the Charles River Yacht Club, then decided to convert it into a home for himself.

Last Wednesday the Metropolitan District Commission ordered Sullivan to remove his boat from the Charles, but the developer retorted that the City of Cambridge, to which he pays taxes on the land, had granted him a residence permit for the boat.

Sullivan said last night that his decision to remove the boat was influenced in part by two College students from Dunster House.

The students called him last week, Sullivan said, and wanted to rent the barge for a party Saturday night. Realizing the danger involved, Sullivan claims he jokingly told the boys "it will be O.K. with me if the M.D.C. will give you permission."

A few hours later one of the students called back, and, said Sullivan, "I was amazed to hear that an official of the M.D.C. had actually given them permission to use the barge."

Sullivan said that he thought the barge should be removed from the river before there was any serious trouble.

Sullivan had originally intended to use the barge to settle by extra-legal means a long battle with the M.D.C. and the Cambridge Yacht Club. He claims that the M.D.C. acts as if it owns river-front land which really belongs to him, and did not consult him when it gave the Yacht Club permission to store gasoline on property abutting his.