The Treasure of New York Harbor The hidden treasure of Captain Kidd, centuries-old sunken ships' cargos, the payroll in silver for British troops fighting in the Revolutionary War-there may be many kings' ransoms on the bottom. But the real treasure is the history buried in the estimated 2,200 wrecks in New York Harbor. Marine archeologist Peter Throckmorton, Curator-at-Large of the National Maritime Historical Society, has recently conducted a preliminary underwater survey of Liberty Harbor, between the Statue of Liberty and the stretch of the New Jersey shore that is being transformed into Liberty State Park. Before the park can be constructed, wrecks in the vicinity must be cleared by the Army Corps of Engineers. In order to determine which ships may be historically significant, the Corps provided the South Street Seaport Museum with a grant to conduct an inventory of the vessels in the area that is to be cleared. The initial survey covered the wreck of the N ewton, a 1918 Governmentbuilt steamer. But the most important discovery to date is two pre-Civil War lighters of a type previously unrecorded. Popularly known as melon scows-
or watermelon scows-they transshipped cargo brought into the harbor to various docks around the port. These two wrecks have been in their present location, sunk, but drying out at low tide, since before the First World War. When Throckmorton and his associates, South Street's ship restoration historian Norman Brouwer and Simeon Hook of the Army Corps of Engineers, first inspected the site they noticed that the ships were smaller, double ended, and narrower in relative beam than an ordinary barge. Most interesting of all is the recovery of the cabin of one of the barges, with parts of its original wainscoting intact, many deadeyes, pumps, part of a mast and other items which will make a fine museum exhibit showing a little of the life of the anonymous families that lived on these barges when New York was a great sailing ship port. Throckmorton commented on the value of trying to recover ships some people may regard as junk: "Our society was built by these ships. American sailing ships have been reduced to the state of the dodo, but can we afford to let them be scrapped or burned? Then what happens to history?"
Maineand Virgin Island Cruises 95' Windjammer 1 1 -'-3iiiiliiilmliii1~"" Harvey Gamage,
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(203) 669-7068
Box R, 39 Waterside Lane, Clinton Conn. 06413
You could shop for months and never find the hundreds or decorarive nautica l ideas illustrated in Preston ' s new cata log: 144 pages teemin~ with ship models, m arin e 'Paincings , naucical lamps and clocks, ships ' wheels , fi~ureheads and sco res of ocher nautical ideas for the Home. Send 25 (' for cata log to:
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PRESTON'S
78 Main St.Wharf.Greenport. N. Y.11944
-ELIZABETH TIHANY
Suoscription $10.50 one year 38 Commercial Wharf, Boston, Mass. 02110
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Two Famous Landmarks of New York Harbor A contmuously expanding Moran fleet has kept pace with the soarinQ skyline oJ New York for more than a century. By providing the power, experience, and versatility to elhc1ently cmd economically meet the full rcmge of the porfs tranS5X1rlalion needs, Moran hos helped make the Port of New York a leader in world commerce.
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