NMHS: A CAUSE IN MOTION Celebrating NMHS's 50 Years with the Historic Maritime Community in New York City
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ur spectacular 50'h A nniversary annual mee ting in New York C ity in M ay introduced to som e-a nd reacquainted others with- rhe m aritime heritage community ac tive today along the waterfront, circumscribing the city fro m the Hudson River, wrapping around the Battery, and up the East River out to Brooklyn a nd Long Island Sound. Even if you were not able to join us in person for the event, you might be interes ted to learn what we learned a nd see pho tos of what we saw; yo u might even be inspired to plan a visit to N ew York yo urself and use our experience as a guide-one that takes you to the docks and piers along the busy wa terfront in between the greenways and nonmaritime developed areas . Our meeting gave NMHS members,
trustees, and staff a good hard look at the N ew York others might not even know exists, but the part ofNew York that built the city itself, which in turn bui It the state and the nation . As NMHS trustee Captain Jim M cNamara put it: "the heritage of the C ity of N ew York is its harbor." Our meeting took us to the great city's waterfront- its ships, its museums, and the people that preserve its rich ma ritime heritage. A nd, when we arrived, we were gree ted by the leaders and doers of this thrivin g maritime community and brought up to speed o n the heri tage each ship and ve nue represents a nd where rhey are today in their preservatio n and outreach effo rts. There is much to celebra te; but plenty of struggles and hard work lie ahead. Ours was not a feel-good tour that glanced over the realities of m aritime preservation in New Yo rk and beyond. O ur goal was to hea r and learn first-hand abo ut how things rea lly are and to make plans on what can be done. W e had a delightful visit to Krevey's Pier 66 fo r lunch and toured the 193 1 fireboat john ] Harvey and the Frying Pan li ghtship. At Pier 25, we emba rked on tours of rhe lighthou se re nder Lilac and lightship Nantucket, then traveled by boat to view the ba rge Lehigh Valley No. 79 a nd pay a visit to the historic oil ra nker Mary A. Whalen. South Street Seapo rt M useum's waterfront director, Jonathan Boulwa re, (who was recentl y named interim
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president), led our exploration of the lightship A mbrose and the m assive four-m as ted ba rque Peking, made fa mous in Irving Johnson's film Around Cape H orn. O ur business m eetin g was held in the historic India H ouse at H anover Square. O ur presenters shared the stories of the Port of New York's rich history and brought us up to date on the current status of m aritime preservation in the city, es pecially with res pect to their experiences during and after Hurricane Sandy. We also learned more of our own history as a Society, with reports on how fa r N MHS has co me in the last fifty years and where we are headed . Our president em eritus, Peter Sta nford, introduced his and his wife N orma's upcoming book, A Dream of Tall Ships, which tell s the story of m aritime New York and the founding of South Srreer Seaport Museum; our good fri end Dr. Joseph M eany, New York Srare historian emeritus, regaled us wirh some of the stories he's heard a nd lea rned over his ca reer about maritime N ew York during WWII; and fin ally, our vice chairman, Rick Lopes, reminded us that New York still supports-and is supported by-a n active maritime community, in his documentary on US A irways Flight 1549, which crash-landed in the Hudson River in 2009 and whose crew and passengers were rescued by New York 's ferryb oat caprains and crew with no loss of life. M aritime N ew York is best seen by boar, and we were fortun ate that our fri end Arthur Imperatore Sr. arra nged for us to travel on a New York Waterways Ferry from one wa terfro nt site to a nother over the course of three days; we are grateful to Captain John Doswell
(top left, l-r) NMH S Chairman Ron Oswald, Chairman Emeritus Howard Slotnick, and President Burchenal Green greet members at the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum; (middle) 1931 Fireboat John J . H arvey; (above) Kenny McCoy, ofthe lighthouse tender Li lac, explains to the group the ships steam engine and engineering systems.
SEA HI STORY 144, AUTUMN 2013